DISPOSABLE ANIMAL WASTE REMOVER

DESCRIPTION

This invention is a disposable waste remover that permits the collection and disposal of animal waste, and in particular, dog excrements.

HISTORY

Pet dogs have essential needs that include defecation outdoors. Given the enormous number of people who keep one or more dogs, open spaces in cities are often littered with large quantities of excrements.

For this reason, dog owners have the socially mandated duty to collect and dispose of the feces left by their pets. These obligations, present in most civil and municipal codes, also in Italy, are appropriately addressing social health and esthetic concerns.

The environmental impact of not adhering to these obligations is felt particularly since fewer green spaces are available for pet needs.

BACKGROUND ART

To date, the usual and most common manner in which these feces are collected is by using a simple plastic bag over the hand. The hand is covered as a glove, and the feces are scooped up manually and disposed of in the same bag.

Some solutions for the solution of this tactile problem of manipulating the feces have been proposed; in particular by Giorgio Malaspina - US patent #5,385,376 - and James

M. Magee -US patent #5,409,279. These solutions include a scooping mechanism with a bag attached that collects and then is used to dispose of the waste.

DISADVANTAGES OF THE EXISTING TECHNOLOGY Despite the simplicity of the plastic bag method, it involves decidedly uncomfortable sensations of touch that could be avoided. This is the principle reason why this method is unused. The tactile and heat sensations of using one's hand gloved in a plastic bag are one problem to resolve.

Those inventions mentioned above which address this issue, are more complicated in use than need be. Even if they appear to resolve the tactile problem, one still is left with the task of separating the bag containing excrements before disposal.

OBJECTIVES OF THE INVENTION

The objective is essentially to eliminate all the problems mentioned above by providing a simple to use device, that is entirely disposable and can be operated without physical contact with the waste, as described in Claim 1.

Further details of the disposal are given in the relevant and connected claims.

ADVANTAGES OF THE INVENTION

The invention allows for the hygienic removal and disposal of pet waste without ever coming into physical contact with the waste. It is completely disposable itself and environmentally friendly.

The invention, herein described in two different preferred realization forms, is particularly easy to use, and because it is entirely disposable and biodegradable, it is discarded along with the waste.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Additional advantages together with the modalities of use are evident in the following detailed description of the two preferred forms of the invention. These two forms are presented as exemplars and do not represent the limit of the formal solutions for the invention. With specific reference to the drawings, the descriptions are as follows:

FIG 1 - This drawing shows the frontal view of the disposable in one of the preferred forms of this invention.

FIG 2 - This drawing shows the plan view of the disposable in one of the preferred forms of the invention.

FIG 3 - 4 - These drawings show the perspective view of the disposable in one of the preferred forms of the invention.

FIG 5 - This drawing shows the lateral elevation of the disposable in one of the preferred forms of the invention.

FIG 6 A - 6C - These drawings show a perspective sequence of use of the disposable in one of the preferred forms of the invention.

FIG 7 - 8 - These drawings show the perspective view of the disposable in a second of the preferred forms of the invention.

FIG 9 - This drawing shows the lateral elevation of the disposable in a second of the preferred forms of the invention.

FIG. 1OA - 1OC - These drawings show a perspective sequence of use of the disposable of the second preferred form of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

With reference to figure 1, is shown, according to the invention, a disposable waste remover for the collection and discard of waste and in particular of dog excrement and organic waste.

The object (1) is composed of two concave parts (2, 3). These two parts are linked with a hinging joint between their side edges (4 ₅ 5)

The joint between the two parts 2 and 3 allows the disposable waste remover object of this invention, to be alternatively open (as shown in figure 1) and closed (not shown in figure 1).

The two parts are joined in such a way to remain normally in an open or at least semi- open position.

In particular, parts 2 and 3 show respectively the lower edges 7 and 8, which match when the object is in the closed position.

In particular in the current first form of realization set out herein as an example and without limitations, the said edges 7 and 8 are essentially rectilinear. Besides, the elements 2 and 3 of the object 1 present upper edges 16, 17 respectively, that also match when the disposable waste remover is in the closed position.

Always with reference to figure 1, the disposable waste remover 1, object of this invention, includes handles 9 corresponding to the side edges 4 and 5. These handles 9 include, for each element 2 and 3, a corresponding termination 10 and 11. Such

terminations 10,11 have an elongated form and their lower edges, 20 and 21 match when the object is in the closed position.

Terminations 10 and 11 allow for a particularly easy and ergonomic handling of the disposable waste remover 1 with one hand only. In particular by joining terminations 10 and 11, a disposable waste remover's user can easily close the device.

Figure 2 shows the disposable waste remover in a plan view, in particular parts 2 and 3 substantially hemispheric form can be seen. The disposable waste remover 1 has closing fittings 14 and 15 for a substantially airtight sealing of the disposable waste remover when in closed position.

In particular such closing device include a first couple of fittings: a plug- like element 14 on part 2 matching with upper rim 16 and a receptacle-like element 15 on part 3 matching with lower edge 17. The said receptacle 15 is designed to hold plug-like fitting

14 when the disposable waste remover is in the closed position: therefore, fittings 14 and

15 are designed to realize a wedge-in sealing when pressed together.

Moreover, the closing fittings include two more couples of plug-like and receptacle-like elements substantially equivalent to those described above and located in correspondence of lower edges 10 and 11.

Figure 3 details a disposable waste remover 1 in open position. Based upon figure 4, it is evident that concave parts 2 and 3 with hemispheric form constitute closed space 6, inside of which the waste is stored during the collection and disposal operations. Figure 5 shows the disposable waste remover during an operation of waste collection. In particular it is visible the part of lower edge 8 of element 3 (the part of upper edge of adjoining component is not clearly visible in the figure) that is substantially rectilinear and perfectly aligned with the floor on which the waste or dog excrement has been dropped, in order to make the waste collection easier and smoother. Always in figure 5, it is possible to observe that disposable waste remover in its first presented favorite form presents terminations (of which only termination 11 is visible in the figure) placed at higher than floor level in order to keep the hand of the user as far as possible from the floor and have a direction substantially aligned with the portion of lower edge 8.

Once collected the waste and placed it in the closed space 6, the disposable waste remover is closed with the closing fittings 9 described above.

Finally, always with reference to figure 5, each termination has on its external side a curvature useful for improving its handling.

Figures 6A-6C describe a use sequence of the disposable waste remover I ₅ object of this invention.

In figure 6A the disposable waste remover 1 is in open position, arounds the waste to dispose. In figure 6B the disposable waste remover is closed by the user through its terminations 10 and 11. The waste is then collected inside the closed space 6 and the disposable waste remover is sealed with the closing fittings above described (and not visible in the figure) in order to avoid waste leakage.

The disposable waste remover 1 is then disposed, together with the waste it contains as shown in figure 6C, thus avoiding to the user any contact with the waste.

Figure 7-9 show a disposable waste remover Y with a second form of favorite realization. Like the first form of realization described above, it presents terminations 10' and 11' and parts of lower edges 8' and T.

In this case the only difference respect to prior model is the fact that these terminations

10' and 11' are substantially orthogonal with respect to the lower edges 8' and T.

In this model, as shown in figure 9, the user's hand is even farther from the floor, thus further improving the efficacy of the disposable waste remover.

Finally, figures 1OA -1OC show the use sequence of the disposable waste remover 1' in its second favorite realization model, that is entirely equivalent to the sequence described above in relation to the first realization model.

Figure IA shows, in a partial section view of the model, a variant that can be developed for both forms of realization described herein. In particular, in accordance with this variant, the matching parts of lower edges 7 and 8 (or T and 8') overlap slightly when the disposable waste remover is in closed position. In order to facilitate this overlapping, the parts of lower edges 7 and 8 (or 7' and 8') in this model are slightly bent, thus facilitating their gliding on each other. In this way the closing of the lower part of the disposable waste remover is tighter and risk of leakage is reduced.

Furthermore, the disposable waste remover can be realized with different techniques and materials. Preferably, with a view to maximizing the disposable waste remover ecological impact, eco- recyclable and disposable materials could be used. However, it ought to be noted that the device can also be realized in different synthetic materials like, for example, plastic.

The present invention has so far been described in two favorite realization forms. However, it is understood that other realization forms may exist and that all such forms are comprised in this invention and protected by the claims laid down herein.