Closure system for a cage containing laboratory animals and methods thereof

• US 20060254528A1
• Filed: 05/08/2006
• Published: 11/16/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 05/13/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tecniplast S.p.A.
• Original Assignee: Techiplast SPA
• Inventors: Tamborini, Paolo, Malnati, Giovanni
• Granted Patent: US 8,037,847 B2
• 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

A closure system for a cage containing laboratory animals, where in an upper edge of the base of the cage an U-shaped housing towards the outside of the edge hosts a gasket having a lip projecting out of the upper edge, and s bending in contact with a side rim of the top, the side rim overlapping the upper edge, and comprising at least two latches, connected on one side to the base, and having a bending line with a smaller thickness, and a projecting hook at the opposite side, to be restrained in a slot in the top, so that in operation the latch bends in the bending line and the projecting hook can be engaged to or disengaged from the slot.

Claims

1. An improved closure system for a cage containing laboratory animals, the cage comprising a top and a base, air inlet and outlet valves, a filter retainer in the top, wherein at the boundary between the top and the base the system comprises:

at an edge in one side of the boundary a U-like shaped housing towards the outside of the edge;

a first gasket housed in the edge, the first gasket having a lip projecting out of the edge, and bending in contact with a side rim in the other side of the boundary, the side rim overlapping the edge.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the U-like shaped housing is in the base and the side rim is in the top.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein the U-like shaped housing is in the top and the side rim is in the base.

4. The system according to claim 1, wherein the first gasket is radially covering the whole of the circumference of the upper edge, and is made of silicone.

5. The system according to claim 1, further comprising at least two latches, connected on one side to the base, and having a bending line with a smaller thickness, and a projecting hook at the opposite side, to be restrained in a slot in the top, so that in operation the latch bends in the bending line and the projecting hook can be engaged to or disengaged from the slot.

6. The system according to claim 1, further comprising a filter retainer for filter sheets in the top, sealed to the top by a second gasket.

7. The system according to claim 6, wherein the filter retainer is held in a recess in the top, and sealed to the recess by the second gasket around the perimeter of the filter retainer, the second gasket having lips projecting out of the retainer edge and bending in contact with a side rim of the recess.

8. The system according to claim 6, wherein the filter retainer has a perimeter projection, the second gasket being U-shaped housed in the perimeter projection.

9. The system according to claim 6, wherein the filter retainer is fixed to the top on one side by a clip having a slot restraining in an hook in the top, and on the opposite side by tabs restraining in slots in the side rim of the recess.

10. The system according to claim 1, further comprising a lid inside the cage, in the form of a grid, covering a part only of the cage, approximately one half, the lid being suspended in an upper part of the base by a number of flaps attached to an internal part of the upper edge of the base.

11. The system according to claim 1, further comprising a hole in a depression of the top, for inserting a bottle opening a flap designed to seal the hole when the bottle is removed, and an O-ring gasket around the bottle sealing the hole when the bottle is in.

12. The system according to claim 1, wherein the cage further comprises a plastic divider between the air inlet and outlet valves, in the internal part of the top, to channel the air to the front of the cage to improve the ventilation efficiency and avoid any air shortcut between the two valves.

13. An improved closure system for a cage containing laboratory animals, wherein a base of the cage comprises two side runners designed to keep the cage suspended on horizontal slide rails on a rack, the side runners having locking lips at the ends securing themselves to corresponding rail grooves of the slide rails;

and in that air inlet and outlet valves of the cage are connected to the rack by elastic bellows, so that to insert the cage into the rack, the side runners slide on the slide rails, all the way down, where the elastic bellows ensure attachment to the valves.

14. The system according to claim 13, wherein a docking indicator is present below an horizontal upper side of the slide rail, and behind the front end of the slide rail bending down, the docking indicator being in the form of a lever pivoting around a pivoting point on the slide rail, so as when the cage is not present or is disengaged over the slide rails of the rack and is not firmly fixed, the docking indicator is visible below the front end of the slide rail bending down, and when the cage is firmly fixed on the rack the docking indicator disappears behind the front end of the slide rail bending down.

15. The system according to claim 14, wherein an internal arm of the docking indicator has a protrusion entering a hole in the horizontal upper side, so as when the cage is not present or is disengaged over the slide rails of the rack and is not firmly fixed, the protrusion raises and exits out of an hole in the upper side, and an end of the opposite arm of the docking indicator goes down below the front end of the slide rail and becomes visible from the front part of the rack, when instead the cage is firmly fixed on the slide rails, the protrusion is pushed down by the side runner, and the end of the opposite arm of the docking indicator is going up and disappears behind the front end.

16. The system according to claim 13, wherein the slide rail has a horizontal side and a vertical side, in the vertical side towards the rack there are one or more protruding hooks and one or more protruding buttons, the latter entering corresponding holes in walls of the rack, each side rail, when fixed to a wall of the rack, facing an opposite side rail carrying the next cage in the rack, so as two opposite side rails have a specular shape, the protruding buttons entering the holes in the walls and the protruding hooks engaging with corresponding holes in the faced side rail, firmly fixing the specular slide rails to the walls of the rack.

17. A container system comprising:

a cage comprising a top and a base;

a U-like shaped housing adjacent an edge in one side of a boundary between the top and the base; and

a first gasket housed in the edge, the first gasket having a lip projecting out of the edge and bending in contact with a side rim in another side of the boundary, the side rim overlapping the edge.

18. A method of making a container system, the method comprising:

providing a cage comprising a top and a base;

placing a U-like shaped housing adjacent an edge in one side of a boundary between the top and the base; and

housing a first gasket in the edge, the first gasket having a lip projecting out of the edge and bending in contact with a side rim in another side of the boundary, the side rim overlapping the edge.

19. A container rack system comprising:

a rack with two or more side rails;

at least one cage with one or more air inlet and outlet valves;

at least two side runners on the cage, each of the side runners slides on one of the slide rails to suspend the cage on the rack;

at least one locking lips on each of the side runners, the locking lips at the ends secure themselves to corresponding rail grooves in the slide rails; and

one or more elastic bellows in the rack connected to each of the one or more air inlet and outlet valves.

20. A method for making a container rack system, the method comprising:

providing a rack with two or more side rails;

providing at least one cage with one or more air inlet and outlet valves;

slidably mounting each of at least two side runners on the cage on one of the slide rails to suspend the cage on the rack;

securing at least one locking lips on each of the side runners to corresponding rail grooves in the slide rails; and

connecting one or more elastic bellows in the rack to each of the one or more air inlet and outlet valves.