Patent Application
20200288672
The present invention relates to a treat dispenser, and more particularly, to a treat dispenser incorporating a recess configured to hold a treat in one of multiple positions.
Treat dispensers are commonly provided to animals, such as dogs, to supply nutrition, to promote dental cleaning, to provide healthy physical exercise and mental stimulation, and to reduce destructive behaviors arising from boredom. A number of different treat dispensing pet toys that hold and/or dispense treats have been patented and/or introduced into the pet toy market in recent years.
For example, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. USB 20160165845A1 discloses a treat dispensing pet toy including a plurality of treat dispensing openings or holes, and a plurality of chambers within the treat dispensing pet toy separated by respective internal partitions. Each chamber may be loaded with desired types of treats. The size, shape, and number of treat dispensing openings may differ between openings that communicate with respective chambers. The different sized and shaped treat dispensing openings, as well as the number of openings in the device, provide different levels of difficulty for treat extraction.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20150101546 A1 discloses a pet toy with a treat holding receptacle. The receptacle has a plurality of interior engaging surfaces that fictionally hold a primary treat in a desired orientation. An opening is formed through the receptacle for loading secondary treats into an interior of the pet toy. The primary treat has an exposed portion shaped and sized to provide a desired degree of difficulty for an animal to remove the primary treat from the corresponding receptacle. The portion of the primary treat in contact with the engaging surfaces of the receptacle forms a cap or closure, and when all or part of the primary treat is removed, the secondary treats may be dispensed through the opening of the receptacle.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,555,997 discloses a container having an exterior feature for holding treats by a peripheral lip that surrounds and overlaps a corresponding peripheral edge of a first treat, and an interior open space that may be used to hold additional treats. The first treat blocks access to the interior open space.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,500,450 discloses a toy with a hollow interior, a first edible treat that blocks access to the interior, and a second edible treat that interlocks with the first edible treat, the second edible treat extending into the interior of the toy. Additional treats may be placed within the hollow interior.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,129,053 discloses a pet toy having an outer surface with one or more recesses for holding treats. The recesses may be of varying depths and shapes to receive different types of treats. Some of the recesses may extend completely through the sidewall of the toy.
These and other similar pet toys seek to incentive an animal's extended interaction with the pet toy by dispensing treats over a relatively long time interval. However, in practice, an extended interval of animal interaction with the toy may not be achieved for some pet toys, for example, because the pet toy dispenses treats too rapidly to the pet or because the pet toy makes it too difficult for the pet to obtain sufficient treats from the pet toy. In either case, the pet will become disinterested in the pet toy.
In at least one embodiment, a treat dispenser encourages extended pet interaction by providing a recess including multiple treat-retaining features corresponding to differing levels of difficulty in extracting a treat from the treat dispenser.
In at least one embodiment, a treat dispenser includes a body having an exterior surface and a recess in the body. The recess has an outlet and is defined by an interior surface having first and second lips protruding into the recess. The first lip defines a first treat-holding position having a first depth relative to the outlet, and the second lip defines a second treat-holding position having a greater second depth relative to the outlet.
In at least one embodiment of the treat dispenser, the body includes a treat-holding cavity that communicates with the recess via an opening.
In at least one embodiment, the treat dispenser includes a plurality of flexible flaps separating the cavity and the recess.
In at least one embodiment, the treat dispenser has an opening in the body that communicates between the cavity and an exterior surface of the treat dispenser, for example, to permit a treat to be placed into the cavity other than through the recess.
In some embodiments, the outlet of the recess is recessed within a surrounding portion of the exterior surface. In other embodiments, the outlet extends outwardly from a surrounding portion of the exterior surface.
In at least one embodiment, the first lip is continuous about the recess and the second lip is continuous about the recess.
In some embodiments, the recess has a first interior dimension at the first lip, and the recess has a lesser second interior dimension at the second lip. In other embodiments, the recess has an equal or greater second interior dimension at the second lip.
In at least some embodiments, the first lip and second lip together form a continuous helix.
With reference now to the figures and with particular reference to
Body 102 has an exterior surface, which in the various different embodiments can have different profiles and/or contours and/or surface finishes. For example, in in first embodiment, body 102 can have an exterior surface 104a, in a second embodiment, body 102 can have an exterior surface 104b, in a third embodiment, body 102 can have an exterior surface 104c, and in a fourth embodiment, body 102 can have an exterior surface 104d.
In each of the various different embodiments depicted in
At least a first lip 114 and a second lip 116 project or protrude into the bore of recess 106. In some embodiments, like those illustrated in
In some embodiments, first lip 114 and second lip 116 protrude equally into the bore of recess 106. In other embodiments, first lip 114 protrudes a lesser or greater distance into recess 106 than second lip 116. For example, in the embodiment shown in
The space between first lip 114 and second lip 116 forms a first inset 122 providing a first treat-holding position for holding a treat 200, as seen in
In one or more embodiments, treats 200 can be rigid or semi-rigid and can be formed, for example, by injection molding, as is known in the art. It is preferred if treats 200 are digestible by an animal and provide nutrition as well as a desirable flavor. In preferred embodiments, treats 200 have dimensions compatible with the selected dimensions of recess 106 and insets 122, 124. For example, in some embodiments, treats 200 can have a maximum dimension approximately the same as (e.g., plus or minus 10% of) dimension 112 of bore 106. Further, in at least some embodiments, different sizes of treats 200 can be utilized in a given one of the treat-holding positions and/or between different treat-holding positions in order to achieve a desired level of difficulty in extracting treats from the treat-holding position(s).
As shown in
Referring now to
In this example, treat dispenser 500 includes a unitary body 502 having an exterior surface 504. As best seen in
A recess 506 is formed in body 502. Recess 506 has an outlet 508 at which recess 506 communicates with an exterior of treat dispenser 100 and is a defined by an interior surface 810 of body 502. In the illustrated embodiments, recess 506 has a substantially cylindrical bore having a maximum internal dimension 512. Into the bore of recess 506, a first lip 514 and a second lip 516 project or protrude. First lip 514 and second lip 516 are continuous about a periphery of recess 506. In the illustrated embodiment, first lip 514 protrudes a lesser distance into recess 506 than second lip 516, meaning that dimension 518, which the minimum diameter across recess 506 between opposing portions of first lip 514, is greater than dimension 520, which the minimum diameter across recess 506 between opposing portions of second lip 516.
The space between first lip 514 and second lip 516 forms a first inset 522 providing a first treat-holding position for holding a treat 800, as seen in
In one or more embodiments, treats 800 can be rigid or semi-rigid and can be formed, for example, by injection molding from animal-digestible material providing both nutrition and a desirable flavor. In preferred embodiments, treats 800 have dimension compatible with the selected dimensions of recess 506 and insets 522, 524. For example, in the illustrated embodiment, treat 800 is sized to frictionally engage at least the upper and lower surfaces of first inset 522 when installed in the first threat-holding position. In this example, a surface of treat 800 facing outlet 508 is substantially planar and does not extend outwardly from outlet 508 when treat 800 is installed in the first treat-holding position provided by first inset 522.
As further illustrated in
In use, a human user may optionally load one or more discrete treats 814 into cavity 812 via first opening 820. Alternatively or additionally, the user may optionally load a desired amount of a non-discrete treat through the first opening 820 and/or the second opening 822. The user may then install a treat 800 into the first treat-holding position by inserting treat 800 into outlet 508 of recess 506 and then using manual force to move a periphery of the treat 800 past first lip 514, which will resiliently deform downwardly and outwardly, and into first recess 122. The first lip 514 will then resiliently return to substantially its originally configuration. If desired, the user can apply additional manual force to treat 800 to force the periphery of treat 800 past second lip 516 into second recess 524. In at least some embodiments like that shown in
After the treat dispenser 500 is loaded with the desired treat(s), treat dispenser 500 is provided to an animal to interact with. The animal will then attempt, via chewing or otherwise deforming body 502, to dislodge and/or to consume treat 800. Once all treat(s) 800 are removed from recess 506 by the animal, treats installed in cavity 812, if any, are dispensed to the animal over time as the animal continues to interact with treat dispenser 500. Treat dispenser 500 may thereafter be reloaded with additional treats as desired.
As has been described, in at least one embodiment, a treat dispenser includes a body having an exterior surface and a recess in the body. The recess has an outlet and is defined by an interior surface having first and second lips protruding into the recess. The first lip defines a first treat-holding position having a first depth relative to the outlet, and the second lip defines a second treat-holding position having a greater second depth relative to the outlet.
While the present invention has been particularly shown as described with reference to one or more preferred embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Further, the term “coupled” as used herein is defined to encompass embodiments employing a direct connection between coupled elements, as well as embodiments employing an indirect connection between coupled elements achieved using one or more intervening elements or blocks. In addition, the term “exemplary” is defined herein as meaning one example of a feature, not necessarily the best or preferred example.
