EP2806068A1

EP2806068A1 - Portable collecting device for pet dejection and disposable unit for said device

Info

Publication number: EP2806068A1
Application number: EP14169759.9A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Riccardo Riefolo
Original assignee: Broker Macchine Utensili Srl
Current assignee: Broker Macchine Utensili Srl
Priority date: 2013-05-24
Filing date: 2014-05-23
Publication date: 2014-11-26

Abstract

A Portable device for collecting pet dejection, comprises a first enclosure (2, 40) with a handle (3), a mobile element (5, 12) alternately configurable between a collecting position and a closed position, a rechargeable actuator (7, 9) accommodated in the enclosure for driving said mobile element (5, 12), hand-releasable connections (34) for connecting said portable device (1) to a disposable collecting unit (16) having a second enclosure (17) adapted to be connected in a substantially rigid manner to said first enclosure (2, 40) and a picker (18) adapted to be connected to the mobile arm (5, 12) and mobile with respect to the second enclosure (17) for collecting a dejection, wherein a passage (13) is defined when the mobile element (5, 12) is in the collecting position for allowing a user who grabs the handle (3) to see the ground through the passage (13) and at least one window (24, 22) of the picker (18).

Description

The present invention relates to a portable collecting device for pet dejection, such as from a street and/or sidewalk and/or public or private park. Furthermore, the present invention relates to a disposable unit associable to said device.
The need is felt to maintain both public spaces and communal apartment building areas as clean as possible even in the presence of pets. In this regard, collecting hand tools are available to the owner that require relatively long user time, and certain manual dexterity.
The purpose of the present invention is to provide a fast and simple to use collecting device.
The purpose of the present invention is achieved by a device according to claim 1. The purpose of the present invention is also achieved by way of a disposable unit according to claim 11.
The invention will now be described with reference to the attached drawings, which illustrate a non-limiting embodiment, wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a collecting device according to the present invention;
Figure 2 is a perspective view of Figure 1 from another angle and with parts removed for clarity;
Figure 3 is a perspective view of a disposable unit for the device of Figure 1 from an upper angle;
Figure 4 is a perspective view of Figure 3, from a lower angle; and
Figure 5 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of the present invention.

In figure 1 is illustrated with 1 as a whole a device for collecting dejection preferably of domestic animals, comprising a cover wall 2, a handle 3 fixed to the cover wall 2, a structure 4 defining a housing C defined by the opposite side of the handle 3, and a head 5 mobile between an extended position and a retracted or collecting position to close the housing C on a front side. The collecting device 1 is constructed at least in part by plastic materials to reduce weight and production costs.
Figure 2 shows a compartment 6 of the device 1 closed by the cover wall 2. The compartment 6 accommodates a battery electric actuator 7 for moving the head 5 and a pair of guides 8 for guiding the rectilinear movement of the head 5.
Preferably, the electric actuator 7 comprises a rotatable screw 9 having an axis A and driven by a rotary motor 10 powered by a pad battery 11 housed in the compartment 6 to engage in a nut screw and move the head 5. Preferably, the rotatable screw 9 is connected to the head 5 in a rigid way to translation but free to rotate around the axis A. Advantageously, the guides 8 are arranged at the transversal ends of the compartment 6 with respect to the axis A.
The head 5 is carried by a pair of arms 12 mobile in rectilinear direction by way of the guides 8. The arms 12 at least partially define a window or passage 13 through which a user that grabs the handle 3 can see when the head 5 is extracted. According to the particular example of embodiment illustrated, the window, in addition to the arms 12 is defined by the head 5 and by an end wall 14 fixed to the guides 8 and through which the arms 12 move.
Preferably, the rotatable screw 9 is arranged substantially in the middle between the guides 8 and the arms 12 so as to limit or avoid any misalignment of the arms 12 with respect to the guides 8 in particular when the head 5 is moved from the extended position to the retracted position.
Arranged on the opposite side of the handle 3 with respect to the guides 8, the housing C can advantageously be defined by means of a bottom T of the compartment 6 and by two wings 15 of the structure 4. The wings 15 are preferably made of a lightweight material, such as a plastic material, and may have longitudinal dimensions substantially similar to those of the guides 8 (as shown) or have a dimension much lower than that of the guides 8. Moreover, the wings 15 may be continuous (as shown in Figure 2) or lightened by a combination of windows and ribbing to decrease the weight of the device 1. The wings 15 primarily have the function of defining the size of the housing C in a direction transversal to that of the guides 8. The wings 15 may have a different shape from one another.
Within the structure 4 a disposable unit 16 is mounted (Figures 3 and 4) comprising an enclosure 17 arranged in the housing C and a picker 18 only partially extractable from the enclosure 17 by way of the action of the arms 12 and/or of the head 5. The picker 18 may be completely removed from the enclosure 17 by a user, for example when the disposable unit 16 is not housed in enclosure C.
The enclosure 17 is connected in a hand-releasable manner, i.e., without special tools not already included in the device 1, with any suitable element and fixed with respect to the guides 8. Preferably, the enclosure 17 is connected to the wings 15.
The picker 18 is connected in a hand-releasable manner to the mobile element comprising the arms 12 and the head 5.
The picker 18 comprises a collecting wall 19 which in use raises the dejection from the ground and a profile 20 of said wall facing the enclosure 17 defines with an edge 21 of the latter a window 22. The window 22 has dimensions for surrounding a dejection when the arms 12 are extracted. Preferably, the edge 21 is foldable so as to be interposed between the ground and one end edge of a bottom F which, if present, joins the wings 15 with each other and is arranged on the opposite side of the bottom T of the compartment 6 with respect to the housing C and the enclosure 17. In this way at least the end edge of the bottom F is protected from filth during use. When the bottom F is provided it can be incorporated as a whole with the wings 15.
The picker 18 also comprises a back wall 23 adjacent to the bottom T and defining one or more openings 24 overlapped to the window 22 when the arms 12 are extracted. In this way, a user which grabs the handle 3 can easily control the position of the window 22 during the collection.
Preferably, the picker 18 has a box-like shape defined by the side walls 25 parallel to the guides 8 contacting the corresponding side walls 26 of the enclosure 17 for guiding the linear movement of the picker 18. The picker 18 also comprises a front wall 27 transversal both to the back wall 23 and the side walls 25 for contacting the head 5. From the front wall 27 exits a foldable tab 28 having a length for surrounding a lower edge 5a of the head 5. Preferably, a folding edge of the front wall 27 is aligned with the collecting wall 19.
According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the hand-releasable connection between the hand-disposable unit 16 and the device 1 comprises a plurality of tabs supported by the enclosure 17 in addition to the tab 28 of the picker 18. Preferably these tabs are connected to any element of the device 1 to retain the enclosure 17 while the picker 18 is extracted or retracted when moved by the electric actuator 7. According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention the enclosure 17 comprises front tabs 29 proximal to the front wall 27 and rear tabs 30 distal from the front wall 27. Moreover, both the front tabs 29 and the rear tabs 30 can be folded onto the side walls 26.
Alternatively or in combination with the tabs 29, 30, the hand-releasable coupling is a shaped coupling comprising methods used in the paper industry, and even more preferably comprises a plurality of holes formed in the disposable unit 16. The holes are defined both by the enclosure 17 which form the picker 18 and are associated with corresponding projections supported by the device 1. According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, one or more holes 31 are defined by the tab 28 and holes 32 are defined by the front 29 and rear 30 tabs. Moreover, projections 34 are supported by the head 5 for coupling with the holes 31 and projections 34 are supported by the wings 15 for coupling with the holes 32.
In use, when a user needs to collect a dejection, he/she grabs the handle 3 and operates the electric actuator 7 by way of a switch 33 arranged on the cover wall 2 or on the handle 3 and the arms 12 are extracted from the compartment 6 carrying the picker 18 while the front 29 and rear 30 tabs and/or the holes 32 hold the enclosure 17.
The electric actuator 7 is programmed so that the head 5 automatically reaches a position of maximum extraction in which a user can see the ground and in particular the dejection through the alignment of the passage 13 with the openings 24 and the window 22. In this way, the collecting becomes a very intuitive process. Furthermore, the user control on the operation is maximized, so as to improve the effectiveness even in critical conditions.
When the user has surrounded the dejection with the window 22 with the collecting wall 19 in contact with the ground, the electric actuator 7 is operated again by way of the switch 33 and the arms 12 retract so that, by way of its own movement, the collecting wall 19 detaches the dejection from the ground, the dejection is carried in part by the collecting wall 19 itself and partly on a base 35 of the enclosure 17 supported by the bottom F and spaced from the bottom T. When the arms 12 are fully retracted, the collecting wall 19 is completely overlapping the base 35 and the dejection is closed within the disposable unit 16.
Later, the user, for example after lifting the device 1 from the ground, may release the tabs 28, 29, 30 and separate the disposable unit 16 from the device 1, while the arms 12 are in the retracted position. For this purpose, the head 5 can have a width lower than the distance between the side walls 26 and the bottom edge 5a of the head 5 is spaced from the folding edge of the tab 28. Moreover, when the housing C has a parallelepiped structure open in the direction of the guides 8 both on the front and on the rear by way of respective mouths 35, 36 equal to each other, the tabs 28, 29, 30 have dimensions smaller or equal to those of the mouths 35, 36. In this way, the disposable unit 16 can be fully extracted pulling the back tabs 28, 29, 30 from the device 1 and pulling the rear tabs 30 so that the full disposable unit 16 would exit from the housing C through the rear mouth 36 sliding in a rectilinear direction parallel to the guides 8. The enclosure 17 has continuous walls facing the collecting wall 19 and the back 23 so that the disposable unit 16 is closed and without openings when the picker 18 is in the retracted position.
A new empty disposable unit 16 can be inserted into the housing C from the rear mouth 36 while the arms 12 are retracted. In this way, electrical energy is saved. When the enclosure 17 is in the correct position the tabs 28, 29, 30 can be folded to be locked to the device 1.
The advantages that the portable collecting device 1 and the disposable unit 16, according to the present invention, allow to obtain are as follows.
The portable collecting device 1 allows a precise and intuitive collection.
The housing C defined by the tabs 15 helps to define the correct position for connecting the disposable unit 16 to the device 1.
When the housing C surrounds the enclosure 17 the latter is protected so as not to be damaged in case of impact when the disposable unit 16 is full and is transported, for example, in a bag.
When the head 5 at least partially faces the front wall 27, the electric actuator 7 applies a greater force to the picker 18 while the arms 12 retract and the dejection is collected.
The button 33 is arranged on the handle 3 or nearby so as to be operable with the fingers of the same hand that holds the handle.
The tabs 28, 29, 30 are arranged so that the respective end edges B, as opposed to the folding edges P, are arranged either laterally or upwardly so as to avoid contact with the ground of the lower areas of the device 1, which tend to get dirty more easily. The use of the portable collecting device 1 does not necessarily require the use of protective gloves. Finally it is clear that to the collecting device 1 as described and illustrated it is possible to make modifications or variations without departing from the scope of protection as defined by the appended claims.
For example, the head 5 and the arms 12 may be two separate pieces or define a single body.
The disposable unit 16 may be made of paper or any other material in sheets or plates, possibly biodegradable, which can be folded to maintain a box-like shape and the connection hand-releasable when attached to the device 1.
As illustrated in Figure 5, where the reference numbers bearing an apex refer to elements functionally identical to those indicated by reference numbers without apex in the foregoing description, a single arm 12' can be provided, for example hollow, housing the revolving screw 9 and optionally the nut. The guide, not illustrated, is accommodated inside an enclosure 40 to which is bound the handle 3' and defining a compartment 6 in the inside thereof housing the electric actuator 7 and the batteries 11. From the enclosure 40 appendixes 41 or a wall for supporting projections 34' for the front 29' and rear 30' tabs extend, which may be more than one for the respective projection 34'. The tab 28' extends beyond the back wall 23' and partially envelops the head 5'. It is possible to provide a head 5 as that of Figure 1 applied to the device 1' and vice versa. The tabs 15 are not present as well as the bottom F and the disposable unit 16' is mountable or dismountable while the arm 12' is fully retracted. Preferably, the disposable unit 16' is mounted on the device 1' immediately before a collection. As can be seen, the position of the tabs 28', 29', 30' is variable in a way depending on the shape of the device 1.
Furthermore, the hand-releasable connection of the tabs for shape coupling also comprises the use of tabs with notches or slits or buckles in which flexible tabs may be inserted after being folded. In particular, the flexible tabs can also be arranged at the edge of the device 1 and be for example made of plastic and the grooves or slots may be provided on the enclosure 17 and/or on the picker 18.
The actuator 7 is rechargeable by way of the replacement or recharging of the batteries 11. It is also possible that the actuator is mechanically hand-spring-loaded.
To the opening 24 a transparency made on the back 23 can be replaced, for example by a sheet of plastic material which may be recyclable or biodegradable. The whole disposable unit 16 may be made of recyclable or biodegradable material comprising cellulose, for example. Similarly, also the passage 13 may be a through opening, or be defined by a transparent wall moved by way of the head 5 and/or the arms 12.
The portable device may further comprise a luminous device programmed by way of a control unit to send the user a different signal when the arms 12 are extracted and when the arms 12 retract. The light device is also oriented to illuminate the ground through the opening 24 in order to simplify night use. Preferably the light device is enclosed in the handle 3 in a position adjacent to the end wall 14.

Claims

A portable collecting device for pet dejection, comprising a first enclosure (2, 40) with a handle (3), a mobile element (5, 12) alternately configurable between a collecting position and a closed position, a rechargeable actuator (7, 9) accommodated in said enclosure for actuating said mobile element (5, 12), hand-releasable connections (34) for connecting said portable device (1) to a disposable collecting unit (16) having a second enclosure (17) adapted to be substantially rigidly connected to said first enclosure (2, 40) and a picker (18) adapted to be connected to said mobile element (5, 12) and mobile with respect to said second enclosure (17) for collecting a dejection when said mobile element (5, 12) moves from said collecting position to said closed position, wherein said mobile element (5, 12) and/or said actuator (9) are arranged so as to define a passage or a transparency (13) when said mobile element (5, 12) is in the collecting position for allowing a user who grabs said handle (3) to see the ground through said passage (13) and at least one window (24; 22) of said picker (18).
The portable device according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises a structure (4) defining a seat (C) for said disposable unit (16).
The portable device according to claim 2, characterized in that it comprises tabs (15) for laterally delimiting said seat (C).
The portable device according to claim 3, characterized in that said tabs (15) are connected by means of a bottom (F) to define a mouth (36) through which said disposable unit (16) may be inserted or removed in/from said seat (C) also when said mobile element (5, 12) is in the closed position.
The portable device according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises at least one linear guide (8) fixed with respect to said handle (3) for guiding said mobile element (5, 12).
The portable device according to claim 5, characterized in that said mobile element (5, 12) comprises a head (5) extending from the opposite side of said handle (3) with respect to said at least one guide (8) for facing a front wall (27) of said picker (18).
The portable device according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that said hand-releasable connections (34) are also carried by said mobile element (5, 12) and are shape couplings.
The portable device according to claim 7, characterized in that said hand-releasable connections (34) comprise projections (34) adapted to engage in suitable holes (31) of the disposable unit (16) and/or grooves for tabs of the disposable unit (16).
Portable device according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that said rechargeable actuator (7, 9) is rotary and comprises a screw and nut screw mechanism.
The portable device according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises a switch (33) arranged so as to be operable by the fingers of the same hand that holds said handle (3).
A disposable unit (16) for collecting pet dejection, comprising an enclosure (17) and a picker (18) alternately mobile with respect to said enclosure between a collecting position and a closed position, said enclosure (17) and said picker (18) comprising respective first and second hand-releasable connection (28, 29, 30, 31, 32) for a portable colleting device (1) having a further enclosure (2, 40) and an element (5, 12) mobile with respect to said further enclosure (2, 40), said picker (18) comprising a back (23) facing a collecting window (22) of said disposable unit (16) open for surrounding at least one dejection when said picker (18) is partially extracted with respect to said enclosure (17), wherein said back (23) has at least one opening or transparency (24) overlapped to said window (22) so that a user during the collection may see the ground through said opening (24).
The disposable unit according to claim 11, characterized in that said first and second hand-releasable connections comprise foldable tabs (28, 29, 30) or grooves for accommodating tabs.
Disposable unit according to claim 12, characterized in that the first folding tabs (29, 30) associated to said enclosure (17) have folding edges of the side or back walls (26) of said enclosure (17).
The disposable unit according to any one of claims 12 or 13, characterized in that a second folding tab (28) associated to said picker (18) is external to said enclosure (17) and has an end edge (B) foldable towards said back (23).
The disposable unit according to claim 14, characterized in that said picker (18) comprises a front wall (27) transversal to said back (23) and extracted when said picker (18) is extracted with respect to said enclosure, said second tab (28) exiting from said front wall (27).
The disposable unit according to claim 15, characterized in that a folding edge (P) of said second tab (28) is adjacent to or substantially aligned with said window (22).
The disposable unit according to any of claims 11 to 16, characterized in that said first and second hand-releasable connections comprise holes (31, 32).
The disposable unit according to any of claims 11 to 17, characterized in that said enclosure (17) comprises side walls (26) and a bottom (35) opposed to said back (23) and defining a folding edge (21) transversal to said side walls (26).
The disposable unit according to any of claims 11 to 18, characterized in that the picker (18) is linearly mobile in said enclosure (17).
Use of a disposable unit (16) according to any one of claims 11 to 19 in combination with a portable collecting device for pet dejection, comprising a further enclosure (2, 40) with a handle (3), a mobile element (5, 12) alternately configurable between a collecting position and a closed position, a rechargeable actuator (7, 9) accommodated in said enclosure for actuating said mobile element (5, 12), hand-releasable connections (34) for connecting said enclosure (17) substantially rigidly to said further enclosure (2, 40) and said picker (18) to said mobile element (5, 12) and collect a dejection when said mobile unit (5, 12) moves from said collecting position to said closed position, wherein said mobile element (5, 12) and/or said actuator (9) are arranged so as to define a passage (13) when said mobile element (5, 12) is in the collecting position for allowing a user which grabs said handle (3) to see the ground through said passage (13) and at least one window (24; 22) of said picker (18).