Patent Application
20140251227
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to reptile breeding facilities and more particularly, to a reptile breeding tank that allows the user to open the top side of the tank body for access, or to change the installed scenery subject to the user's preference or the type of reptiles under breeding.
2. Description of the Related Art
A wide variety of reptiles and amphibians, such as iguana, dragon, tortoise, aquatic turtle, phelsuma, dactylus, crickets, grasshoppers, snake, and etc. are living in this world. Recently, the wave of reptile breeding has become a rising trend due to the reason that reptile enthusiasts can observe reptile living environment when breeding reptiles and enjoy the feeling of coming into contact with the wild word.
In the early days, breeding cages were used to breed reptiles. Nowadays, breeding boxes and tanks are used to substitute for breeding tanks for breeding reptiles. Riverbed sand, rain forest bark, jungle soil and plants may be provided in a reptile breeding tank to simulate natural breeding environment, ensuring a healthy growth of breeding reptiles. Further, a reptile breeding tank may be equipped with a lighting fixture to simulate daylight and to keep cold blooded reptiles warm. Providing light to breeding reptiles is an important breeding condition.
Conventional reptile breeding boxes and tanks are commonly made out of see-through materials (for example, glass), comprising a rectangular box body or tank body having four transparent upright peripheral panels at the four sides and a solid bottom panel, and a top cover mounted at the open top side of the box body or tank body and adapted to open/close the top opening of the box body or tank body. Normally, the four transparent upright peripheral panels are planar members. Thus, the entire rectangular tank body renders a visual effect that is more monotonous, poor and unsightly. If the owner stands away from the reptile breeding box or tank at a distance and views the breeding reptiles in the reptile breeding box or tank, the right angle intersection between the horizontal top panel and upright front panel of the tank body will hinder the sight too much. Further, people usually put their reptile breeding boxes or tanks in the house. The monotonous configuration of conventional reptile breeding boxes or tanks may be unable to match with surrounding indoor decorations, and cannot provide ornamental effects.
Further, if the top cover of a reptile breeding box or tank is equipped with a lighting fixture and a heater, it will be very inconvenient to open the top cover and to feed breeding reptiles.
The present invention has been accomplished under the circumstances in view. It is one object of the present invention to provide a reptile breeding tank, which matches indoor surroundings, providing optimal decorative effects.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a reptile breeding tank, which allows opening the top side of the tank body for access to the inside of the tank body to give feeding supplies to the reptiles under breeding.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a reptile breeding tank, which allows change of the installed scenery subject to user's preference or the type of reptiles under breeding.
To achieve these and other objects of the present invention, a reptile breeding tank comprises a tank body, a back plate, and a flip-up top cover. The tank body comprises a front cage panel located at the front side thereof, a back cage panel located at the rear side thereof, a left cage panel located at the left side thereof and connected between the front cage panel and the back cage panel, a right cage panel located at the right side thereof and connected between the front cage panel and the back cage panel, a top cage panel located at the top side thereof and connected between the left cage panel and the right cage panel, an arched angle of intersection provided between the top cage panel and the front cage panel and a bottom cage panel located at the bottom side thereof between the front cage panel and the back cage panel and between the left cage panel and the right cage panel. The back cage panel has a height shorter than the left cage panel and the right cage panel. The back plate is detachably mounted in the rear side of the tank body between the left cage panel and the right cage panel, and stopped at the topmost edge of the back cage panel. The flip-up top cover is hinged to the tank body, and movable between an open position to open the top side of the tank body and a close position to close the top side of the tank body.
Preferably, the tank body further comprises a left upright bracket and a right upright bracket respectively mounted at the inner rear side of the left cage panel and the inner rear side of the right cage panel and supported on the topmost edge of the back cage panel. The left upright bracket and the right upright bracket each comprise a flanged longitudinal mounting portion disposed at an outer side thereof and respectively affixed to the left cage panel and the right cage panel, a longitudinal mounting groove disposed at an inner side thereof for receiving the back plate, and a pivot housing disposed at a top side thereof. The flip-up top cover comprises two barrels located at a rear side thereof and respectively pivotally coupled to the pivot housings of the left upright bracket and the right upright bracket by a respective pivot pin.
Preferably, the flip-up top cover comprises at least one lighting device mounted at an inner wall thereof.
Further, each lighting device is preferably a LED lighting device mounted at the inner wall of the flip-up top cover by means of surface mount technology.
Preferably, each LED lighting device comprises a plurality of light-emitting diodes of different colors.
Preferably, the flip-up top cover further comprises an inner rim protruded from the inner wall thereof, and two locating boxes mounted at the inner wall thereof within the inner rim to hold down the at least one lighting device in place. Further, each locating box defines a recessed accommodation area for receiving electrical wires and component parts of the at least one lighting device.
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Further, a left upright bracket 30 and a right upright bracket 40 are respectively mounted at the inner rear side of the left cage panel 13 and the inner rear side of the right cage panel 14 and supported on the topmost edge of the back cage panel 12 of the tank body 1, each comprising a flanged longitudinal mounting portion 32 or 42 disposed at an outer side thereof and affixed to the left cage panel 13 or right cage panel 14 by, for example, silicon adhesive, a longitudinal mounting groove 31 or 41 disposed at an inner side thereof, and a pivot housing 33 or 43 disposed at a top side thereof. Further, a back plate 50 is inserted into the longitudinal mounting grooves 31 and 41 and stopped against the topmost edge of the back cage panel 12 of the tank body 1. Thus, the back plate 50 and the back cage panel 12 cover the whole back side of the reptile breeding tank. Further, two pivot pins 34 and 44 are respectively mounted in the pivot housings 33 and 43 and respective barrels 21 and 22 at the rear side of the flip-up top cover 20 to pivotally connect the flip-up top cover 20 to the left upright bracket 30 and the right upright bracket 40.
The flip-up top cover 20 further comprises a ventilation grill 23 for allowing circulation of air between the inside space of the tank body 10 and the atmosphere, and a lighting device 60 mounted at the inner wall thereof by means of surface mount technology. In this embodiment, the lighting device 60 is a LED lamp comprising a plurality of light-emitting diodes of different colors, for example, white LEDs 61 and blue LEDs 62 arranged in an array (see
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As stated above, the invention provides a reptile breeding tank, which, subject to the design of the arched angle of intersection between the front cage panel and the top cage panel, causes a sense of beauty and renders an optimized visual effect to match with surrounding indoor decorations without hindering people's viewing angle. Further, the flip-up design of the top cover facilitates access to the inside of the tank body to feed breeding reptiles.
Although a particular embodiment of the invention has been described in detail for purposes of illustration, various modifications and enhancements may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the invention is not to be limited except as by the appended claims.
