An open top, waterproof, cardboard box has an elongated rectangular bottom bordered by side and end panels which extend the length and width, respectively, of the bottom and are joined to form closed corners. Each side panel has a pair of wing portions between which a central portion of the side panel extends, the wing portions being defined by a pair of diagonal fold lines each of which intersects with a corner of the box. The end panels are folded so that they lie nearest the bottom of the box and the side panels are folded over and lie flat against the end panels, the wing portions being folded first with the end panels and then with the side panels whereby the wing portions are finally folded under the central portion of the side panels. The wing portions thereby acquire a fold bias that causes the central portion of each side panel to lean outwardly when the side and end panels are unfolded, allowing the box to have a minimum width at its bottom and still provide adequate lateral clearance for a cat to move about within the box. In preferred embodiment the side and end panels fold to form a box having depth sufficient for containment of and includes cat litter material, the end panels fully cover same and the side panels are fastened to the end panels with purchaser-rupturable adhesive or tap which seals the box.

BACKGROUND 
Disclosure Document No. 241578 dated Dec. 18, 1989, pertains to the subject 
matter hereof and is incorporated herein by reference. 
1. Field of the Invention 
This invention pertains to an improved disposable cat litter box. 
2. Description of the Prior Art 
The conventional cat litter box, purchasable in a pet shop or supermarket, 
comprises a plastic tray (measuring approximately 16" long by 12" wide and 
5" deep) of durable construction intended for long term use and which may 
or may not be provided with a dome-like cover. Conventional practice is 
for the cat owner to purchase a bag of cat litter material the weight and 
bulkiness of which in one's shopping bag one must take into consideration 
if simultaneously making other purchases, especially if not traveling by 
car. At home, the cat owner pours some (or all, depending on bag size 
purchased) of the litter material into the plastic litter box and shakes 
same to evenly distribute it therein (to a minimum useful depth of about 
one inch); the remainder, if any, being kept stored for future use. 
Accordingly, conventional litter boxes must be prepared for use and, after 
each period of use, must be emptied, preferably cleaned and necessarily 
refilled. It is a notoriously unpleasant task, to such degree that it is 
not uncommon for members of the household, particularly the younger ones, 
to dispute whose turn it is to clean the litter box. 
First, of course, as already described, the tray must be prepared for use 
by pouring litter material into it. Unless a dust-suppressing brand of 
litter material is used (costing up to twice as much as the cheapest form 
of the product), a suffocating dust rises when the litter material is 
poured into the tray. The dust must be suffered a second time when the 
tray is emptied, at which time it is especially offensive because it then 
reeks of the cat waste it has absorbed; justifying, for those who can 
afford its running cost, the substantially higher price of litter material 
containing a dust-suppressing additive. 
Volunteers to empty the litter box are frequently difficult to obtain 
because it seldom dumps entirely clean--damp clumps of the used litter 
material will stubbornly stick to the bottom or sides of the tray and can 
be removed only by use of a scraping tool to force the smelly stuff out. 
And sometimes the cat will have missed the litter material altogether and 
deposited feces directly on the sides of the tray or on an area of the 
bottom from which the cat has dug away the litter material in the course 
of characteristically preparing a hole for depositing its waste, 
necessitating an especially unpleasant scraping job and, later, cleaning 
the scraping tool. 
Finally, no matter how thoroughly the assignee scrapes the tray, a foul 
odor will cling to it which can be removed only by washing the tray with a 
disinfectant; a task which, due to its nature, one is unhappy to have to 
do in the kitchen or bathroom sink or tub, or without wearing rubber 
gloves, or using other than a discardable rag or brush set aside 
exclusively for that purpose. 
Liners are available like those used for lining garbage receptacles except 
proportioned to fit a litter box, but such liners are themselves severely 
limited and introduce other problems. As the cat digs the litter material 
and moves it about in the tray, portions of the liner tend to rise above 
the surface of the litter material. The result is that the cat winds up 
depositing urine or feces on the liner where it cannot be dried and 
thereby deodorized by the litter material and one must suffer its smell 
and the cat dirtied by its own waste. Moreover, as the cat digs the litter 
material in an effort to make a hole for depositing its waste, the liner 
is clawed, producing holes and rips some of which will make their presence 
known only when the liner is lifted for discard, at which time dried lumps 
of feces per se as well as feces clumped together with litter material 
will fall onto the floor, imposing a cleanup chore in addition to cleaning 
the litter box. Further, liners for cat litter boxes do not have the tall 
shape that characterizes those used to line trash receptacles but instead 
reflect the flat proportions of the tray. The shallow proportions of a 
litter box liner makes it difficult to fully collect its edges when 
lifting the liner from the tray--there is a tendency for the liner's edges 
to suddenly and expectedly fall away at one or more points (due to the 
inherently heavy weight of clay litter material), again causing spillage 
of material which, by its very nature, is unpleasant to sweep up, 
especially with a broom one uses generally. 
It has previously been proposed to avoid all the limitations described 
above through use of a disposable cat litter box, made of waterproof 
cardboard initially folded into an relatively flat box prepackaged with 
litter material, which, when opened by the purchaser unfolds to form a 
litter box, and which, after its period of use, is discardable in entirety 
together with its added contents. A number of specifically different 
constructions have previously been proposed, most pertinent of which 
appear to be those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,014,292, 4,548,160, 
4,628,863, 4,782,788, 4,788,935 and 4,846,103. But these, and other prior 
proposals, are limited in one or more respects. In some instances the box 
is folded in a rather complicated way which appears to add unnecessarily 
to manufacturing cost and is not instantly usable after opening the box 
because requiring refolding of panels in a certain way (e.g., U.S. Pat. 
Nos. 4,548,160 and 4,628,863). Others introduce inconvenience to the 
extent of requiring erecting the panels and then drawing a plastic bag 
over them (which the cat may tear) to form an enclosed litter box (e.g., 
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,788,935 and 4,846,103). Some provide the litter material 
contained in a plastic bag which must then be emptied into the box (e.g., 
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,014,292 and 4,788,935), or require reliance on accessory 
devices, such as, for example, the brace needed to hold the panels fully 
open as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,014,292. Finally, no prior art is known 
to provide a disposable litter box wherein, when unfolded, the longer side 
panels lean outwardly beyond the width of the box's bottom so that, during 
its period of use, adequate room is provided for the cat to move about 
within the box, but, in folded configuration as when on a store's shelf or 
during storage, the box has more compact proportions. 
Gift boxes are commonly available which comprise similar upper and lower 
parts, one of which parts forms a cover for the other, and both of which 
parts are commonly sold in initially flattened condition for opening by 
the purchaser to form an open-top box and a similar box that is turned 
upside down to form a cover that slidably engages the lower box. Either of 
such boxes provides a rectangular bottom panel (which may be elongated) 
bordered by foldable side and end panels which are initially provided 
folded overlying the bottom panel. Adjacent side and end panels form an 
open-top box having closed corners and the end panels are folded along 
lateral fold lines which are contiguous with diagonal fold lines formed in 
the adjacent side panels, which diagonal fold lines are thereby given a 
certain fold bias. But, the side panels are folded first, and the end 
panels are folded overlying the side panels, which attains a result that 
is the opposite of that attained by the invention disposable litter box. 
In the case of the gift boxes, the fold bias of the diagonal fold lines is 
such that when the side panels are pulled to open position they lean 
inwardly. This is useful for a gift box which comprises two parts because 
it maximizes friction therebetween when the cover part is fully closed 
upon the bottom part, but is not useful for a litter box that comprises 
only one part because the inward lean of the side panels (i) excessively 
reduces the space allotted for the cat to move about within the box, and 
(ii) results in the cat making deposits on the outboard surfaces of the 
side panels. 
A similar limitation characterizes the disposable litter box disclosed in 
U.S. Pat. No. 4,014,292, which most nearly approaches the construction 
disclosed herein, but which depends upon the use of "J-shaped channels . . 
. " to embrace the top edge of each side wall" for the purpose of 
preventing the otherwise inward lean of the side walls toward each other. 
No more pertinent prior art is presently known. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The invention provides a prepackaged, disposable, cat litter box that: 
(1) has an elongated rectangular bottom; 
(2) is made of cardboard for disposability; 
(3) cardboard that is waterproof to resist disintegration by cat waste 
products; 
(4) contains a minimum useful depth of cat litter material sufficient only 
for a short period of use not extended by sifting out of solid waste; 
(5) has opposed side and end panels adjacent ones of which are contiguous 
along their full corresponding height to form an open-top box having fully 
closed corners that prevent throwout of litter material; but which, 
(6) are initially folded over so as to fully cover the litter material and 
form an initially relatively flat box that 
(i) maintains the litter material evenly distributed therein so that no 
dust from the litter material is raised when the box is opened for use, 
and, 
(ii) is compact for minimum-space stocking at point of sale and convenient 
carriage to point of use; 
(7) is secured in closed condition by purchaser-rupturable means; 
(8) has its side and end panels unfoldable to form a box deep enough for 
use as a cat litter box; wherein, 
(9) the side panels lean outwardly to provide--within the context of Item 1 
listed above--sufficient lateral clearance that (i) the cat can freely 
move about within the box and (ii) the cat cannot make any deposit on the 
external side of the side panels; and, 
(10) the side and end panels are refoldable to fully re-cover the litter 
material together with the waste products added by the cat, for (i) 
discard of the box and its total contents, in entirety, (ii) without 
raising raising dust from the used litter material. 
The invention, in its best mode of attainment described above, provides an 
ultimate solution to the problems described above. 
Of course, a lesser solution is offerable--one providing the box without 
the litter material with corresponding loss of convenience and dust being 
raised during filling, and a still-lesser solution providing such a 
non-prepackaged box having its foldable panels closing in a manner not 
fully covering the used contents, with corresponding loss of function to 
the extent of dust being again raised during discard. 
Accordingly, an object of the invention is to provide a disposable 
waterproof cardboard litter box wherein: 
the box is made from a sheet of cardboard that is thin enough to be 
foldable as described below, stiff enough that when the box is opened it 
maintains the desired configuration and plasticized at least on one side 
to resist disintegration by the cat's waste products--cardboard similar to 
that used for making heavier weight cardboard milk containers; 
the sheet of waterproof cardboard defines an elongated bottom panel 
bordered by an opposed pair of foldable side panels and an opposed pair of 
foldable end panels; 
adjacent side and end panels are contiguous along their full corresponding 
height to form a box having four corners rising from the four corners of 
the bottom panel which corners are fully closed to prevent throwout of 
litter material by the cat; 
but wherein: such box is provided in folded condition with its 
above-described closed corners turned outside inward, with its end panels 
folded along a fold line that is contiguous at opposite ends thereof with 
diagonal fold lines formed in the adjacent side panels so that the 
diagonal fold lines have a fold bias that causes the side panels to lean 
outwardly when the side and end panels are pulled to their open or upright 
position, and with its side panels folded overlying the folded end panels. 
A further object is to provide a disposable waterproof cardboard litter box 
as above wherein the foldable end panels in their folded position reach 
each other intermediate the length of the bottom panel and the foldable 
side panels in their folded position reach each other intermediate the 
width of the bottom panel, and wherein fixed side/end panels are 
interposed between the bottom panel and the foldable side/end panels, 
respectively; the fixed side and end panels having a uniform height 
(approx. one inch) suitable for containment of and the box containing 
litter material; the folded foldable side panels being secured to the 
folded foldable end panels by means sealing the package against spillage 
of litter material but easily rupturable by the purchaser at point of 
use--said means being preferably similar to that used to seal the openable 
end of cardboard milk containers, or, alternatively, by means of a tape 
that is to be cut or a tape that includes a tear string. 
The invention disposable litter box in prepackaged embodiment is put to use 
simply by unsealing and pulling open its foldable side and end panels, 
forming a litter box of useful depth with the litter material already in 
it. After its period of use, the foldable end panels are closed first, 
whereby the contents of the box are fully covered, the foldable side 
panels are closed over the folded end panels and, while the box is held 
closed in that manner, it is placed in a trash receptacle. 
No suffocating dust was raised initially because the litter material was 
already in the box and evenly distributed therein. No now smelly dust was 
raised from the used litter material because it is covered by the foldable 
end panels and such coverage is reinforced by the foldable side panels 
when placed in the trash receptacle. Any clawing damage that may have been 
done to the box by the cat is now tolerable because clearly visible on 
cardboard and therefore spillage therefrom easily avoidable merely by 
holding the box appropriately. The previous possibility of touching feces 
stuck to the insides or rim of the box is now eliminated since the box, 
during discard, is handled only by its external surfaces, which are clean, 
and close to cover the soiled inner surfaces. No matter how bad a mess the 
cat has made, the cat owner can now be quite unconcerned, because the box 
is simply closed and discarded in entirety and a new one opened. 
The invention thereby reduces litter box maintenance to a matter merely of 
opening a box and placing it on the floor, and later, closing the box and 
placing it in a trash receptacle--a measure of convenience great to make 
it practical to bring the cat along when traveling, along with several 
such boxes.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
Referring to the accompanying drawings, FIG. 1 shows the invention 
prepackaged waterproof cardboard disposable litter box indicated generally 
as 15 in its sealed condition as it would appear at point of purchase. The 
substantially flat box has foldable end panels 16, 17, and foldable side 
panels 18, 19, which are secured together by purchaser-rupturable 
means--preferably in the same manner as the openable end of a cardboard 
milk carton. The foldable side panels 18, 19, are pulled open first, as 
shown in FIG. 2 (and indicated by the arrows), and then the foldable end 
panels are pulled open. FIG. 3 shows the foldable end panel 16 having been 
pulled open (indicated by the curved arrow) and the foldable end panel 17 
still closed. The foldable end panels are tall enough that in their closed 
position they meet as indicated at 20, FIG. 2 (preferably overlapping and 
being detachably secured together) intermediate the length of the box. 
This provides secure containment of the heavy litter material 21, FIGS. 3 
and 4, until time of use, and coverage of the used litter material at time 
of discard. The box has a special fold, such that, when the foldable side 
and end panels are pulled open, a central portion of the foldable side 
panels leans outwardly, as indicated by the straight arrows in FIG. 3. The 
outward lean of the central portion of the foldable side panels provides 
clearance for the cat, seen in FIG. 4, to move about within the box even 
though the box's bottom panel has a minimum width, and, prevents the cat 
from depositing anything on the outboard surfaces of the side panels. 
The foldable end panels include tabs, which, when the box is closed (by 
reverse fold of its corners) are folded under the central portion of the 
foldable side panels and thereby enhance closure to prevent spillage of 
contents. See FIG. 4 wherein tabs 22, 23, are in opened position, and FIG. 
2 wherein they are in closed position. 
Referring to FIG. 5, the box is made from a sheet of waterproof cardboard 
defining an elongated rectangular bottom panel 24; first and second fixed 
side panels 25, 26, having common border with and extending the length of 
the bottom panel; first and second fixed end panels 27, 28, having common 
border with and extending the width of the bottom panel; first and second 
foldable side panels 18, 19, having common border with and extending the 
length of the first and second fixed side panels 25, 26, respectively; and 
first and second foldable end panels 16, 17, having common border with and 
extending the width of the first and second fixed end panels 28, 27, 
respectively; and finally, tabs 23 and 30 extending fully along one set of 
end panels and tabs 22, 29 likewise arranged with respect to the other set 
of end panels. 
The sheet of cardboard is folded along the dashed lines shown in FIG. 5 and 
the tabs 23, 30, at one end, and the tabs 22, 29, at the other end, 
permanently secured to the adjacent side panels to form the box shown in 
FIG. 6 having adjacent foldable as well as adjacent fixed side and end 
panels permanently contiguous, in this construction, utilizing the tabs. 
Since, the bottom panel 24 describes an elongated rectangle it thereby has 
a length greater than its width. The foldable side panels and foldable end 
panels when folded meet intermediate the length and width, respectively, 
of the bottom panel. The foldable end panels will therefore necessarily 
have an unfolded height greater than the unfolded height of the foldable 
side panels. This is apparent in FIG. 6, where there is a difference in 
height between the foldable end panels and the foldable side panels. The 
tabs span that difference in height; i.e., at each corner of the unfolded 
box, the tab at that corner extends from the elevation of the free edge of 
the foldable end panel to the wing portion of the foldable side panel such 
that the corner is continued upwardly without interruption to the free 
edge of the foldable end panel. 
Referring to FIG. 7, the foldable end panels 16, 17, are folded first, as 
indicated by the arrows in FIG. 7. Each foldable end panel is folded on a 
lateral fold line that intersects at opposite ends thereof with a diagonal 
fold line that is formed in each of the adjacent foldable side panels. The 
diagonal fold lines which are located at opposite ends of each foldable 
side panel (e.g., 36, 33 on foldable side panel 19) being borders of wing 
portions of the foldable side panel between which wing portions a central 
portion of the foldable side panel extends. The novel fold of the box 
causes the wing portions to acquire a fold bias that causes the central 
portion of the foldable side panels to lean outwardly when all the 
foldable panels are in their unfolded position. FIG. 7 shows the foldable 
end panel 16 having been folded along the lateral fold line 31 which 
intersects and cooperates with diagonal fold lines 32, 33, formed in 
adjacent foldable side panels 18, 19, respectively; and foldable end panel 
17 having been folded along the lateral fold line 34 which intersects and 
cooperates with diagonal fold lines 35, 36, formed in adjacent foldable 
side panels 18, 19, respectively. FIGS. 7 and 8 show the free edge 16a of 
foldable end panel 16 overlapping the free edge 17a of foldable end panel 
17; alternatively, the free edges 16a and 17a may be provided merely 
meeting and thereby gain the advantage of a smooth surface (i.e., not 
stepped) which would enhance the seal between same and the foldable side 
panels. FIGS. 7 and 8 show the free edges 16a, 17a, in overlapped 
relationship in order to establish that they might be nonpermanently 
secured together (by means of a purchaser-rupturable adhesive or tape) as 
further means of ensuring a closure absolutely secure against spillage of 
litter material however roughly the package is handled. 
The foldable side panels are folded last, as shown in FIG. 8 wherein the 
foldable side panel 19 has been moved 180 degrees (relative to its 
position in FIG. 7) and is now folded flat overlying the closed foldable 
end panels 16, 17, and nonpermanently secured thereto (by means of a 
purchaser-rupturable adhesive or tape); and the foldable side panel 18 
having been moved only 90 degrees (relative to its position in FIG. 7) and 
waiting to be folded flat against and secured to the foldable end panels 
16, 17. 
Referring to FIG. 9, when the box is opened, the fold bias of the diagonal 
fold lines (and thereby the wing portions) causes the central portion of 
the foldable side panels to lean outwardly, this being indicated by the 
arrows in FIG. 9, causing the box to assume the uniquely useful shape 
shown; the box being shown without the litter material in it. 
The above-described prepackaged waterproof cardboard disposable litter box 
fully eliminates all the inconveniences long suffered by cat owners. 
Alternatively, the box can be provided without the litter material, and 
accordingly, not sealed; the litter material being added by the purchaser. 
Such non-prepackaged disposable litter box [per se] can be provided either 
in the form illustrated in FIGS. 1-9, which form, being inclusive of fixed 
side and end panels, enables closure of the foldable side and end panels 
over the used contents, or, in simpler form as shown in FIGS. 10-12 not 
inclusive of the fixed side and end panels and contents being dumped and 
the box either discarded with its contents or used again, the scoop-like 
configuration effected by the outward lean of the side panels functioning 
to channel contents into a trash receptacle. 
FIG. 10 shows such alternative form of the invention disposable litter box 
initially in flattened configuration with foldable side panels 18', 19', 
closed over foldable end panels 16', 17', in the same manner and with the 
same result as the corresponding elements of the preferred construction 
illustrated in FIGS. 1-9. FIG. 11 illustrates the sheet of waterproof 
cardboard from which such simplified box is formed, wherein dashed lines 
define a bottom panel 24' bordered only by foldable side and end panels 
18', 19', 16', 17', respectively, and tabs 23', 30' on end panel 16' and 
tabs 22', 29' on end panel 17'. FIG. 12 shows the FIG. 11 sheet of 
cardboard finally folded and its corners made contiguous as previously 
described in connection with the preferred embodiment except that the 
diagonal fold lines 32', 33', 35', 36', rise from the bottom panel 24' of 
the box. This alternative embodiment can, of course, be provided having 
its end panels not as tall as shown but instead having a height equal to 
that of the side panels; however, there is advantage to providing them 
taller even in this alternative embodiment--beyond that of serving to 
effect full closure over contents--in that the upper portion of each end 
panel is useful to serve as a handle by which the box can be conveniently 
grasped for movement from one spot to another or for lifting for discard; 
such upper portion of the end panels will normally remain clean and 
thereby safely graspable because too high for the cat to deposit its waste 
on them. 
Finally, being made of cardboard, the invention disposable litter box lends 
itself to printing in various colors; e.g., pastel colors to complement 
bathroom wall tiles, and/or printing with floral or other designs thereon 
for further decorative effect, or printed to simulate wood grain to 
complement wall paneling. In addition, the free edges of the side and end 
panels need not necessarily be provided straight but instead given a 
fanciful shape, an example of which is shown in the illustrated 
embodiments wherein a fanciful shape has been given to the free edges of 
the wing portions of the foldable side panels.