Patent Document

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a extremely compact, lightweight animal feces collection device adapted to provide ease, speed, and a hygienic method for feces collection on both grassy and gravelly terrains. More particularly, to a portable device for the sanitary collection of animal feces designed to provide a moderate distance between the animal feces and the pet owner. 
     The American populace is replete with pets. More and more condos and apartments are now allowing pets. This means more and more pet owners have to walk their pet in public areas. Hand bagging feces is uncomfortable for many and the use of brooms/shovels and dustpans require sanitary storage and cleaning. Simply stated, the conventional methods of feces collection are distasteful to most. Henceforth, a lightweight, inexpensive, feces collection device that could be easily cleansed would fulfill a long felt need in the industry. This new invention utilizes and combines known and new technologies in a unique and novel configuration to overcome the aforementioned problems and accomplish this. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The general purpose of the present invention, which will be described subsequently in greater detail, is to provide a feces collection device that is able to collect animal feces in grassy or gravelly areas, for disposal or internal bagging for later disposal, in a sanitary method. It has many of the advantages mentioned heretofore and many novel features that result in a new animal feces collection device which is not anticipated, rendered obvious, suggested, or even implied by any of the prior art, either alone or in any combination thereof. 
     In accordance with the invention, an object of the present invention is to provide an improved feces collection device capable of completely scooping up animal feces and collecting it in a washable enclosure which can then be dumped directly into a waste receptacle or stored in a polymer bag inside the device for eventual removal. 
     It is another object of this invention to provide an improved feces collection device with an integrated water jet cleaning system. 
     It is a further object of this invention to provide an improved feces collection device that does not require the user to “stoop to scoop” and is capable of collecting both solid and semi solid feces. 
     It is still a further object of this invention to provide for an improved feces collection device having a quickly adjustable scoop to accommodate different heights of grassy terrains. 
     It is yet a further object of this invention to provide a feces collection device that is compact, lightweight and highly steerable that has an internal cavity with a surface treatment designed for ease of cleaning. 
     The subject matter of the present invention is particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the concluding portion of this specification. However, both the organization and method of operation, together with further advantages and objects thereof, may best be understood by reference to the following description taken in connection with accompanying drawings wherein like reference characters refer to like elements. Other objects, features and aspects of the present invention are discussed in greater detail below. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a front side perspective view of the feces collection device; 
         FIG. 2  is a top view of the feces collection device; 
         FIG. 3  is a front view of the feces collection device; 
         FIG. 4  is a left side view of the feces collection device with the tilting, telescoping handle fully extended; 
         FIG. 5  is a left side view of the feces collection device with the tilting, telescoping handle retracted; 
         FIG. 6  is a rear view of the feces collection device; 
         FIG. 7  is a right side view of the feces collection device with the tilting, telescoping handle fully extended; 
         FIG. 8  is a rear perspective view of the feces collection device with the rear disposal hatch and top bag removal hatch opened, and the bag retention flange partially removed; 
         FIG. 9  is a bottom view of the feces collection device; 
         FIG. 10  is a side view of the of the first embodiment collection blade rotor; 
         FIG. 11  is a top perspective view of the feces collection device in the water jetting mode; 
         FIG. 12  is a perspective view of the second embodiment collection blade rotor; 
         FIG. 13  is a side cross section view of the feces collection device with the scoop in the fully retracted position; and 
         FIG. 14  is a side cross section view of the feces collection device with the scoop in the fully extended position. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the invention in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are, of course, additional features of the invention that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto. 
     In this respect, before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of descriptions and should not be regarded as limiting. 
     Looking at  FIG. 1  it can be seen that the feces collection device  2  has a rollable collection housing assembly  4 , a collection blade rotor assembly  6  rotatably affixed at the front of the collection housing assembly  4 , and a telescoping handle assembly  8  pivotally attached to the rear of the housing assembly  4 . 
     Looking at the combination of  FIGS. 2 ,  3 ,  6 ,  7 ,  8 ,  9  and  11  the collection housing assembly  4  has a generally cuboid physical configuration having a fixed bottom plate  10  with two side wall plates  12  extending therefrom to which a top curved front plate  14  and a rear handle bracket  16  are affixed. Bounded by the side wall plates  12 , the bottom plate  10  and the handle bracket  16  is a rear disposal hatch  18  which is pivotally mounted to side wall plates  12  and encloses the back end of the collection housing assembly  4 . Also pivotally mounted to the side wall plates  12  and residing between the handle bracket  16  and the front plate  14  is a top bag removal hatch  20 . On the front bottom of the collection housing assembly  4  is an adjustable, spring loaded scoop  22 . The scoop  22  has at least one torsion device  36  that biases the scoop  22  to its fully down position closest to the ground. The sides of the scoop  22  have threaded studs  32  extending normally therefrom and passing through arced slots  34  cut through the side wall plates  12 . These arced slots define the rotatable travel of the scoop  22  from its full down to fully up positions. There are threaded fasteners (wingnuts)  35  threadingly engaged with the studs  32  and a flat washer utilized so that the tightening of the threaded fasteners  34  will secure the scoop  22  in a fixed position relative to its fully down position. At the rear of the collection housing there are two fully rotatable caster wheels  24  affixed to the bottom plate  10 . 
     Looking at  FIGS. 3 ,  10 ,  13  and  14  it can be seen that the collection blade rotor assembly  6  is a multi vaned rotor  42  made of an axle  38  from which a series or set of series of variable length blades  44  extend. The distal and proximate ends of the axle  38  pass through orifices in the side wall plates  12  and are affixed thereafter to substantially identical wheels  40  such that when the wheels rotate, the rotor  42  also rotates within the cavity of the collection housing device  4 . A bushing assembly may optionally be affixed to the side wall plates  12  and utilized to stabilize and smooth out the rotation of the axle  38 . As can be seen in  FIGS. 10 and 12  the rotor assembly  6  may have differing physical configuration of the blades. However common to all of the rotor blade configurations is the sizing of the blades, relative to each other. Experimentation has shown that optimally a series of three blades increasing length works best. In the present invention the front blade is ½ inch shorter than the intermediate blade which is ½ inch shorter than the back blade. In this way the feces is segmented and collected in three horizontal sections. This size differential is best implemented as 1.5, 2 and 2.5 inch long blades. This ½ inch increasing blade length in the direction of rotation for the second and third blades in the three blade series has been experimentally proven to best effect collection of solid feces in the dimensions commonly excreted by dogs. When the rotor  42  is rotated such that the back blade resides perpendicular to the ground there is ⅛ inch clearance between the tip of the back blade and the scoop plate. This tolerance of clearance has been experimentally proven to best effect collection of semi-solid feces. The three blade series is repeated at least two times on the axle  38  to form the multi vaned rotor  42 . The leading edge or lip  46  of the longest blade (the back blade) is bent 33 degrees from the plane of the blade away from the direction of counterclockwise rotation as represented by arrow  48 . This prevents the collection of unwanted gravel and jamming of gravel between the rotor  42  and the spring loaded scoop  22 . Although the lip  46  is bent for the size of gravel commonly encountered there is a broad range of angles that will work better on different sizes of gravel. These range between 10 and 50 degrees. The tip of each of the blades whether bent or not, has been beveled on at least one side to at least 30 degrees. The alternate embodiment blade  43  utilizes the same lip configuration and blade sizing as the preferred embodiment but has the blades configured in a helical manner. 
     Looking at  FIGS. 13 and 14  it can be seen that the scoop  22  is a bucket with and open front and back 
     adapted to ensure that the partial feces contacted and flung backwards by the collection blade rotor assembly  6  travels to its final destination of the internal cavity of the housing assembly  4  rather then back onto the user&#39;s feet or legs. The scoop  22  has orifices in its side walls  50  that allow it to be mounted about the axle  38  for limited pivotable motion about the axle  38 . The scoop  22  can only move through the range of pivotable motion allowed by the physical interference between the studs  32  extending from the scoop&#39;s side walls  50  and the arced slots  34  on the scoop&#39;s housing&#39;s side wall plates  12  through which the studs  32  pass. In the preferred embodiment, the torsion devices  36  are wound springs with one end affixed to the scoop  22  and the other end affixed to the collection housing assembly  4 , although there is a plethora of torsion devices well known in the field that would work equally as well. The scoop&#39;s bottom plate  52  has a pointed tip  54  that is bent upward 33 degrees from the plane of the bottom plate  52 . This helps eliminate the collection of non fecal mater such a stones and twigs. The pointed tip  54  has an included angle of 114 degrees. This configuration works well to slide under the feces and support it from movement while the three rotor blades dissect the feces into three longitudinal sections and fling them into the internal cavity of the housing  4 . 
       FIGS. 13 and 14  illustrate the movement of the scoop  22  from its upper position ( FIG. 13 ) to its bottom position ( FIG. 14 ). Regardless of the position of the scoop  22 , the ⅛ inch clearance between the tip of the back rotor blade and the pointed tip  54  of the scoop&#39;s bottom plate  52  is always maintained as both rorate about the axle  38 . 
     Inside the housing  4  there is a feces collection bag retention flange  60  adapted to secure a feces collection bag  62  for the collection of feces flung into the housing by the action of the collection blade rotor assembly  6 . The flange  60  is constrained by a set of guides in the housing  4  and may be accessed by opening the top bag removal hatch  22  and sliding out the flange  60  with the attached fecal collection bag  62  for disposal. When there is no fecal collection bag  62  installed, the feces flung into the housing  4  will just remain in the inner cavity. The device  2  can then be emptied by tilting rearward the device  2  with the tip handle  64  and opening rear disposal hatch  18 . The tip handle is a curved extension of the top curved front plate  14  and is adapted for three finger operation. 
     Looking at  FIGS. 4 and 5  it can be seen that the handle assembly  8  is both extendable in a telescoping manner via the handles consecutive hollow tube sizes and the spring loaded locking button  26 . The handle t bar  28  is also made of hollow tubing such that a flexible water line  30  can be extended from one side of the t bar  28 , down through the hollow handle telescoping tubes and extend down into the collection housing assembly  4  from the top through a slot formed through the bag removal hatch  20 . With this design, the handle assembly  8  can be pivoted fore and aft to direct a jetted spray of water throughout the internal cavity of the collection housing assembly  4  to cleanse it. For ease of washing the internal surfaces of the housing  4  and the rotor  42  are to be coated in a non sticking surface treatment or coating such as polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). The water is introduced through a hose connector  66  affixed to one side of the t bar  28 . 
     In operation the user need only open the top bag removal  22 , slide out the feces collection bag retention flange  60 , wrap the open end of a feces collection bag  62  around the flange  60  and reinstall the flange  60 . If the surface for feces collection is extremely rocky, the scoop  22  may be raised to a higher position that the torsion springs bias it to, and the threaded fasteners  34  tightened to secure the scoop  22  in a fixed position. Otherwise the scoop  22  will be left in its automatic tensioning mode, biased downward by torsion to the lowest position. The handle assembly  8  is telescopically adjusted to the correct height for the user and the device  2  is pushed over a feces while the user walks at a normal cadence. The combination of the larger front wheels  40  and the pivotable caster wheels  34  at the rear provide optimal turning and steering in tight spaces. The pointed tip  54  of the scoop&#39;s bottom plate  52  slides under the feces and the multi vaned rotor  42  segments the feces into three horizontal sections and flings the sections into the internal cavity of the housing  4 . If a feces collection bag  62  was not initially installed, the user need only empty the housing  4  by tilting the device  2  rearward with the tip handle  64  and opening rear disposal hatch  18 . After emptying the feces collection bag  62  or the housing  4 , a hose is attached to the hose connector  66  on the t bar  28 , the rear disposal hatch  18  and top bag removal hatch  20  are closed, and the water is turned on. The user tilts the handle assembly  8  fore and aft to flush out the internal cavity of the housing. The end of the water line  30  may optionally have a watter spinning or jetting device to direct the water spray pattern to optimally reach all areas of the internal cavity as is well known in the art. 
     It is known that the collection blade rotor  42  may be comprised of various combinations of different sized blades in repeating series or not. However experimentation has shown that using 2 series of the three blade grouping with the blade configurations as detailed herein works optimally for the collection of solid and semi solid feces over a wide variety of terrains. 
     The above description will enable any person skilled in the art to make and use this invention. It also sets forth the best modes for carrying out this invention. There are numerous variations and modifications thereof that will also remain readily apparent to others skilled in the art, now that the general principles of the present invention have been disclosed. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

Technology Category: 0