Note : Les descriptions sont présentées dans la langue officielle dans laquelle elles ont été soumises.
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LITT~ 'l'El~ I, FOI~ S~ LL .~N ~Mi'~LS
Be~kgroulld o~ the Invention
One of ~;e rnost ~ifficult problems encounter~d in
providing and mair..ainincJ litter boxes for cats to use
in~oors is the su~ressinc~ of the odor from the cat's
~aste~ Various pr~parations are sold in small containers
which can be used ~y adding them from time to time to the
litter matcrial ir. the box as the lit~er material i5 used
by the cat. The p_actice is not only inconvenient but is
also o~ten messy ~rd unpleasant, and it is difficult to
obtain distributio?. of the odor suppressant where it will
be mos~ effectivel~ utilized. If the odor suppressant is
carefully mixed wi.h the litter to obtain good distribu-
tion, ~he separate suppressant can be effective; however,
usually some portiGns of the litter receive an excessive
amaunt o~ the suppressant, thus resulting in a waste of the
relatively expensiie preparation, and other portions re-
ceive amounts too small to be effective. Hence, the use of
a separate odor su?pressant for addition to the litter ma-
terial in the foregoing manner has not been generally
accepted by cat owr,ers. Another practice which has been
successful in obtaininy the desired suppression of the odor
in the litter has ~een the mixiny of the suppressant full~
ith litter at t}ie time the litter is prepared and packaged
for distribution ar:d sale. After using the lltter in the
hox, the cat custoi ril~ covers the ~taste by scraping the
litter over the waste, usiny its paw to mo-ve the litter in
the clo~e proxirnit~ o~ ~he waste. Since the cat usuall~
use~ th~ litter or.ly clo~e to the cen~er o~ the hox near
the top ~f the li~r, only a srnall portion o~ ~he litter
is u~ed h~ thf ca~, the li~ter in l;he bo~tom alld alollcJ ~he
'1
120~
periphery of the box often remaining relatively clean and
free of odor-causing waste. Since effective odor
suppressants are generally rather expensive, t'ne mixing of the
suppressant with the litter before packaging unnecessarily
increases the cost of the final material, in that a sub-
stantial amount of the litter material is never in contact
with the cat's waste and hence performs no appreciable
function in suppressing the odor at any time during the
use of the litter material.
SU~MARY OF THE INVENTION
Copending Canadian Patent Application Serial No.
432,803 filed July 20, 1983 discloses a package which
overcomes the problems of the prior art, the package con-
taining an upper layer of relatively coarse litter material
having an odor suppressant therein, and a lower layer of
relatively fine litter material having little or no odor
suppressant material therein. The package invention of the
copending application is useful in obtaining the invention
of the present application, namely a litter for small
animals comprising a bed of litter material having a plurality
of horizontally disposed layers of particulate, liquid
absorbent material, the upper layer of the particulate
material consisting of relativel~ coarse particles and
having an odor suppressant material therein, and the lower
layer consisting of relatively fine particulate material,
the layer of relatively coarse particulate material contain-
ing the odor suppressant material in an amount substantially
greater than the amount of odor suppressant material in
the fine particulate material.
2~
3~
Brief ~escription of the Drawinys
Figure 1 is a perspective view of a bag of cat
box filler material, showing the bag before it has been
opened for depositing the filler material therein in the
l~o.Y;
Figure 2 is a vertical cross sectional view of
the bag shown in Figure 1, the section being taken on line
2 --2 of Figure 1;
Figure 3 is a perspective view of a sanitary cat
box and the bag of Figures 1 and 2, illustrating the manner
in which the material is poured from the bottom of the bag -~
to obtain satisfactory distribution of the filler material
in the box;
Fiqure 4 is a vertical cross sectional view of
the cat box shown in Figure 3, after the material has been
deposited therein;
Figure S is a vértical ~ross sectional view of
the cat hox shown in the preceding figures and an eleva-
tional vie~l of the bay with the filler material being
poured rom the bag into the box during the initial stage
of the filliny operatiorl; and
--3
~01~ 8
~ ure 6 i~ a vertical cross sectiorlal vie~,~ of
tlle cat bo~ shown in the preceding fiyur~s and an ele-
vatiol~al view of th~ baq, showing the ~iller rnateri~l
flowing from the b--g in a later stage of the cat box filler
operation.
Descript~on of the Preferred Embodiment
Re~errins more specifically to the drawings, and
to Figures l and 2 in particular, numeral 10 indicates
generally a package of cat box filler material, sometimes
referred to as cat litter, consisting o~ a bag 12 and the
cat box filler material indicated generally by numexal 14.
Normally the two er.ds 16 and 18 of the bag are sealed and
the ~ower end, for reasons which will be more fully ex- -
plained hereinafter, should be relatively easy to open for
the purpose of discharging the litter material 14 into a
sanitary cat box such as illustrated in Figure 3 at numeral
20. The package may be a bag or a box, and it may be con-
structed of either paper, plastic, or a combination of
~hese materials, ar.d it may be flexible or stiff. Normally
the hags are of a si~e which contains S or 10 pounds of
litter material and can be ea~ily marketed through a
supermarket or a hardware or pet store.
The litter material has two distinct layers,
namely a lower layer 22 of re]atively fine particulate
materi~l and an upper layer 24 of a relatively coarse
p~rticulate material, with a rather distinct dividing line
26 ~here the two rnateri~ls are in contact with one another.
The upper layer of relatively coarse particulate material
~ontains or is treated with ~In odor suppres5ant, and the
3~ 10~er layer 22 is r.ormall~ ~ithout ~ny.odor suppressant, or
~ i only a small ,~r,ount o~ odor sl~ppr~s~nt. The b~sic
~L20~338
na~erial of layers ~2 and 2~ may ~e the samc, such as
~round clay, the ~iffereJIce be~/e~ll the t~o layers c~n-
sisting primarily of the distinct differences in the size
o~ the particles orMing t~e res~ctive layers, alld of the
~reserlce of an odcr suppressant in the layer of relatively
coarse particulate ma~erial and the absence, or only a
small amouot, of .he suppressant in the relatively fine
particulate material. The kind or type o~ odor suppressant
may vary dependinc upon suitability of the material for
lo minimizins the odor ~rom the urine and feces deposited by
the ca~ or other ~imal in the sanitary box.
While th~ two layers may both contain an odor
suppressant, the o~or suppressant in layer 24 is normally
substantially more potent than -the odor suppressant in
layer 22. ~he type of odor suppressant may be different in
the two layers and three or more layers of different par-
ticle size may be used in the litter material. Since the
layer 24 forms the top layer of the filler material a~ter
it has been added -o the box, and hence acts to prevent the
odor ~rom the anim21 waste from perrneating the air above
the box, the t~lo lcyers 22 and 24 are normally not physic-
ally separated frorl one another but merely form a line o~
contact indicated ~ numeral 26 as seen in Fiqure 2. The
size of the particles o~ the respective layers 22 and 24 is
not particularl~ critical so long ~s la~ex 2~ is of a
coarser te~ture th~n layer 22 and is of a si~e suita~le for
u5e b~ the cal or ~her anirnal. Since cats habitually
cover the deposited feces, the material should be of such a
si~e ~hat it can e~ily he rnoved b~ ~he cat"; paw to uer-
~or-n t})e co~ering G~,eIa~iorl. 'rhu-; a wide ran~e oL particle
siY,e~ i ll th~ t~/o la'1el:S i S po3si blf 50 1 on~ a~ hc' rela-
,j
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tiOrl~]lip ill t~ L~iCUlat~? ';i'~,~?'; is r~ c, i.f?. a
rela~ivc?ly ~oars~ p~rticulate n~aterial in laye~ 2~ and a
r~latively ~ 1e l~yef o~ particulate ~.terial in layer 22,
the ~iZr;? I~ormall~ for layer 2-1 ~cin~ larger than a mesh
size o 8, usuall~ bet~eer1 8 and 60, 2nd th~ ~ize nornall~
for layer 22 bei1;g smaller than a mesh si~e of 8, usually
between 6 and 8. The coarse material .-ay constitute as
much as 85 percenL by w~igh-t of the litter material al-
thou~3h it is usua ly less, such as in z range of 40 to 60
percent
The lit.er material is normally sold in bags
which can be conveni~ntly opened from the bottc)m so that
the material can se discharged from the package or con-
tainer into box 20 wherein the t~o layers of the bag form
two layers as ill~strated in Figure 4. The manner in which
the material is re.~oved from the bay and the flow of the
m~terial therefro-J controlled as it is discharged, is il-
lustrated in Figu-es 5 and 6. Af~er the bottom of the bag
has been opened and the material is being discharged, the
bGg is preferably moved in some type of horizontal move-
ment, such as the circular movement illustrated in Figure
3, to spread the r~terial and to assist in for}ning the t~o
distil1ct horizontGl layers as illustrat~-d in Figure 4, in
~,thich the relatively fine particulate rraterial is on the
botto~ and the relatively coar~e Materi~l cont~ining the
poten1 odor suppre~sant is on the top.
The spficial advantacJe in the use o~ ~ relatively
ine and xelativel~ coarse material is that the relatively
fine Illatcrial i~ e-~fl1tl~ tel~ds to settlf to t}1C bottom tJf
~0 ~h~ paeka~e ox ot~cx (ontairl~x, ancl-~he relativfly coa~sf.?
matexi~l terJdss to ~is~ ~t~ ~h~ top. I~ t3ur:inc~ ~h~ tralls
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poxtation and handlir1~ of the packa~e tl~e materials o~ the
two layers ~ecome intermingled, t,he rnaterials can be
returned to their original separated conditio~ in the
vert,ically positioned packaye, with ~he relat;ively fine
mateirial on the bottom and the relatively coarse material
on top, by bouncing or otherwise vibrating the bag in its
upright position to effectively separate the material into
the two layers with the relatively coarse layer in the top
of the packaye. In order to as~iist the ultimate user in
knowing where the relatively fine and coarse materials are
located, the respective layers may ~e indicated on the
external surface of -the bag, or a transparent bag or window
in the bag may be provided so that the material can be
inspected before the bottom of the bag is opened to
discharge the material in the box. In order to ensure
separation of the large and small particulate material into
the respective coarse and fine layers, it may be desirable
to perform the bouncing or vibration opexation on the
package in each instance hefore it is opened. This nor-
mally would require a few jars resulting from bouncing thepackage while it is in the proper upright position, since
the particles o~ the respecti~e litters will normaliy not
have become interruingled to any significant degree in
shipping and hand1ing.
After the material has ~een placed in the box as
illustrated in Ficure ~, the odor suppressant material in
the xelativel~ coarse particulate rnatexial no~ only tends
to remain on top o~ the~ xelatively,fine paxticulate
rnaterial, hut the coar~ie particula1:e mat,eria]. can be
rnai,rltasined as ~he effect,ive upper ],ayer by jarring or
ot;~ser~/i se ~i'r)r~t;ir,~ ~he l;,tter M~'t~ria]. in the box ~rot
~1
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time to timc ~etw~rl u~es o~ the box by the cat ox other
a~limal.
The ste_s by which the litter material in the
packa~J~ is clischarsed into the bo~ consist in opening the
botto~ of the pac`~age and permittillg the material to flow
from thc lo~ter en~ of the packa~e. This operation permits
th~ r~latively fir~ par~iculate material to cover the lower
POrtiOn OL the box, particularly if the package is moved in
a horizontal fashion, such as illustrated in Figure 3.
Afte~ the relatively fine particulate material has been
discharged, the relatively coarse material flows from the
ba~, covering the layer o~ relatively fine particulate
material. The material can then be smoothed by hand or
otherwise to form a horizontal surface for the animal, and,
in the event there has been any mixing of the relatively
- ~ine and relatively coarse particulate materials, the box
ca~ be jarred or otherwise vibrated to effect suitable
separation of the two sizes of particulate material into
the respective layers, with the coarse, potent odor
suppressant materi21 on top. The special advantages of the
present invention cre that any inadvertent mingling of the
matexial resulting from unavoidable vibration in trans-
portation and handling can effectively be overcome, and the
relativel~ expensive odor suppressant material can alwa~s
be maintaincd in t~le upper layer o~ the box, regardless of
~ny undue scxatchiny action perforrned by the cat or other
animals. qhe box can be jarred or otherwise vibrated to
separa~e the xela~ ely firle and xelatively coarse par~
ticul;~ m~terials fxo~n one another into their lo~cr and
3~ up~)e~r layefs a~ pre~iousl~ d~scrib~d herein.
~1hi1e onl~ one embodirncnt o~ the present cat ~G~
~,~
iller material has been descriL)ed i.n detail herein,
various changes and moclifications may be made ~Jithout
departing from the scope of the invention.
(~
