초록 ▼

A collapsible animal litter pan has polymeric surfaces that are immune to urine soaking. A plurality of hinges collapse and expand the litter pan. The litter pan has sidewalls that locate, receive and stabilize a urine absorption sheet. The urine absorption sheet has a liquid impervious bottom layer

A collapsible animal litter pan has polymeric surfaces that are immune to urine soaking. A plurality of hinges collapse and expand the litter pan. The litter pan has sidewalls that locate, receive and stabilize a urine absorption sheet. The urine absorption sheet has a liquid impervious bottom layer, a urine absorption layer composed of cotton, cellulose fluff pulp, commuted pulp, soft wood fine chips, or hydrophilic paper and combinations thereof, together with superabsorbent polymers and a top, liquid permeable, layer. The top and bottom layers are bonded to constrain the urine absorbent layer. An adhesive coating is applied to the bottom layer of the urine absorption sheet for temporarily adhering the sheet to the foldable litter pan for enhanced stability of the urine absorption sheet. Animal urine is substantially completely absorbed by the urine absorbent sheet, and the soiled sheet replaced with a fresh sheet without soiling the litter pan.

대표청구항 ▼

What is claimed is: 1. A collapsible animal litter pan comprising: a. a foldable litter pan having a polymeric surface on a bottom floor contacting surface and a top surface, said polymeric surface being immune to animal urine soaking; b. said foldable litter pan being provided with a plurality of

What is claimed is: 1. A collapsible animal litter pan comprising: a. a foldable litter pan having a polymeric surface on a bottom floor contacting surface and a top surface, said polymeric surface being immune to animal urine soaking; b. said foldable litter pan being provided with a plurality of expandable hinges adapted to collapse and expand said litter pan in an accordion configuration along a transverse axis, said hinges intersect said bottom floor contacting surface and said top surface of said litter pan and adjacently intersect and interrupt said side walls to form hingedly connected segments separated by fold locations flush with said bottom floor contacting surface; c. said bottom floor contacting surface having a plurality of friction generating rubberized pads; d. said top surface having shallow sidewalls for locating and stabilizing a urine absorption sheet fixedly up-right and adjacent to said top surface; e. a urine absorption sheet comprising a liquid impervious polymeric bottom layer, a urine absorption layer and a top liquid permeable porous layer, and said top and bottom layer being operative to constrain said urine absorption layer; f. an adhesive coating applied to said bottom layer of said urine absorption sheet; whereby said adhesive coating located on said bottom layer of said urine absorption sheet removably adheres to said top surface of said foldable litter pan for enhanced stability of said urine absorption sheet, animal urine is substantially completely absorbed by said urine absorption sheet, animal solid waste is retained on said sheet, and a user discards a soiled urine absorption sheet and adheres a fresh urine absorption sheet onto said top surface of said foldable litter pan for future use. 2. A collapsible animal litter pan as recited by claim 1, wherein said hinges are reinforced with adhesive tapes, providing hinge stability and animal urine leakage resistance. 3. A collapsible animal litter pan as recited by claim 1, wherein said litter pan has three hinges. 4. A collapsible animal litter pan as recited by claim 1, wherein said sidewalls have a height in the range of 0.25 to 0.375 inches. 5. A collapsible animal litter pan as recited by claim 1, wherein said folded dimension of said animal litter pan is in the range of 9 to 30 inches long by 4 to 10 inches wide. 6. A collapsible animal litter pan as recited by claim 1, wherein said folded dimension of said animal litter pan is 12 inches long by 5 inches wide. 7. A collapsible animal litter pan as recited by claim 1, wherein said litter pan is 20 inches long and 12 inches wide in the expanded condition. 8. A collapsible animal litter pan as recited by claim 1, wherein said bottom floor contacting surface has four rubberized pads. 9. A collapsible animal litter pan as recited by claim 1, wherein said urine absorption layer is is selected from the group consisting of cotton, cellulose fluff pulp, commuted pulp, soft wood fine chips, hydrophilic paper and combinations thereof. 10. A collapsible animal litter pan as recited by claim 9, wherein said absorption layer additionally includes superabsorbent polymer. 11. A collapsible animal litter pan as recited by claim 10, wherein said superabsorbent polymer is selected from the group consisting of borated polysaccharides, cross linked carboxymethylcellulose, alkali metal salts of polyacrylic acids, polyacrylamides, polyvinyl alcohol, ethylene maleic anhydride copolymers, polyvinyl ethers, hydroxypropyl cellulose, polyvinyl morpholinone, polymers and copolymers of vinyl sulfonic acid, polyacrylates, polyacrylamides, polyvinyl pyridine and combinations thereof. 12. A collapsible animal litter pan as recited by claim 1, wherein said bottom layer of said urine absorption sheet comprises an outer border and a center, wherein said adhesive coating is applied to said outer border of said bottom layer. 13. A collapsible animal litter pan as recited by claim 1, wherein said bottom layer is substantially coated with an adhesive backing. 14. A collapsible animal litter pan as recited by claim 1, wherein said adhesive coating is a low-tack adhesive that enables said urine absorption sheet to be easily attached and removed from said top surface of said foldable litter pan. 15. A collapsible animal litter pan as recited by claim 14, wherein said adhesive coating is a re-adherable surface designed for temporarily attaching said urine absorption sheet in a stacked relation to yield a replacement sheet stack so that each of said sheet is appointed to be removed from said replacement sheet stack and temporarily adhered to said litter pan until soiled and removed therefrom. 16. A collapsible animal litter pan as recited by claim 1, wherein said urine absorption sheet comprises a fragrant compound and odor eliminating compound integrated therein. 17. A litter pan assembly comprising: a. a urine absorption sheet having a liquid impervious polymeric bottom layer, a urine absorption layer and a top liquid permeable porous layer, and said top and bottom layer being bonded to one another and being operative to constrain said urine absorption layer; and b. an adhesive coating applied to said bottom layer of said urine absorption sheet; c. a foldable litter pan; d. said foldable litter pan being provided with a plurality of expandable hinges adapted to collapse and expand said litter pan in an accordion configuration along a transverse axis, said hinges intersect said bottom floor contacting surface and said top surface of said litter pan and adjacently intersect and interrupt said side walls to form hingedly connected segments separated by fold locations flush with said bottom floor contacting surface; whereby said adhesive coating located on said bottom layer of said urine absorption sheet removably adheres to said litter pan; whereby animal urine is substantially completely absorbed by said urine absorption sheet, animal solid waste is retained on said sheet; and whereby and a user discards a soiled urine absorption sheet and adheres a fresh urine absorption sheet onto said litter pan for future use. 18. A litter pan assembly as recited by claim 17, wherein said bottom layer of said urine absorption sheet comprises an outer border and a center, wherein said adhesive coating is applied to said outer border of said bottom layer. 19. A litter pan assembly as recited by claim 17, wherein said bottom layer is substantially coated with said adhesive backing. 20. A litter pan assembly as recited by claim 17, wherein said adhesive coating is a low-tack adhesive that enables said urine absorption sheet to be easily attached and removed from said top surface of said foldable litter pan. 21. A litter pan assembly comprising: a. a plurality of urine absorption sheets, each said sheet comprising a liquid impervious polymeric bottom layer, a urine absorption layer and a top liquid permeable porous layer, and said top and bottom layer being bonded to one another and being operative to constrain said urine absorption layer; b. an adhesive coating applied to said bottom layer of each of said urine absorption sheets; and c. said adhesive coating being a re-adherable surface designed for temporarily attaching said urine absorption sheets in a stacked relation to yield a replacement sheet stack; d. a foldable litter pan; e. said foldable litter pan being provided with a plurality of expandable hinges adapted to collapse and expand said litter pan in an accordion configuration along a transverse axis, said hinges intersect said bottom floor contacting surface and said top surface of said litter pan and adjacently intersect and interrupt said side walls to form hingedly connected segments separated by fold locations flush with said bottom floor contacting surface; whereby each of said sheets are appointed to successively be removed from said replacement sheet stack and temporarily re-adhered to said litter pan until soiled and removed therefrom, upon which time a fresh urine absorption sheet is successively removed from said replacement sheet stack and temporarily re-adhered to said litter pan until, and successive replacement continues until said replacement sheet stack is exhausted.