Patent Application
20190274275
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/639,111, filed Mar. 6, 2018, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
This invention relates to shelters and housing for pets and other animals and, more particularly, to novel systems and methods for cage liners.
Animals are often kept as pets, the most common being dogs and cats. Some pets are considered outdoor pets and others are indoor pets. Nevertheless, even outdoor animals including ferrets, hedgehogs, potbelly pigs, rabbits, and the like may also be maintained as indoor pets.
Meanwhile, other pets are often kept in a terrarium or aquarium. For example, reptiles, amphibians like turtles and salamanders, and fish may be kept in a terrarium or aquarium, respectively. Reptiles may include cayman, alligators, crocodiles, snakes, and so forth.
A significant portion of care for pets is housing. Likewise, hygiene and clean-up after pets are of perennial concern. Typically, loose bedding may be provided for ground animals, including many mammals, like guinea pigs, hamsters, and rabbits, or even reptiles, and the like. Meanwhile, birds may typically be provided with roosts, possibly a shelter, and the proverbial bottom of the bird cage with a liner, such as newspaper.
Typically, snakes and other “creeping” reptiles are maintained by an owner in a shelter, such as a terrarium. On the other hand, purveyors of pets (pet shops) typically stock higher volumes of pets and have less commodious dwelling spaces, often stockpiling cages and racks. Necessarily, cages require maintenance.
Typically, loose bedding such as aspen chips, other wood products, and the like may form a bedding material or layer of absorbent material that will periodically be changed in a cage system. Necessarily, periodically, the trays, crates or boxes in which animals are kept will also need to be cleaned, since they are soiled also, to some extent. Bedding changes are necessarily somewhat time consuming, as is clean up of cages or boxes. In the case of reptiles, and specifically snakes, the clean-up is inconvenient, time consuming, and perhaps somewhat inconsistent with the living habits of the cage reptiles.
For example, reptiles are typically kept in boxes or trays that do not have any “large” openings that would pass a small (infant) snake, or a fang. In fact, breathing air is often provided through small (less than ¼ inch, or ½ centimeter) effective diameter on openings. Typically, a tray includes solid walls with no perforations and a solid bottom. The tray slides into a rack, like a box covered on its top surface by a perforated plate of the rack. Clearances are comparatively close in order to provide both security against escape and protection against any material, including bedding, feces, or other products being discharged by pushing or flipping out through openings. Thus, a close clearance is considered to be less than about ¼ inch (half a centimeter) and usually half that.
What is needed is a convenient, quick, comparatively secure and complete containment for waste products that may accumulate in a cage for animals, particularly reptiles, and more particularly for snakes. It would be an advance in the art to provide a system that would be easily prepared, easily inserted into a cage, and easily changed when appropriate.
In view of the foregoing, in accordance with the invention as embodied and broadly described herein, a method and apparatus are disclosed in one embodiment of the present invention as including a habitat or system that may include a rack having vertical legs with horizontal braces front to back and lateral beams running left to right between the legs, and a system of trays that fit into the rack between the beams. Typically, a ceiling may fit against the top opening of a tray in order to contain the animal therein. In certain embodiments, a trough or reservoir may provide a water supply for the animal contained therein.
A liner for the trays is provided with a material such as corrugated cardboard or pasteboard precut, including optional die cutting of removable portions, and creases or other lines providing reduced section modulus (a term of art well understood in the mechanical arts, and used here in its ordinary meaning, as a property that effects the strength or stiffness of any material in bending). The section modulus may be decreased by a score line, a crease, or the like to decrease the effective thickness between two sides or two opposing panels of a corrugated material.
Although corrugated plastic is one option, a disposable, corrugated, cardboard liner may be preferable. Creases may provide for a decreased section modulus and therefore a preferential location for bending. Thus, the floor of a liner may be surrounded by walls as flaps, each of which bends readily and preferentially at a crease in order to assure an even sizing of the floor and of each of the walls.
Typically, near corners of a cage tray, a funnel tab may extend from a side flap to protect against escape by any materials, whether bedding, waste, food, or the like between adjacent walls (flaps), such as end walls and side walls (flaps). These tabs may fit inside the liner between a side wall and an end wall in order to permit each of the walls to fit snuggly and seal effectively against the corresponding walls of the cage tray.
In certain embodiments, cages may include a reservoir or trough molded with the tray itself. In such a situation, the liner may include a die cut knock-out or cover that effectively continues the floor, but may be selectively removed in order to fit around a trough built into the tray of a cage.
In methods in accordance with the invention, one may determine a size range or variety of sizes that are desired to be fit by a particular liner. Then, a blank may be provided by cutting from stock a supply of blanks or standard rectangles that will eventually become liners. Relief cuts may be provided in order to make room for the tabs to be folded, and for the walls to be folded up toward one another above the floor.
Likewise, creases may be provided or other mechanisms may be used to provide reduced section modulus in the liner material at the boundaries between the floor and each wall. Accordingly, the material of the liner may be scored, cut at one of the outer surfaces, stamped to crease it and crush the corrugated material between the two outer layers, and so forth.
In use, one may select a size of a blank in accordance with the size of a cage, comparing the floor of each. One may then bend the blank on the fold lines or creases in order to move the walls (end and side walls) upward at approximately right angles with respect to the floor. In reality, the side walls should not be at right angles. The objective is not to form a box, but to form a liner. Thus, the walls are bent upward, and the tabs near the corners are folded into being included within the walls of the liner. Thus, the tabs, typically extend from the ends of the side walls, and tuck inside the end walls of the liner.
If a trough is provided in the cage, then one may remove a knock-out or a die-cut area of the floor fitted to snugly surround the trough, and permit the floor to drop down to the floor of the cage tray even in the presence of the trough.
The user will typically hold two opposite corners of the liner together with the end wall and side wall held together. Thus, a user may now insert the liner into the cage tray and release the walls. At this point, the walls (flaps) maintaining residual stiffness, will automatically bend outward to the extent possible against the cage walls, thus forming a seal against the (typically plastic) solid wall of the cage tray. At this point, a user may add bedding to the liner if desired.
In certain embodiments, one may remove or replace the liner when a new animal is placed in a cage. Alternatively, one may monitor the cages periodically, optionally change bedding if other bedding besides the liner is used, and ultimately remove the liner when appropriate, due to dampening, soiling, or other condition that makes replacement appropriate. At that point, the liner can be removed, replaced, and the animal can be placed back in the cage, or a new animal may be placed in the cage.
The foregoing and other objects and features of the present invention will become more fully apparent from the following description and appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Understanding that these drawings depict only typical embodiments of the invention and are, therefore, not to be considered limiting of its scope, the invention will be described with additional specificity and detail through use of the accompanying drawings in which:
It will be readily understood that the components of the present invention, as generally described and illustrated in the drawings herein, could be arranged and designed in a wide variety of different configurations. Thus, the following more detailed description of the embodiments of the system and method of the present invention, as represented in the drawings, is not intended to limit the scope of the invention, but is merely representative of various embodiments of the invention. The illustrated embodiments of the invention will be best understood by reference to the drawings, wherein like parts are designated by like numerals throughout.
Referring to
The trays 22 act as cages 22, and may be thought of as boxes 22 closed on five sides of six. The sixth or top side of the boxes 22 or trays 22 will be closed when they slide into the rack 12. Typically, the trays 22 slide across the beam 18, to fit against a ceiling 24. The ceiling 24 may appear like a bottom 24, or a shelf 24 extending completely between the braces 16, beams 18, as well as the legs 14. However, the ceiling 24 is typically secured by welding, riveting, or other fastening to fit against the bottom surfaces of the braces 16 and beams 18, in order to form a comparatively close (within about ¼ inch, or half a centimeter) of the top edge of each tray 22. This prevents escape of bedding, animals, or the like.
For example, snakes may be comparatively small. This may be due to the breed of the snake or the age of the snake. Thus, gaps are preferably less than about ¼ inch (½ centimeter) between the tray 22 and the ceiling 24. In fact, in most embodiments, only sufficient clearance to provide a tolerance for an easy fit is permitted. Thus, typically less than ⅛ inch (¼ centimeter) is provided as clearance between the top edge of the tray 22 and the ceiling 24 of the rack 12.
Referring to
Tabs 36 may extend from the sides 32 or the ends 34. In the illustrated embodiment, the tabs 36 extend from the sides 32, and bend to close the gap that would otherwise exist in the absence of an actual corner between each side 32 and its adjacent ends 34.
The tabs 36 may be trimmed to fit more perfectly, but the gap between the sides 32 and ends 34 is closed off by the tabs 36. Thus, the tabs 36 provide a funneling function in the absence of an actual right angled corner between each side 32 and its adjacent end 34.
Each bend in any material associated with the liner 20 or part of the liner 20 is made along a fold line 40 or crease 40. In certain embodiments, the creases 40 may be formed by a die crushing together a top surface and bottom surface of a corrugated material of which the liner 20 is constructed. Thus, any interior corrugation holding apart the outermost layers of the corrugated board will thereby be collapsed or reduced in height to lower their section modulus. Thus, any attempt to fold a side 32 or an end 34 between its outermost extremities will preferentially cause bending at a crease 40 along the fold line 40 precisely and reliably.
Opposite the creases 40a, 40b, 40c are corresponding edges 42a, 42b, 42c, 42d. Thus, each expanse 32, 34, whether a side 32 or end 34 is separated spatially from the floor 30 by a fold line 40, embodied as a crease 40a, 40b, 40c preferentially folding. Each terminates at a corresponding edge 42a, 42b, 42c, 42d. The edges 42, and more particularly the edges 42a, 42b corresponding to the sides 32 and ends 34 are beneficially able to extend at an obtuse angle away from the floor 30. They also extend away from each other in order to make contact with their corresponding walls 46, 48, 52 of the tray 22 operating as a cage 22.
In the illustrated embodiment, the edges 42a, 42b rest against corresponding side walls 48, and end walls 52, respectively. Thus, bedding, animals, debris, food, or the like will not be trapped or pushed into any open space between the sides 32, 34 and the walls 48, 52 corresponding thereto.
The tabs 36 may be folded inside the ends 34, if the tabs 36 originate as extensions of the sides 32. By the same token, the tabs 36 may be secured as extensions of the ends 34 or end flaps 34, and thereby fold inside sides 32 of the liner 20 and inside the boundary established by all the side flaps 32 and end flaps 34. A seal 50 need not be absolute. Nevertheless, by not forming the liner 20 as a box, the tabs 36 become an important closure mechanisms 36 an inclined slide 36 to close the gap existing between each side 32 and its adjacent ends 34 or end flaps 34.
As a practical matter, the tabs 36 will fit outside the sides 32 and ends 34 and against the walls 46 of the tray 22 if desired. However, this leaves a gap between the sides 32 and ends 34 with respect to the walls 46 of the tray 22. Small animals may actually hide in that space and be considered lost accidentally, or may push bedding, food, or other debris into that gap, or the like. Any of these results defeats to a certain extent the benefits of the liner 20 in the tray 22.
Thus, a better closure has effective seals 50 between each of the sides 32, or ends 34 and the corresponding side walls 48 and the end walls 52 of the tray 22. These are best accommodated when the tabs 36 fit within or inside the “envelope” (defined volume) established by the flaps 32, 34 of the liner 20 once installed in the tray 22.
One will note that the actual angle made by each tab 36 with respect to its base 32, 34 (side 32, end 34, depending on which serves as the base from which the tab 36 extends), is partly controlled by the presence of any adjacent end 34 or side 32, respectively. This affects the angle the tab 36 makes with the particular flap 32, 34 from which it extends, and to which it extends to make contact.
Because each of the sides 32 and ends 34 is typically made to extend from the floor 30 at an angle greater than ninety degrees (obtuse interior angle with respect to the floor 30), the tabs 36 tend to rise away from their base 32, 34. This gives them an interior angle with respect to the side 32 and end 34 immediately adjacent thereto, as well another angle with respect to the floor 30 itself, all obtuse, greater than ninety degrees. This is what is meant by the funnel tab 36 expression.
A precise corner of the floor 30 at which a side flap 32 and immediately adjacent end flap 34 connect is a right angle in a blank, still in a single horizontal plane. However, none of the lines or connections extending away from the horizontal plane of the floor 30 after “assembly” is thereby vertical or at right angles to the horizontal plane of the floor 30.
In certain embodiments, the tray 22 may be provided with a trough 26 or reservoir 26 that is actually formed, often literally molded, therewith. Accordingly, a knockout 38 may be die cut into the floor 30 to define a circular shape. Only certain comparatively small portions of that circle are actually cut through. Accordingly, a moderate pressure may be applied to the knockout 38 by fingers of a user, breaking any remaining connections between the knockout 38 or cover 38 and the rest of the floor 30. This reveals the aperture 28 through which the reservoir 26 may pass to sit above the floor 30.
As a practical matter, each of the tabs 36 becomes part of a dihedral angle existing between its adjacent base 32, 34, the floor 30, and the adjacent other member 34, 32 (end flap 34, side flap 32). The dihedral angle tends to form a funnel in the corner 54 to urge any bedding, debris, food, waste, or the like back toward the floor 30 and away from the seals 50 formed between the side flaps 32 and the side walls 48 of the tray 22, and the seal 50 between the end flap 34 and the end wall 52 of the tray 22.
The aperture 28 may be formed comparatively snuggly by sizing the cut out 38 or knockout 38 to have an interference fit, that is to have the exact same outer diameter of the aperture 28 as the outer diameter of the reservoir 246. Thus, a slight amount of bending, or other accommodation by the material of the floor 30 makes a snug (contact) fit between the aperture 28 and the reservoir 26.
Referring to
Meanwhile, engineering realities of manufacturing usually require a certain amount of draft angle (well understood in the plastics manufacturing art and used in that ordinary sense) in order to remove a newly manufactured tray 22 from the mold cavity in which it is formed. Accordingly, the walls 46 may extend typically away from the bottom of the tray 22 by an angle of from about ½ degree up to about five degrees greater than vertical. Meanwhile, the corners 54 of the tray 22 may actually be rounded. They will not require, nor fit a right angle at a corner of a box.
As seen in the top plan view of
Referring to
Referring to
Referring to
Putting the corrugated spacer between the outer layers of Kraft paper, increases the section modulus (defined as an integral relating base length along a neutral access to a depth or distance of an outermost fiber away from that neutral axis). Any book on the mechanics of materials or materials in general will include the equations. This property, section modulus affects strength and stiffness of a material. The value of corrugations in corrugated cardboard is that the strong and continuous outer layer of Kraft is at the outermost extremity (outermost fiber) of the material, greatly stiffening and strengthening the material in bending.
It has been found to work best if a relief cut 58 is made in either a side flap 32 or an end flap 34. For example, the tab 36 may operate as an extension of a side flap 32, as illustrated, but may also be constructed as an extension of an end flap 34. In the latter case, the relief cut 58 or slot 58 would be oriented at ninety degrees, thus separating the tab 36 from the side flap 32, and leaving the tab 36 joined to the end flap 34 by a fold line 40 or crease 40. Of course, as mentioned, a crease 40 is one mechanism, and a score line 40 is another. Often, a score line 40 may be cut into or partially through an outer surface of the material of the liner 20. In other embodiments, one layer of paper may be cut so that bending is more easily done along the opposite solid surface. However, it has been found suitable to use a crease line 40 in order to maintain the integrity of the outermost layers of the corrugated material, while still reducing a section modulus to provide preferential bending (folding) along the fold lines 40 or creases 40 as illustrated.
Referring to
With the exception of the knockout 38 covering the aperture 28, the liners 20 may be comparatively symmetrical about an axial center line, as well as a lateral center line. That is, a center line may be run through the rectangle that forms the length of the flat liner 20 and each will represent substantially axial symmetry, with the exception of the existence of a knockout 38 to provide an aperture 28. In those embodiments in which such an aperture 28 is designed or desired. The floor 30 may be completely integral, with no die cut or knockout 38, in some embodiments.
Referring to
Providing 68 the relief cuts 58 may be done by the same die that basically provides 64 a blank. Similarly, if certain die cuts or die surfaces provide cuts, in a stamp-type process, then providing 68 the reduced section modulus may be done by bosses (raised areas) designed, sized, and engineered (effective) to crush interior corrugations. Such an operation decreases stiffness while not cutting through the outer layers of a corrugated material.
A manufacturing process 70 for making blanks may be done as a continuous process 70 by which a continuous sheet of material is cut to size. It may also be done in a batch process wherein an overall rectangular size is prepared, after which that material is run through die cuts and compressions to create fold lines 40.
A selection 72 of the size of a liner 20 to be used with a particular tray 22 size may be done once for all time. For example, if a pet shop has a set of racks 12 with standard trays 22, then those trays 22 will define what permissible size may be selected 72 for the liners 20. Accordingly, a user may then bend 74 the flaps 32, 34 and tabs 36 along their fold lines 40 or creases 40. The tabs 36 may be tucked 76 to lie inside the envelope of the liner 20 and the knockout 38 may be removed 78 at any appropriate time. In fact, the tabs 36 should typically be tucked 76 before the side flaps 32 and end flaps 34 are folded upward, in order that the tabs 36 not obstruct the positioning of the flaps 32, 34 against the walls 46.
Typically, in the process 80 of assembly 80, a user may hold 82 the side flaps 32 and end flaps 34 close to one another, even in a box-like shape before inserting 84 the liner 20 into the tray 22. Upon inserting 84 the liner 20 into the tray 22, the flaps 32, 34 may be released to extend outward. Their upper edges 42 will then rest against the respective side walls 48 and end walls 52 of the tray 22.
Typically, bedding may be added 86 as a matter of convention. Nevertheless, the label on this step 86 is in rectangular brackets, indicating that it is optional, just as the removal 78 of a knockout 38. Depending on the animal contained, bedding may be added 86, or the liner 20 may simply render bedding unnecessary with certain animals.
Maintenance 90 may involve monitoring 92 the liner 20 to determine whether it is still integral, whether it has become too soiled or damp for continued use, and whether it is otherwise completing its function. Optionally, changing 94 the bedding may or may not require changing out the liner 20. However, the life of the liner 20 may be extended if bedding is still used. One of the functions of the liner 20 is to limit the amount of ongoing cleaning required for the trays 22, which are typically durable plastic articles 22. Eventually, a liner 20 will be removed 96 for any number of reasons, the most common of which will be because it is soiled or incapable of continuing its function. At that point, the liner 20 may then be replaced 98 with a fresh liner 20 for ongoing use.
The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from its fundamental functions or essential characteristics. The described embodiments are to be considered in all respects only as illustrative, and not restrictive. All changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the illustrative embodiments are to be embraced within their scope.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62639111 | Mar 2018 | US |
