Cage for breeding of lab animal

• US 20050066908A1
• Filed: 01/17/2003
• Published: 03/31/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 01/17/2002
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Chean-Gui Park
• Original Assignee: Chean-Gui Park
• Inventors: Park, Chean-Gui
• Application Number:
  US10/501,046
• Publication Number:
  US 20050066908A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 119/419
• CPC Class Codes: A01K 1/031 Cages for laboratory animals; Cages for measuring metabolism of animals

Abstract

Disclosed is a cage for breeding laboratory animals. The laboratory animal breeding cage can detachably couple a lid to a body of the cage in a simple manner. Further, by virtue of a double filter mounted in the lid, the laboratory animals can be bred under both positive and negative pressure. Furthermore, by virtue of a double safety valve, the inside and the outside of the cage can be doubly air-blocked. The cage can be conveniently washed an managed, the cause of failure is eliminated and a life span of the cage is lengthened, and the efficiency in breeding and controlling the laboratory animals are enhanced.

Claims

1. A cage for breeding laboratory animals comprising:

a body (30) having a fixed jaw (32) integrally formed therewith along the edges of the top portion thereof; and

a lid (10) detachably fixed to the body (30), and having a knob (11) integrally formed therewith in the middle of the lower end of the front part thereof in such a manner as to be bent toward the inner surface of the fixed jaw (32) of the body (30) and then downwardly inclined toward the outside, and two fixed jaw-catching members integrally formed therewith at both right and left sides of the lower end of the rear part thereof in such a manner as to be bent toward the inner surface of the fixed jaw (32) of the body (30) and then downwardly inclined toward the outside,

wherein the knob (11) and the fixed jaw-catching members are fixed to the fixed jaw (32) of the body (30) so as to closely couple the lid (10) to the body (30).

2. A laboratory animal breeding cage having a double filter comprising:

a body (30) having an air supply valve (31) formed at one side thereof for allowing air to be introduced thereinto; and

a lid (10) removably coupled to the body (30), and having a plurality of exhaust holes (18) formed all over the top and bottom surfaces thereof, an outer filter (13a) mounted beneath the top surface thereof, an outer filter fixing frame (11a) disposed beneath the outer filter (13a), an inner filter fixing frame (11b) located beneath the outer filter fixing frame (11a), an exhaust space (19) formed between the outer filter fixing frame (11a) and the inner filter fixing frame (11b), an inner filter (13b) disposed beneath the inner filter fixing frame (11b), a filter fixing plate (12) attached to the bottom surface thereof, and an exhaust outlet (14) formed at one side thereof in such a manner as to communicate with the exhaust space (19),

wherein the outer filter (13a), the outer filter fixing frame (11a), the inner filter fixing frame (11b), the inner filter (13b) and the filter fixing plate (12) are fixedly secured to each other to form the lid (10)

3. A method for breeding laboratory animals using the laboratory animal breeding cage according to claim 2, comprising the steps of:

making the pressure of air introduced into the body (30) of the cage through the air supply valve (31) 10 to 20% lower than the suction force of the exhaust outlet (14) to let the cage be under negative pressure;

filtering the air introduced into the body (30) of the cage through the air supply valve (31) by means of the inner filter (13b) when the introduced air is contaminated after being used for animal respiration, and discharging the contaminated air to the exhaust space (19) and further discharging the same through the exhaust outlet (14) to an exhaust pipe (50); and

at the same time, sucking external air into the cage by means of the outer filter (13a) due to a difference between the air pressure inside the cage and the air pressure outside, and discharging the sucked air through the exhaust space (19) to the exhaust pipe (50).

4. A double safety valve of a lap animal breeding cage, comprising:

a valve body (43);

a fixing sleeve (47);

an outer valve (46) having a first spring 45 embedded therein and interposed between the valve body (43) and the fixing sleeve (47) in such a manner as to be mounted to the inside of the valve body (43) by means of the fixing sleeve (47); and

an inner valve (42) mounted to the outside of the valve body (43) opposite to the inside of the valve body (43) to which the outer valve (46) is mounted;

wherein the inner valve (42) and the outer valve (46) are coupled to each other by means of a clamping bolt (41) and a stop nut (48), and when the first spring (45) is pressed by a silicon rod (63) connected to a second spring (64) of an air nozzle pipe (62), the outer valve (46) is moved into the valve body (43) so as to be opened, and the inner valve (42) connected to the outer valve (46) is also pushed into a body (30) of the cage so as to be opened.

5. The double safety valve according to claim 4, wherein the outer valve (46) has three to five guide wing parts (46a) extending therefrom for guiding the outer valve (46) to move in the valve body (43), and the inner valve (42) has a plurality of vent holes (42a) formed thereon for allowing air to pass therethrough.