Automated litter device and method

• US 8,757,094 B2
• Filed: 03/14/2013
• Issued: 06/24/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/18/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Automated Pet Care Products LLC
• Original Assignee: Automated Pet Care Product, Inc.
• Inventors: Baxter, Brad, Smith, Jason
• Primary Examiner(s): Berona, Kimberly
• Assistant Examiner(s): WANG, MICHAEL H
• Application Number:
  US13/804,370
• Publication Number:
  US 20130333625A1
• Time in Patent Office: 467 Days
• Field of Search: 119/161, 119/163, 119/165, 119/166, 119/168
• US Class Current: 119/166
• CPC Class Codes: A01K 1/011 with means for removing excrement A01K1/0114 and A01K1/0117 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A01K 1/0114 Litter boxes with screens for separating excrement from litter

Abstract

A device comprising: a support base and an chamber, located on the support base, having an entry opening so that an animal can enter and exit the chamber; wherein the chamber includes an axis of rotation that forms an angle of about 80 degrees or less with a vertical plane.

Claims

1. A device comprising:

a. a support base;

b. a chamber, located on the support base, wherein the chamber includes;

i. an entry opening so that an animal can enter and exit the chamber,

ii. a shield located within and attached to the chamber;

wherein the shield is movably attached to the chamber so that the chamber at least partially rotates around the shield and after rotation of the chamber an internal surface of the chamber is covered, wherein the shield is fixedly attached to a retainer which can rotate within a holder that is immovably nested in a slot of the support base, with the retainer held static by a preloaded biasing member located between the retainer and holder until a tab on the chamber comes into contact with a tab on the retainer thus moving the shield and retainer with the chamber and further loading the biasing member.

2. The device according to claim 1, wherein the chamber includes a track, which encircles an outside wall of the chamber, for rotating the chamber around an axis of rotation.

3. The device according to claim 2, wherein the chamber includes a waste opening and the waste opening is located in a well of the chamber on an opposite side of a track plane as the entry opening.

4. The device according to claim 2, wherein the track extends in a track plane, and the chamber includes two halves that are separated by the track plane and normal to the axis of rotation, and the chamber includes a waste opening located entirely on one side of the track plane.

5. The device according to claim 1, wherein the entry opening is an elongated opening having a height and a width forming a height to width ratio of about 1.2:

1 or more.

6. The device according to claim 1, wherein the shield is biased so that after rotation of the chamber the shield moves back to a home position, ceases to rotate with the chamber once the shield reaches a home position, or both.

7. The device according to claim 1, wherein the shield rotates during a portion of the rotation of the chamber so that a liner of the chamber drops during the rotation of the chamber without interference by the shield.

8. The device according to claim 1, wherein the shield covers the internal surface of the chamber that contacts waste and/or litter as the waste is directed out of a waste opening so that the animal does not contact the waste and/or litter remnants that may remain on the internal surface of the chamber.

9. A device comprising:

a. a chamber having an entry opening so that an animal can enter and exit the chamber,

b. a support base, located under and supporting the chamber, wherein the support base includes;

i. a weight detection sensor, located in the support base and below the chamber, having;

1. an expandable and contractable member generating a force on the support base,

2. a rocker arm, and

3. a force sensitive monitoring device placed between the support base and the rocker arm,

wherein the expandable and contractible member generates a force on the rocker arm and the rocker arm translates the force to the force sensitive monitoring device so that the force sensitive monitoring device detects changes in weight of the device and wherein the weight detection sensor continuously, intermittently, or both monitors the weight in the chamber and compares the weight in the chamber to a plurality of previous weight measurements, and when the weight detection sensor measures an increase in weight relative to the plurality of previous weight measurements, and then a subsequent weight measurement drops and/or rises, the sensor senses that the animal has entered and subsequently exited the chamber and a cleaning cycle of the device is triggered.

10. The device according to claim 9, wherein the weight detection sensor includes a reset button so that a sensor algorithm is reset to a new baseline when litter is added or removed from the chamber.

11. The device according to claim 9, wherein the weight detection sensor includes a compressible contact member located between the rocker are and the force sensitive monitoring device.

12. The device according to claim 9, wherein the support base includes one or more front legs and one or more rear legs and the weight sensor is located in the one or more rear legs or the one or more front legs so that when an animal enters the chamber the one or more front legs or the one or more rear legs acts as a pivot and pivot the change in weight to the leg that includes the weight sensor.

13. The device according to claim 9, wherein the chamber includes a track, which encircles an outside wall of the chamber, for rotating the chamber around an axis of rotation.

14. The device according to claim 13, wherein the chamber includes a waste opening and the waste opening is located in a wall of the chamber on an opposite side of a track plane as the entry opening.

15. The device according to claim 13, wherein the track extends in a track plane, and the chamber includes two halves that are separated by the track plane and normal to the axis of rotation, and the chamber includes a waste opening located entirely on one side of the track plane.

16. The device according to claim 9, wherein the entry opening is an elongated opening having a height and a width forming a height to width ratio of about 1.2:

1 or more.