Abstract:
A toy for a cat, which comprises a simulated mouse with a simulated cheese face, presents a continuous attraction for a cat because of the movable nature of the simulated mouse which is propelled during operation of the toy to appear in various locations relative to the simulated cheese face.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     This invention relates to toys for animals and in particular to toys for cats. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     Toys for animals exist in all shapes and sizes. However, the problem with many of these toys is that they lack realism or lasting attractiveness to the animal. Hence, the animal will play with the toy for a little while, but typically become bored and soon require other distractions. This can lead to the undesirable consequence of the animal wandering off or engaging in undesirable activity, such as causing damage or destruction to valuable property. 
     In particular, balls or other objects that are either chewable or allow a cat to grasp them with its claws have often been used as toys for cats. The same problem exists with regard to these cat toys as with other animal toys, in that a cat can soon become bored with the toy due to its lack of relation to any realistic cat activity or attractiveness to the cat, thus causing the cat to wander off or become involved in other destructive or undesirable activities. Thus, there exists a need for a toy for cats with a realistic relation to actual feline activities, which will produce an enduring distraction to continue to attract the cat and cause it to play with the toy on a continuing basis. Such a continuously attractive toy will prevent the cat from wandering off or otherwise engaging in undesirable activities. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention comprises a realistic appearing mouse and cheese apparatus which can provide continuing and realistic amusement for a cat. 
     The invention solves the problems inherent in prior art toys by providing a cat with an attractive and realistic distraction on a continuing basis and which bears a relation to actual feline activities. The cat thus will be amused for long periods of time and will be prevented from wandering off or engaging in other undesirable activities. 
     The object of the invention, therefore, is to provide a realistic and continuing source of amusement for a cat. 
     A further object of the invention is to prevent a cat from wandering about out of the control of its owner or otherwise engaging in undesirable activities, such as damage or destruction to property. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a bottom view of the invention with the base cover of the housing removed. 
     FIG. 1A is a perspective view of the invention with portions of certain components removed to show otherwise hidden components. 
     FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of FIG. 1 taken along section lines  2 — 2 . 
     FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a portion of FIG. 1 taken along section lines  3 — 3 . 
     FIG. 4 is a plan view of the housing for the invention. 
     FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of FIG. 4 taken along section lines  5 — 5 . 
     FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the housing. 
     FIG. 7 is a detailed cross-section view of a portion of FIG. 4 taken along section lines  7 — 7  rotated by 90° clockwise, of a bracket to hold a simulated cheese face in the housing. 
     FIG. 8 is an elevation view of the simulated cheese face. 
     FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of FIG. 8 taken along section lines  9 — 9  in FIG.  8 . 
     FIG. 10 is a bottom view of FIG. 8 taken along section lines  10 — 10 . 
     FIG. 11 is a plan view of the base cover of the invention. 
     FIG. 12 is a plan view of the claw sharpening pad of the invention. 
     FIG. 13 is a plan view of the plunger. 
     FIG. 13A is an elevation view of the plunger with a portion thereof shown in cross-section taken along section lines  13 A— 13 A in FIG.  13 . 
     FIG. 13B is a side view of the plunger taken along section lines  13 B— 13 B in FIG.  13 . 
     FIG. 14 is an elevation view of a wire swing to which a simulated two-headed mouse is attached. 
     FIG. 15 is an elevation view of the simulated two-headed mouse. 
     FIG. 15A is a plan view of FIG. 15 taken along section lines  15 A— 15 A. 
     FIG. 16 is a perspective detail view of an alternate embodiment of the plunger. 
     FIG. 17 is a schematic elevation view of a first alternate embodiment of the pivoting assembly of the invention capable of holding two one-headed mice. 
     FIG. 18 is a schematic elevation view of a second alternate embodiment of the pivoting assembly of the invention capable of holding two two-headed mice. 
     FIG. 19 is a schematic view of an alternate arrangement of pivots supporting multiple wire swings. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Referring to FIG. 1, the invention is shown in assembled and stored form with the flexible tube  12  and bulb  13  being in a stored position in the housing  1 . Of course, for purposes of operation, a user will withdraw the bulb  13  from the hole  34  between the housing  1  and the base cover  14  over which the bulb  13  rests. The user will also withdraw from the housing  1  so much of the flexible tube  12  as is necessary for the user to locate himself or herself at a comfortable distance from the inventive toy. 
     The flexible tube  12  is attached at the other end from the bulb to a tubular projection  20  projecting from the side of the simulated cheese face  2 , (see FIG.  10 ). The plunger pad  9  is attached to the inner surface of the outermost part of the projecting portion  22  of a simulated cheese face  2  from which projecting portion  22  the tubular projection  20  projects, (see FIGS.  2  and  10 ). The plunger pad  9  cushions the end of the plunger  3 , (see FIG.  2 ), if it is pushed to a position in the chamber  24 , (see FIG.  9 ), furthest to the right of centerline A shown in FIG.  1 . The plunger  3  travels within the chamber  24  formed in part by the interior of projection  22 , (see FIGS.  9  and  10 ). The plunger  3  is propelled in the chamber  24  toward the swing  5  by air flowing through the inflatable tube  12  when a user squeezes the bulb  13 , (see FIG.  2 ). The plunger  3  contains, on one portion thereof, an O-ring  16  to insure an air tight seal between the plunger  3  and the walls of the chamber  24 , thus, permitting the air to efficiently propel the plunger  3 , (see FIG.  2 ). 
     The plunger  3  propelled by the air contacts the swing  5  at a lower vertical portion thereof  26  with a flat plunger plate  28 , (see FIGS.  13  and  14 ). The flat plunger plate  28 , however, does not contact the vertical portion  26  of the swing  5  directly since the vertical portion  26  is surrounded by a shock-absorbing sleeve  7  to cushion the impact between the plunger plate  28  and the vertical portion  26  of the swing  5 , (see FIG.  2 ). 
     The swing  5  holds the mouse support sleeve  4  in an outer region  32  surrounded by a vertical  33  and two horizontal  35  legs of the swing  5 , (see FIG.  14 ). The mouse support sleeve  4  has three grooves in the middle of the length of its outer surface, allowing the swing to hold it securely against movement perpendicular to the swing. The three grooves correspond to the vertical  33  and two horizontal legs  35  of the swing  5 . The mouse support sleeve  4  in turn holds the simulated two-headed mouse  11 , (see FIG.  1 ). The swing  5  is held in the housing  1  by two pivots  6  so as to rotate about a fixed axis. The pivots  6  are arranged at the top and bottom of the housing  1  in a manner causing the swing  5 , when held in the pivots  6 , to assume an angle  37  to the horizontal such that the simulated two-headed mouse  11  is displaced vertically upward of a horizontal position of the swing  5 , (see FIG.  2 ). 
     This angle  37  of the swing  5  with the horizontal causes the vertical  33  and the two horizontal  35  legs of the swing  5  to sweep out a surface of revolution, which can be described as a sector of an inclined disk, when the swing  5  rotates about its pivots  6 . Due to the inclination of the revolution of the swing  5  with the horizontal, gravity will necessarily pull the swing to the lowest points in its arc of revolution, namely, the points at which each of the mouse faces of the simulated two-headed mouse  11  protrude from one of the two holes  30  in the simulated cheese face  2 , (see FIGS.  1  and  3 ). Thus, the swing  5  will naturally fall by gravity to one of these two lowest points in its arc of rotation if it is not pushed away from them towards the highest point in its arc of revolution, which is at equal angles  29  to the sides  2   a ,  2   b  of the simulated cheese face  2 , (see FIG.  1 ). 
     The housing  1  is attached to the base cover  14  by screws  15  or other appropriate fasteners, (see FIGS.  2  and  11 ). Cushions  10  are located on each interior side of the simulated cheese face  2  to stop the movement of the swing  5  at the furthest points of its rotation when one of the mouse faces of the simulated two-headed mouse  11  protrudes from one of the two holes  30  in the simulated cheese face  2 , (see FIGS.  1  and  8 ). 
     In order to operate the invention, a user withdraws the bulb  13  from its stored position within the housing  1 , and in addition, withdraws so much of the air tube  12  so that the user can stand at a comfortable distance from the inventive toy. In order for the operation of the toy to have the desired attractive effect on the cat, it is, of course, assumed that the cat is in the general vicinity of the toy so that the cat can notice the toy&#39;s operation. 
     Assuming this is true, the user then begins to squeeze upon the bulb  13 . The air produced by such squeezing will, of course, travel through the air tube  12 , propelling the plunger  3  away from the plunger pad  9  until the plunger plate  28  contacts the shock-absorbing sleeve  7 . The force of the impact between the plunger plate  28  and the shock-absorbing sleeve  7  will force the swing to begin to rotate away from one of its extreme positions locating the simulated two-headed mouse  11  in one of the holes  30  of the simulated cheese face  2 . The angle of the swing  5  with the horizontal guarantees that the simulated two-headed mouse  11  is located such that one of the two mouse heads protrudes from one of the two holes  30  due to the force of gravity on the swing  5  as previously explained. 
     Pressure of the plunger plate  28  against the shock-absorbing sleeve  7  will cause the swing  5  to reach a position  41  at equal angles  29  relative to both sides  2   a ,  2   b  of the cheese face  2  which, as previously explained, is the highest point on the arc of rotation of the swing  5 . When the swing  5  reaches this equiangular position  41  and travels through it, the force of gravity will begin to cause the swing to fall towards the portion of the simulated cheese face  2  containing the hole  30  other than the hole  30  from which the simulated two-headed mouse  11  began to travel when the user began to squeeze the bulb  13 . The falling swing  5 , falling towards the second hole  30  in the simulated cheese face  2 , will cause the shock-absorbing sleeve  7  to push against the plunger plate  28 , thus causing the plunger  3  to be forced backward toward the plunger pad  9  until the simulated two-headed mouse  11  has completed one rotational motion, and one head of the simulated two-headed mouse  11  appears at the second hole  30  of the simulated cheese face  2 . 
     The user, by continuously squeezing the bulb  13 , with a certain minimum time interval between squeezes of the bulb  13 , can cause a cyclic rotational motion of the simulated two-headed mouse  11 , the cyclic rotational motion alternating in opposite directions. In such a case, opposite heads of the simulated two-headed mouse  11  will appear alternately at one hole  30  in the simulated cheese face  2  and then the other hole  30  in continuous succession and alternation, as long as the user presses upon the bulb  13 . 
     The minimum time interval between squeezes of the bulb  13  previously referred to will produce the fastest cyclic rotational motion possible. As the time interval between squeezes of the bulb  13  increases from this minimum time interval the cyclic rotational motion will slow down until, at some very slow rate of squeezing the bulb  13 , the simulated two-headed mouse  11  will not move at all. 
     If the user squeezes on the bulb  13  with greater rapidity than that producing the fastest cyclic rotational motion previously mentioned, the squeezes on the bulb  13  will be insufficient to cause the simulated two-headed mouse  11  to reach the equiangular position  41  at the highest point of the rotation of the two-headed mouse  11  and, thus, the simulated two-headed mouse  11  will appear intermittently only at one hole  30  in the simulated cheese face  2 . As the user squeezes on the bulb  13  with ever greater rapidity, the time intervals between intermittent appearance of the simulated two-headed mouse  11  at the same hole  30  will grow ever shorter until a very high rate of squeezing on the bulb  13  will result in the simulated two-headed mouse  11  only vibrating at the same hole  13 , but otherwise not moving, which should appear to a cat as a quivering mouse. 
     The simulated two-headed mouse  11  moves less and less as the user squeezes on the bulb  13  with increasing rapidity beyond the rapidity still producing the cyclic rotational motion since, with every release of the bulb  13 , a suction force on the air in the air tube  12  is created. This suction force pulls the plunger  3  back from the motion of the plunger  3  in the other direction caused by the squeeze on the bulb  13  preceding its release. Thus, an increasing rapidity of squeezing on the bulb  13  will cause an increasing number of suction forces on the plunger  3  in a given time interval impeding to an increasing extent any forward pushing motion of the plunger  3  against the swing  5 . This increasing impedance of the pushing motion of the plunger  3  against the swing  5  will result in the swing  5  and the simulated two-headed mouse  11  held by the swing  5  moving less and less, with the results described in the previous paragraph. 
     Such an alternating appearance of a mouse head at both holes  30 , intermittent appearance of a mouse head at the same hole  30 , or vibration of a mouse head at a hole  30 , should be a continuous attraction to any cat happening to be nearby. The cat may also contribute to the motion of the simulated two-headed mouse  11  by pushing upon the then protruding mouse head with its paws, head or teeth, as it is quite likely to do once attracted by the simulated two-headed mouse  11 . Such pushing by the cat will itself induce motion of the simulated two-headed mouse  11  without further intervention by the user, and, in all likelihood, the cat will probably continue to amuse itself with the toy for quite some time. The toy has a further attraction for the cat, since it contains a claw-sharpening pad  8  mounted in a recess  39  in the housing  1  opposite the simulated cheese face  2 , (see FIGS.  2  and  6 ), for the cat to use. 
     Of course, the use of a simulated two-headed mouse  11  is not meant to be limiting in any way. A simulated mouse with a head and a tail may also be used since a cat may well be attracted even to a realistic mouse tail. 
     Insofar as the mouse head or tail protrudes from a hole  30  in the simulated cheese face  2 , this presents an opportunity for the cat to pull upon the mouse head or tail and this could result in scratching or other damage to the mouse head or tail, while defeating the movement of the simulated mouse which is the basis for the continuing amusement potential of the toy. Such a problem is partially alleviated by the presence of the cushions  10 . The cushions  10  have an elastic nature since they cushion and normally stop the movement of the swing  5  at its furthest points of rotation, as previously mentioned. Once a cat begins pulling on the simulated mouse, the swing  5  will further compress the cushion  10  on which it is resting. Upon release of the simulated mouse by the cat, the cushion  10  will expand, propelling the simulated mouse backward away from the hole. This elastic effect of the cushions  10  may be increased by replacing them with flat springs instead of the cushions which are made of spongy or foamy material. In any case, once a simulated mouse has become too worn because of contact with the teeth or claws of a cat, it can easily be replaced by removing the base cover  14  from the housing  1 , removing the swing  5  from the pivots  6 , removing the old simulated mouse from the swing  5 , placing a new simulated mouse in the swing  5 , setting the swing  5  back in the pivots  6 , and reattaching the base cover  14  to the housing  1 . 
     Moreover, the realistic quality of the toy could be enhanced by the addition of a mechanism which will produce a sound simulating a sound made by a mouse when the plunger moves or otherwise vibrates. Such a mechanism could, for instance, comprise a grooved plate  43  mounted on the top of the plunger plate  28 , (see FIG.  16 ). As the plunger plate  28  moves or vibrates, the end of a thin metal or other type of flexible and elastic plate  45  engaging the grooves in the grooved plate  43  would be moved back and forth, emitting a sound resembling the sound made by a mouse. 
     The fact that one simulated two-headed mouse  11  has heretofore been described as being held on the swing  5  should not be construed as limiting. It can easily be conceived that one or more additional simulated two-headed mice  11  could be held on the swing  5  at different one or more smaller radii from the two pivots  6  than the outermost two-headed mouse  11  by merely shaping the swing  5  to hold the additional simulated two-headed mice  11 . Of course, for each additional simulated two-headed mouse  11  added to the swing  5 , an additional pair of holes should be made in the simulated cheese face  2 . Such a change in the mouse and cheese cat toy will simply have the result of the cat seeing two or more mice appearing at two or more holes in the simulated cheese face  2  at one time. 
     Other possible variations of the inventive cat toy involving more than one simulated mouse can easily be imagined if more than one swing  5  is included in the inventive toy. Examples of such variations are shown in FIGS. 17 and 18. 
     In particular, FIG. 17 shows two swings  5   a  and  5   b  of equal size with pivot assemblies pivoted about separated pivot axes. One swing  5   b  has a larger diameter shock absorbing sleeve  7   b  than the other swing  5   a , which has a shock absorbing sleeve  7   a  of smaller diameter. Since swing  5   b  has a larger diameter shock absorbing sleeve  7   b , the shock absorbing sleeve  7   b  will be struck by the plunger before shock absorbing sleeve  7   a , and thus, swing  5   b  will be set into rotating motion prior to swing  5   a . This will allow swing  5   b  to traverse a greater angle than swing  5   a  and allow swing  5   b  to push swing  5   a  back to its original position, resulting in the simulated mouse held by swing  5   b  to be held in back of swing  5   a , thus not appearing at the hole in which the mouse held by swing  5   a  appears. Depending on the duration and force with which the plunger subsequently contacts swing  5   a , swing  5   a  and  5   b  can be pushed over to the other hole in which the mouse held by swing  5   b  will only appear or only the swing  5   b  will travel to the other hole in which the mouse held by it will appear, while the swing  5   a  will return to the hole from which it began to travel, thereby resulting in one mouse at each hole, the condition shown in FIG.  17 . 
     Due to the fact that the simulated mouse held by each of the swings  5   a  and  5   b  cannot thus appear at both holes, only a simulated one-headed mouse is necessary for each swing. The different diameters of shock absorbing sleeve  7   a  and  7   b  are necessary to allow the simulated mice to appear at either hole. Equal diameter shock absorbing sleeves would result in the situation where both swings  5   a  and  5   b  would meet midway in their rotational travel between the holes in the simulated cheese face  2 , colliding at that midway point and returning to the respective holes from which the swings began to move. 
     Although each swing  5   a  and  5   b  is shown as holding only one simulated mouse in FIG. 17, it may easily be conceived that each swing  5   a  and  5   b  can hold two or more simulated mice simply by slightly changing the contour of each swing to accommodate the one or more additional simulated mice at lesser radii than the first simulated mouse, and by adding holes in the simulated cheese face. Furthermore, although only a pair of swings of equal radii are shown in FIG. 17, it may easily be imagined that one or more pairs of swings, each member of an additional pair of swings being of equal radius to the radius of the other member of the pair, but of lesser radius than the first pair of swings, may be nested within the first pair of swings. 
     FIG. 18 shows a second alternate embodiment of the pivoting assembly of the invention. In this embodiment, there are also two swings  5   c  and  5   d , but the swings  5   c  and  5   d  are of different radii, resulting in swing  5   d  nesting within swing  5   c  in comparison to swings  5   a  and  5   d , which are of equal radii and thus, cannot nest one within the other. The swings  5   c  and  5   d , however, are similar to swings  5   a  and  5   b , in that one of the shock absorbing sleeves  7   d  on swing  5   d  is of larger diameter than the diameter of shock absorbing sleeve  7   c  on swing  5   c , similar to swing shock absorbing sleeve  7   b , which is of larger diameter than swing shock absorbing sleeve  7   a . The larger diameter shock absorbing sleeve  7   d thus guarantees that swing  5   d  will be contacted by the plunger before the plunger contacts shock absorbing sleeve  7   c . The holes in FIG. 18 may be either separated or one elongated hole to accommodate the heads of the two simulated mice. 
     In addition, since the mice are at different radii with respect to the center of the simulated cheese face, and, thus, can appear at holes on both sides of the center of the simulated cheese face, two-headed simulated mice may be desirable, as previously described for the embodiment of the pivoting assembly with only one swing. Only one-headed mice, may be insufficient, in contrast to the case with the embodiment shown in FIG. 17, where one simulated mouse could not appear at holes on both sides of the center of the simulated cheese face. Although only two wire swings are shown nested, one within the other, in FIG. 18, it may easily be imagined that three or more wire swings may be used in a nested arrangement, the number of swings being limited only by the amount of radial distance from the center of the cheese face to the outermost wire swing and the size of the simulated mice desired to be used. In such a case, of course, the number of simulated two-headed mice may be increased accordingly. 
     Finally, although FIG.  17  and FIG. 18 show an arrangement of pivots for the wire swings where the pivot axis of each wire swing is offset one from the other, FIG. 19 indicates an alternate arrangement of those pivots where the pivots are arranged such that they are on a common pivot axis. 
     Other variations of this invention will easily suggest themselves to persons of ordinary skill in the art. For instance, the bulb  13  and the air tubing  12  suitable for manual operation of the toy by a user may easily be conceived to be replaced by an automatic air pump which can be activated or deactivated by user and will thus cause the toy to operate automatically. Furthermore, the toy&#39;s attractiveness to a cat would probably be greatly enhanced if the simulated cheese face  2  could be imbued with an artificial cheese smell and the simulated two-headed mouse  11  could be imbued with an artificial smell resembling the odor of a mouse. Additionally, the simulated two-headed mouse  11  could be colored in two colors, one color for each half length of the mouse so that two different mice would appear to a cat to be emerging at each hole  30 .