Abstract:
The present invention includes an apparatus for effectively removing all solid waste and clumped material from a cat litter container. The apparatus, a scoop, includes a basket portion and a handle. The bed of the basket incorporates a slotted sifting array which allows the user to sift solid waste and clumped material from clean cat litter. More particularly, the bed of the basket consists of a horizontally-slotted, moveable sheet which is positioned below an identically-slotted, fixed sheet in the bed of the basket portion of the scoop. The handle contains a thumb button connected by a mechanical linkage within the handle to the moveable sheet, which allows the user to adjust the size of the slotted sifting elements found in the bed of the scoop&#39;s basket to facilitate the capture of solid waste and clumped material and preservation of clean cat litter.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    The field of the present invention relates generally to cat litter scoops employed in the process of removing waste material from a cat litter container, and more particularly to a cat litter scoop for removing waste material from what is known as “clumping” or “scoopable” cat litter, as well as one capable of sifting a wide variety of cat litters consisting of litter grains of varying sizes.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    Until the last several years, cat litter scoops were used only to remove solid, feline feces. Since the advent of the more modern and expensive clumping cat litter, however, they have been used to remove urine as well.  
           [0003]    A cat litter scoop generally includes a handle portion and a containment or basket portion. The containment portion may consist of openings in either a slot or mesh structure through which cat litter can be filtered.  
           [0004]    To use a known cat litter scoop with clumping cat litter, one scoops the clumped material and clean cat litter into the basket portion. The scoop is then shaken to separate the clumped material from the clean litter so that the clean litter falls through the slot or mesh-style openings. The solid waste material remaining in the scoop is then discarded.  
           [0005]    Prior art scoops do not effectively separate all clumped material from clean litter. A problem with slotted scoops, when used with scoopable litter, is that both clean litter and small litter clumps can fall through the slots.  
           [0006]    Scoops which incorporate a basket with a mesh bottom or bed generally use a mesh that is too large, so that both clean litter and clumped material can fall through the scoop. In addition, scoops that use a smaller mesh in the bed of the basket capture too much of the expensive clean litter which, in turn, is discarded along with the clumped material.  
           [0007]    Another common problem in connection with the sifting of cat litter is that the grain size of cat litter varies from brand to brand, making it difficult to effectively sift a variety of types of litter without the aid of a scoop with adjustable sifting elements.  
           [0008]    Thus, there is a need for a scoop with adjustable sifting elements which can capture clumped and other waste material effectively and preserve expensive, clean litter, as well as one which can effectively filter a variety of cat litters of a wide range of grain sizes.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0009]    The present invention overcomes the foregoing issues by employing an adjustable scooping mechanism. Specifically, the present invention addresses these issues by readily adjusting to effectively capture solid waste and clumped material and preserve expensive, clean litter.  
           [0010]    Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to more effectively capture clumped material in a cat litter scoop.  
           [0011]    It is a further object of the present invention to facilitate the separation of solid waste material from clean litter for a wide variety of litter types.  
           [0012]    In one embodiment, the present invention includes an apparatus for effectively removing all solid waste and clumped material from a cat litter container. The apparatus, a scoop, includes a basket portion and a handle. The bed of the basket incorporates a slotted sifting array which allows the user to sift solid waste and clumped material from clean cat litter. More particularly, the bed of the basket comprises a horizontally-slotted, moveable sheet which is positioned below a similarly-slotted, fixed sheet in the bed of the basket portion of the scoop. The handle houses an activation mechanism such as a thumb button connected by a mechanical linkage within the handle to the moveable sheet, which allows the user to adjust the size of the slotted sifting elements found in the bed of the scoop&#39;s basket to enhance the scoop&#39;s ability to capture solid waste and clumped material and to preserve clean cat litter.  
           [0013]    The foregoing advantages and features are of representative embodiments only and are presented only to assist in understanding the invention. It should be understood that they are not intended to be considered limitations on the invention as defined by the claims, or limitations on equivalents to the claims. Therefore, this summary of features and advantages should not be considered dispositive in determining equivalence. Additional features and advantages of the invention will become apparent in the following description, from the drawings and from the claims. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0014]    The accompanying drawings illustrate certain embodiments of the invention.  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 1 is a diagram depicting the scoop according to the present invention.  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 2 is a side view of the scoop of FIG. 1.  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 3 is an inner structural view of the scoop of FIG. 1.  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 4A is a side view of the sifting arrays of the present invention.  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 4B is a top view of the scoop of FIG. 1 with the sifting arrays arranged as in FIG. 4A.  
         [0020]    [0020]FIG. 5A is a side view of the sifting arrays of the present invention.  
         [0021]    [0021]FIG. 5B is a top view of the scoop of FIG. 1 with the sifting arrays arranged as in FIG. 5A.  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0022]    [0022]FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of a scoop  100  according to the present invention. The scoop  100  includes a containment or basket portion  200  and a handle  300 . The scoop  100  can be made of plastic, metal or other equivalent material. The handle  300  is preferably rounded and contoured to fit a user&#39;s hand for comfort and stability. The handle  300  includes an activation mechanism which in this embodiment is a thumb button  800  which is used to adjust a sifting array  600  via a moveable sheet  900  (shown in FIG. 2). The sifting array  600  is embedded into the bed or base  1300  (shown in FIG. 2) of the containment portion  200  and includes slots, hereinafter called “sifting elements”, to sift or strain solid waste and clumped material from clean cat litter. The sifting elements  700 , which are located in the sifting array  600  and the moveable sheet  900 , are positioned symmetrically and equidistant from each other on the sifting array  600  and the moveable sheet  900 , respectively. The back or rear panel  500  and the side panels  400  of the containment portion  200  are of a material (preferably a solid material) through which cat litter won&#39;t pass and which will provide support for the scooping action. The rear panel  500  also serves to prevent the clumped material from being sifted back to the user&#39;s arm or hand.  
         [0023]    [0023]FIG. 2 shows a side view of the invention according to the illustrative embodiment. Thumb button  800  is situated on the exterior of the handle  300 . Located beneath the thumb button  800  is a thumb button opening  1200 . The thumb button opening  1200  permits horizontal reciprocation of the thumb button  800  for facilitating the back and forth sliding movement of moveable sheet  900  in either direction as shown by the arrow  1500 . The thumb button opening  1200  is situated above the thumb button housing  1000 . The thumb button housing  1000  contains a mechanical linkage  1100  which extends from the thumb button opening  1200  to the moveable sheet  900  which is located below the sifting array  600  and connects the thumb button  800  to the moveable sheet  900 . The mechanical linkage  1100  within the thumb button housing  1000  is designed to facilitate connectivity between the thumb button  800  and the moveable sheet  900 . Since the mechanical linkage  1100  is connected to the thumb button  800  and the moveable sheet  900 , a user can easily adjust the moveable sheet  900  by pushing the thumb button  800  forward or rearward, which action will move the moveable sheet  900  into chambers  1400 A and  1400 B, respectively. The mechanical linkage  1100  can be, for example, a cable, wire, rod, or other system able to move in one and an opposite direction. Chambers  1400 A and  1400 B are located in the bed  1300  of the containment portion  200  and they terminate the forward or rearward progress of the moveable sheet  900  at the front and rear portions, respectively, of the bed  1300  of the containment portion  200 .  
         [0024]    [0024]FIG. 3 illustrates another aspect of the invention which aids in sifting solid waste and clumped material from clean litter. FIG. 3 is the front view of the scoop  100  of FIG. 1 with the front portion of the bed  1300  of the containment portion  200  removed. A pair of parallel guide tracks  1600 A and  1600 B is located in the bed  1300  of the containment portion  200 . The parallel guide tracks  1600 A and  1600 B secure the moveable sheet  900  to the scoop  100 . The parallel guide tracks  1600 A and  1600 B enable the moveable sheet  900  to be slid forward and rearward while being secured in the scoop  100 . The parallel guide tracks  1600 A and  1600 B terminate the forward or rearward progress of the moveable sheet  900  at the front and rear portions of the bed  1300  of the containment portion  200 , respectively.  
         [0025]    Referring now to FIG. 4A, sifting array  600  and moveable sheet  900  are positioned directly on top of each other. The sifting array  600  and the moveable sheet  900  are in the position shown in FIG. 4A when the thumb button  800  is centered. The sifting elements  700  of the sifting array  600  and the moveable sheet  900  are aligned with each other, thereby creating an opening for clean litter to fall through.  
         [0026]    [0026]FIG. 4B illustrates a top view of the sifting elements  700  when the sifting array  600  and the moveable sheet  900  are positioned as in FIG. 4A. When the sifting array  600  and the moveable sheet  900  are positioned in this manner, the openings formed by the sifting elements  700  are at their largest size.  
         [0027]    [0027]FIG. 5A illustrates the position of the sifting array  600  and the moveable sheet  900  when the thumb button  800  is pushed slightly rearward. Here, the sifting elements  700  of the sifting array  600  and the moveable sheet  900  are not aligned with each other, thus forming openings for the clean litter to fall through which are smaller than the openings illustrated in FIG. 4B.  
         [0028]    [0028]FIG. 5B illustrates a top view of the sifting elements  700  when the sifting array  600  and the moveable sheet  900  are positioned as in FIG. 5A. When the sifting array  700  and the moveable sheet  900  are positioned in this manner, the sifting elements  700  decrease in size, as identified by the area marked  1700 . If the thumb button  800  is pushed completely forward or completely rearward, the sifting elements  700  of the sifting array  600  and the moveable sheet  900  will be completely closed.  
         [0029]    A common problem in connection with the removal of clumped material from a cat litter container is that the clumped material breaks into smaller pieces of debris which can fall back into the litter box. The present invention provides a solution to this problem in that the thumb button  800  can adjust the moveable sheet  900  when pushed forward or rearward. Unlike prior art, this allows the clumped material and clean litter to be sifted without allowing smaller clumps of debris that break off to fall back into the litter box.  
         [0030]    For example, after scooping up a cat litter mixture containing both clumped material and clean litter, a user will shake the scoop to facilitate the sifting of clean litter from the scoop and the retention of clumped material and other waste products. If, however, clumped material breaks up into smaller debris during the shaking/sifting process, it may fall back into the cat litter container. The present invention enables a user to adjust the size of the sifting elements  700  by using the thumb button  800  to capture clumped material which has broken into smaller debris. This occurs when the user pushes the thumb button  800  forward or rearward. By pushing the thumb button  800  forward or rearward, the size of the sifting elements  700  decreases, thus enabling the capture of clumped material which has broken into smaller debris.  
         [0031]    Another common problem in connection with the sifting of cat litter is that the grain size of cat litter varies from brand to brand, making it difficult to effectively sift a variety of types of litter without the aid of a scoop with adjustable sifting elements. The present invention provides a solution to this problem in that the thumb button  800  can be used to adjust the size of the sifting elements  700  when pushed forward or rearward. Unlike prior art, this allows litter of a variety of grain sizes to be sifted from waste materials.  
         [0032]    For example, after scooping up a cat litter mixture containing both waste products and clean litter, the user will shake the scoop in order to facilitate the removal of clean litter from the scoop. If the size of the sifting elements is either too small or too large in comparison to the grain size of the particular litter used, either the clean litter will be discarded (if the size of the sifting elements is too small) or clumped or other waste materials will fall back into the litter container (if the size of the sifting elements is too large). The present invention enables a user to adjust the size of the sifting elements  700  via the thumb button  800  in order to filter and thus preserve clean litter of a variety of grain sizes. This occurs when the user pushes the thumb button  800  forward or rearward. By pushing the thumb button  800  forward or rearward, the size of the sifting elements  700  can be decreased and clean litter of varying grain sizes can be filtered effectively.  
         [0033]    In an alternative embodiment, scoop  100  further includes a contoured lip attached to the front of containment portion  200  in order to facilitate scooping of the cat litter.  
         [0034]    In another embodiment, scoop  100  includes a removable lip.  
         [0035]    In a further embodiment, scoop  100  includes a handle which is at a slight angle with respect to the containment portion  200  so as to provide a comfortable grip and wrist position for ease in manipulating the scoop.  
         [0036]    In a further embodiment, the scoop  100  includes a one piece thumb button connected directly to the moveable sheet.  
         [0037]    In other variants, the size, shape, and pattern of the sifting elements  700  can be varied.  
         [0038]    In an alternative embodiment, the activation mechanism can be implemented as a trigger, thumb-wheel or the like, to achieve the back and forth sliding movement of moveable sheet  900 .  
         [0039]    In another variant, the thumb button opening  1200  can be designed to permit vertical reciprocation of the thumb button  800  for facilitating the sliding movement of the moveable sheet  900 .  
         [0040]    In another variant, the scoop  100  could be designed such that when the thumb button  800  is pushed completely forward or completely rearward, the sifting elements  700  of the sifting array  600  and the moveable sheet  900  are completely open.  
         [0041]    In another embodiment, the scoop  100  could be designed such that the moveable sheet  900  can be removed from the front of the bed  1300  of the containment portion  200  for cleaning and replacement purposes.  
         [0042]    It should be understood that the above description is only representative of illustrative embodiments. For the convenience of the reader, the above description has focused on a representative sample of all possible embodiments, a sample that demonstrates the principles of the invention. The description has not attempted to exhaustively enumerate all possible variations. That alternate embodiments may not have been presented for a specific portion of the invention, or that further undescribed alternate embodiments may be available for all or any portion of the invention, is not to be considered a disclaimer of those alternate embodiments. It can be appreciated that many of those undescribed embodiments are within the literal scope of the following claims, and that others are equivalent.