Abstract:
An electric feline play center having a tunnel, sized for a cat to fit through, a scratching post with a hanging chew toy and an electronic ball tube wherein a fan blows colored balls around within a mesh tube, devised to occupy one or more cats without need of the pet owners direct presence.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    The present invention relates generally to a feline play center. More specifically, the present invention relates to an electric feline play center.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    Felines, cats, not only have physical needs such as food, water, exercise and shelter, but they also have the emotional need for companionship and entertainment. Automated food feeders and full water bowls will work to fulfill the cat&#39;s physical needs when its owner is away. The emotional needs of a cat are hard to provide for when the owner is away at work or on vacation or is just plain busy and does not have time to play with the cat one evening. Fulfilling the emotional needs of a feline is even more important in a kitten that may find itself alone for the very first time in its life. Insecurity in animals can often lead to negative behavior and destructive habits such as clawing and scratching furniture, carpets, climbing curtains, etc. Accordingly, a need exists for a means by which cats can be provided with behaviorally acceptable entertainment to occupy them when their owner is away. The present invention fulfills this need.  
           [0003]    Many non-electrical entertainment devices for felines have been invented. U.S. Pat. No. 5,829,390 issued to Jonilla et al. discloses a door-mounted, scratch, exercise and perch structure for cats. U.S. Pat. No. 4,177,763 issued to Cook discloses a cat scratching post assembly. U.S. Pat. No. 3,604,397 issued to Salerno discloses and cat perch and exercise pole. U.S. Design Pat. No. Des. 386,839 issued to Jennus discloses a cat scratching post covered with the backside of carpeting. U.S. Design Pat. No. Des. 334,637 issued to Mitchell discloses a cat scratching post. As mentioned, all of these inventions require manual stimulation by the feline or the feline&#39;s owner. None of the above inventions incorporate electricity to initiate the interest of the feline allowing the feline to be amused by the device while the owner is away. The present invention does.  
           [0004]    As do the following: U.S. Pat. No. 6,058,887 issued to Silverman discloses a cat amusement device that mimics a flying bird. U.S. Pat. No. 5,913,750 issued to Smithback, discloses a feline treadmill. U.S. Pat. No. 5,657,721 issued to Mayfield et al., also discloses an electronic device that mimics the potential prey of a feline. None of these inventions incorporate the movement or color of the present invention needed not only to attract the attention of a feline, but to keep it.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0005]    The present invention, the electric feline play center, is used to entertain feline pets while a pet owner is busy with other things or is away at work or on vacation. The electric feline play center mixes traditional feline entertainment and functional devices with an electrical feature devised to attract and keep the attention of a feisty feline. The device has a base that allows easy portability. Connected to the base, in the preferred embodiment, is a cat scratching post atop of which is a chew toy mobile that is connected to the scratching post allowing the feline to bat the toy around with its paws. The base further has a tunnel connected thereto that is large enough for the feline to walk through. Lastly, the base has a mesh ball tube that has an electric fan at one end for blowing colored balls up in the air, thus attracting the attention of the cat to the electric feline play center.  
           [0006]    It is an object of the present invention to provide a play center for felines that attracts and keeps the attention of felines whether their owner is present or away.  
           [0007]    It is a further object of the present invention to provide a safe play center for felines. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0008]    The advantages and features of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following more detailed description and claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like elements are identified with like symbols, and in which:  
         [0009]    [0009]FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the electric feline play center.  
         [0010]    [0010]FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the scratch post and mobile.  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the tunnel.  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the ball tube.  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 5 is atop view of the ball tube without any balls therein, thus revealing the fan/blower mechanism. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0014]    The preferred embodiment of the present invention, the electric feline play center  10 , is shown in FIG. 1. The electric feline play center  10  is devised from a number of different pieces. In the preferred embodiment, the electric feline play center  10  has a base  20 , a scratch post  30  with a mobile  35 , a tunnel  40 , and a ball tube  50 . One of ordinary skill in the art would readily recognize that the electric feline play center  10  could have any number of different pieces as long as it includes the main feline attraction, the ball tube  50 .  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 2 illustrates the scratch post  30  of the preferred embodiment. In its preferred embodiment, the scratch post  30  is a cylindrical post  38  made out of any durable material such as wood, metal or plastic and covered with carpeting  36 . The carpeting  36  can be of any type and any color. One of ordinary skill in the art would readily recognize the most prudent types of carpet to use and would further recognize that rope, twine, bare wood, etc. can be used to create a scratching surface for cats instead of carpet. The bottom of the scratch post  30  is attached to the base  20 . It is preferred that the scratch post  30  be nailed to the base  20 , but it can be attached in any number of different ways including being removably screwed into the base  20 , glued onto the base  20 , etc. It is preferred that the base  20  is made from a durable material such as wood, metal or plastic and is covered with carpet of a type and color desired by the user or manufacturer. One of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that the base  20  need not be covered by carpet or any material, but can be covered by a number of different materials including fabric. Atop the scratch post  30  is a mobile  35 . It is preferred that said mobile  35  can be attached such that it can be manually rotated by the cats. One of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that the mobile  35  has a number of feline chew toys  34  suspended in the air on springs  32 . The springs  32  are securely fastened to the extension posts  37  of the mobile  35  such that the user cat can bat or chew on the chew toy  34  without pulling the chew toy  34  or the spring  32  loose from the extension posts  37 .  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 3 shows the tunnel  40  of the preferred embodiment. It is preferred that the tunnel  40  be cylindrical in shape and be constructed from a clear, transparent plastic. One of ordinary skill in the art would recognize; however, that the tunnel  40  need not be clear or transparent, it can be rectangular in shape and can be made out of any number of materials, including, but not limited to, wood. In the preferred embodiment, the inside, bottom of the tunnel  40  is carpeted. It is further preferred that the tunnel  40  be coupled to supports  42  that are in turn coupled to the base  20  such that the tunnel  40  is not lying directly on the base  20  although one of ordinary skill in the art would realize that the tunnel  40  can be couple directly to the base  20 . The supports  42  can be of any design and can be made of any material, wood, plastic, metal, etc. that is durable enough to support the weight of at least two felines together with the weight of the tunnel  40  so that it does not collapse. It is preferred that the supports  42  be of such a height to allow a cat to lay underneath the tunnel  40 .  
         [0017]    FIG&#39;s.  4  and  5  illustrate the ball tube  50 . In the preferred embodiment, the ball tube  50  is a vertical cylindrical mesh tube  54 . The mesh should be tight enough so that a feline can barely fit a claw through. This prevents the cats from having access to the balls  56  within the mesh tube  54  and from having access to the blade of the electric fan  52  within the ball tube  50 . The ball tube  50  has a small electrical fan  52  that is connected to a motor (not shown), much like a small portable hand held fan or a small fan used in a computer to cool the components thereof, located at the bottom of the ball tube  50 . The motor is electrically wired such that it can be turned on and off by plugging and unplugging the device into a standard electrical outlet. In an alternative embodiment, the ball tube  50  has a timer such that the ball tube  50  will automatically shut off at the set time. Within the mesh tube  54  are a number of colored balls  56 . The balls  56  are preferably made out of cloth or yarn and can be any color imaginable. One of ordinary skill in the art would readily recognize that the balls  56  need not be made out of cloth or yarn, but can be made out of any material that is light enough to allow the fan  52  to lift the balls up into the air within the mesh tube  54 . It is preferred that the mesh tube  54  has a cover  55 , made out of mesh, plastic, etc., to prevent the balls  56  from being blown out of the mesh tube  54 . In the preferred embodiment, the cover  55  is removable to allow the owner access to replace or add more balls. The fan  52  is preferably housed in a housing  53  that prevents the balls  56  from ever touching the blades of the fan  52 .  
         [0018]    Although this invention has certain preferred embodiments, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the invention, and all such changes and modifications are intended to fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.