Technical field

The invention relates to spill-proof containers and may be used in dynamical systems for providing access to liquid or non-liquid contents of such containers and preventing pouring or spilling out the contents of the container, in particular, for feeding and watering pets in moving vehicle.

Back round Art

There are known many different pet feeding and watering devices adapted for use in dynamical systems (e.g. moving vehicle) and preventing splash or spill of their liquid contents.

There is known a drinking bowl for a pet (patent GB 2428551) adapted for use in dynamical systems (e.g. moving vehicle). The known drinking bowl has a base section and an inner section. The base section is defining a liquid reservoir having a cylindrical side wall and a removable in-turned rim at the upper end thereof. The inner section is adapted to float (move vertically) on liquid in the reservoir, the inner section being a close sliding fit within the side wall and having a dished upper surface with a central liquid-receiving area. A plurality of liquid feed holes extends through the inner section to permit liquid to flow into the central area from which a pet may drink. The main drawback of the known pet drinking bowl is that it is not sufficiently effective when used in a moving vehicle, especially, if the bowl is full of liquid. Although the base section's in-turned rim limits spillage of liquid, in practice it does not prevent spillage when the base part of the bowl is not located in parallel to the horizon line (e.g. when a vehicle is moving to/from a hill or other non-horizontal surface).

There is known a spill-resistant container having an automatic refill feature (patent application US 5297504). The container comprises an annular housing and an upwardly facing substantially concave internal dish within the housing. The dish defines at least one or more apertures therein to allow spilled water to re-enter the dish for consumption by the animal. The diameter of the rim of the dish is greater than the diameter of an animal access aperture defined by the housing. The dish is attached to a support base that is sealingly attached to the annular housing. The disadvantage of the known container is that it prevents water spillage only if its base part is located in parallel to the horizon line or if it is about half-full. Otherwise, the construction of the known container does not prevent flowing-out of its liquid contents.

There is known a splash and spill-resistant container (patent application US 6142101). The container comprises a cavity having a top access aperture; a partition divides the cavity into first and second chambers. The partition curves downward from the periphery substantially to the floor of the container and is provided with a flow aperture, thereby allowing fluid communication between the first and second chambers. A valve is provided to release air from the second chamber when the flow aperture is blocked. The known container prevents liquid spillage even if inclined. However the drawback of this container is that when it is located in the inclined position, the amount of liquid accessible e.g. to pet is very limited. Also due to curving of the partition downward from the periphery substantially to the floor the access space (e.g. for animal for drinking water) becomes very limited, which makes the container less convenient for use.

There is known a pet watering container (patent application US 4286546) comprising a main chamber and a floating disc having a large central opening through which pet gets access to water in the main chamber. The disadvantage of the known container is that the area of water accessible to pet is small. If however the floating disc is provided with larger opening, the construction does not prevent spillage if the container is used in such dynamical systems, as e.g. moving vehicle. The solution described in US 5791287 has similar disadvantages.

There is known a spill-proof container (patents US 7306112 and US 7726509) comprising a bowl being put in a bowl support. The bowl having a weight at its bottom is being freely rotatable in the bowl support and thus is being adapted to bias toward an upright orientation of the bowl independently of the rotational orientation of the bowl support. The bowl support opening overlies the bowl opening only when both the bowl and the bowl support are in respective upright position; when the bowl support is tilted, the bowl opening is being covered by the bowl support, thus preventing access to the contents of the bowl. Another disadvantage of the known container is that construction of the top section of the bowl, which is downwardly oriented truncated hemispherical chamber, does not prevent splashing and also makes access to the contents of the bowl inconvenient. Disclosure of Invention

The aim of the offered invention is to eliminate drawbacks of the prior art and to develop a spill-proof container effectively preventing spillage, pouring and splashing of its contents when used in dynamical systems while providing access to contents of such containers even when the container is inclined.

The offered container comprises a bowl support, a bowl having a weight at its bottom part and being receivable within the bowl support. The internal surface of the bottom part of the bowl support is roughly a hemisphere, the bottom of the bowl is also round, roughly a hemisphere, while the upper part of the bowl support has substantially vertical side walls. An upper end of the side walls of the bowl is provided with an in-turned projection which extends in a generally curved manner down into and across the bowl opening. An upper end of the side walls of the bowl support is also preferably provided with similar projection. The container also comprises a means for reducing friction between the bowl and the bowl support. Different embodiments of the invention are set forth in the detailed description of the invention. The offered construction of the container prevents spillage, pouring and splashing of its contents and ensures access to contents of the bowl even when the container is considerably inclined.

Brief Description of Drawings

Fig. 1 represents a schematic cross section side view of one embodiment of the offered container;

Figs. 2A, 2B and 2C represent a schematic cross section side view of another three embodiments of the offered container - Fig. 2A - where the bowl support has vertical side walls, Fig. 2B - where the bowl support's side walls are inclined towards the interior space of the bowl support, Fig. 2C - where the bowl support's side walls are inclined outwards the interior space of the bowl support;

Fig. 3 represents a schematic cross section side view of fifth embodiment of the offered container;

Figs. 4A and 4B represent side view and cross section side view of the second embodiment of the offered container (where the bowl support has vertical side walls);

Fig. 5 represents a side view of third embodiment of the offered container;

Fig. 6 represents a schematic cross section side view of the third embodiment of the offered container. The offered container (Fig. 1, 2A, 2B, 2C, 4A, 4B) comprises a bowl 1, a bowl support 2 and a means 10 for reducing friction between the bowl 1 and the bowl support 2.

The bowl support 2 has an opening 3 for accessing the interior space of the bowl support 2 from an exterior of the bowl support 2. The bowl support 2 has interior space within which the bowl 1 is located. The internal surface of the bottom part of the bowl support 2 is roughly a hemisphere, while the upper part of the bowl support 2 has substantially vertical side walls (Fig. 2A). The said side walls may be also inclined towards the interior space of the bowl support 2 at an angle Al = from 1° to 15° (Fig. 2B), or outwards the interior space of the bowl support 2 at an angle A2 = from 1° to 80° (Fig. 2C). An upper end of a side wall of the bowl support 2 can be provided with an in-turned projection 4 which extends in a generally curved manner down into and across the bowl support 2 opening 3 (preferable embodiment). The bowl support 2 preferably is adapted to keep a liquid or semiliquid substance in its interior space for reducing friction between the bowl 1 and the bowl support 2 and for shock absorption (Fig. 3). According to the preferable embodiment, the in-turned projection 4 extends down into and across the bowl support 2 opening 3 until the imaginary surface of the upper part of the sphere the lower part of which is being defined by the internal surface of the bottom part of the bowl support 2 (Fig. 2A-2C; the imaginary surface of the upper part of the sphere is partially shown in Fig. 2A by dashed line).

According to another embodiment (Fig. 5-6) the bowl support 2 may have an opening at its bottom part: the internal surface of the bowl support 2 is being roughly a sphere having truncated upper part defining an opening 3 and bottom part defining an opening 5 such that a part of the bowl 1 projects from the bowl support 2. The bowl support 2 may be provided with holder 6 ( partially shown in Fig. 5) adapted for holding the container or to be built into vehicle, trailer or means for carrying animals (e.g. animal carrying boxes).

The bowl 1 has a bowl 1 opening 7 for accessing the interior space of the bowl 1 from an exterior of the bowl 1 and interior space adapted for keeping liquid and/or non- liquid contents. The bottom of the bowl 1 is round, roughly a hemisphere. The bowl 1 is provided with a weight 8 or equivalent means at its bottom part such that the bowl 1 has a center of mass below the geometrical center of the hemisphere. Thus the bowl 1 is adapted to be rotatable within the interior space of the bowl support 2 and seeking the upright orientation, which has equilibrium at the minimum gravitational potential energy. An upper end of the side walls of the bowl 1 is being provided with an in-turned projection 9 which extends in a generally curved manner down into and across the bowl 1 opening 7.

The preferable ratio between radius Ri of the internal surface of the bottom part of the bowl support 2 and radius R ₂ of the bottom of the bowl 1 (R^ R ₂ ) is from 1 :0.8 to 1 :0.9 (Fig. 2). The preferable ratio between height hi of the interior space of the bowl support 2 and height h ₂ of the bowl 1 (hi:h ₂ ) is from 1 :0.6 to 1 :0.65. The preferable ratio between the height hi of the interior space of the bowl support 2 and height h ₃ of the side walls of the upper part of the bowl support 2 (hi:h ) is from 1 :0.3 to 1 :0.35 (Fig. 2A).

This construction prevents spillage or pouring of the contents of the bowl 1 and ensures access to the contents of the bowl 1 even when the container is inclined for 45°- 90°.

The in-turned projection 4 in the upper end of the side wall of the bowl support 2 and the in-turned projection 9 in the upper end of the side wall of the bowl 1 are preferably being removable to ease cleaning and maintenance of the bowl 1 and the bowl support 2.

The means 10 for reducing friction between the bowl 1 and the bowl support 2 can be made in the form of hemispheres by their round end (pole) oriented towards the bowl' s 1 surface (or other form, e.g. cone with rounded tip) and be symmetrically located on the interior surface of the bowl support 2, such that the bowl 1 would make frictional contact only with these means during rotation of the bowl 1.

The container may be provided with means 11 (Fig. 3) for automatically or manually actuating a flow of liquid or semiliquid substance from an external reservoir to refill the bowl 1. For supplying liquid or semiliquid substance the bowl support 2 and the bowl 1 may be provided with openings or valves ensuring supply of substance into the interior space of the bowl support 2 and then into the bowl 1.

When the bowl 1 is pushed over (e.g. due to movement of vehicle where the container is located), it wobbles for a few moments while it seeks the upright orientation. In dynamical system the bowl 1 wobbles on inertia together with its liquid, semiliquid or non-liquid contents. This prevents spillage or pouring of the contents of the bowl 1. The in- turned projection 9 at an upper end of the side walls of the bowl 1 increases the anti- spillage or pouring effect and prevents splashing outside the container. The in-turned projection 4 at an upper end of the side walls of the bowl support 2 even more increases the anti spillage effect. The bowl support' s 2 in-turned projection 4 is also necessary in case of the embodiment when the liquid or semiliquid substance is being put into the interior space of the bowl support 2. It was surprisingly established that use of such liquid or semiliquid substance (e.g. the same water or semiliquid food, which is introduced into the bowl 1) between the bowl support 2 and the bowl 1 works as perfect shock absorber (diluting energy created by dynamical motion) and friction reducer thus providing perfectly operating spill-proof container.