JP3759256B2 - Exhaust and drainage equipment for laboratory animals such as mice and rats - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a rearing apparatus for feeding laboratory animals such as mice and rats by supplying fresh air and water into a box cage, and in particular, dirty air and mice, rats and the like in a box cage. The present invention relates to exhaust and drainage devices that discharge water left over or spilled.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, devices shown below are known as breeding devices for laboratory animals such as mice and rats. That is, in the breeding apparatus, a plurality of shelves are provided in a rectangular parallelepiped-shaped breeding shelf frame, and a plurality of rows of box-shaped cages made of transparent plastic or the like are inserted into each shelf. For each box cage inserted in the shelf, an air supply pipe for supplying fresh air not containing germs, an exhaust pipe for exhausting dirty air, and water for mice, rats, etc. An automatic water dispenser is installed to supply and drain the water left by the mouse, rat, etc. Therefore, fresh air and fresh water are always supplied to mice, rats, etc. in the box cage.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
By the way, in the apparatus shown in the prior art, the air supply pipe and the exhaust pipe are separately connected to the box cage, and an automatic water feeder for supplying and discharging water is also connected to the box cage separately. Therefore, pipes for these are also required, and there is a problem that the number of pipes increases and the apparatus becomes expensive.
[0004]
The present invention has been made in order to solve such a problem. Experiments on mice, rats, etc., in which exhaust and drainage are performed in the same pipe line and exhaust and drainage are separated and discharged at the end. An object of the present invention is to provide exhaust and drainage devices for animal rearing equipment.
[0005]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above-described problems of the prior art, the exhaust and drainage apparatus of the present invention is an automatic water supply having a water supply pipe and an outer pipe surrounding the water supply pipe while supplying air into the cage by connecting the air supply pipe to the box cage An evacuation / drainage device for a rearing device for supplying water to the cage by connecting a vessel and raising laboratory animals such as mice and rats in the cage, which is provided in the automatic water feeder and inserted into the cage In addition, an opening opening downward is formed on the base side outside the cage of the outer pipe, a branch pipe is connected to the opening in a downward direction, a communication pipe is connected to the branch pipe, and drainage is performed at the end of the communication pipe. The unit and the exhaust fan are connected separately. The branch pipe, the communication pipe, and the discharge pipe are preferably formed of a transparent member.
[0006]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, one embodiment of the exhaust and drainage device of an experimental animal breeding apparatus (hereinafter referred to as a breeding apparatus) such as a mouse and a rat according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
[0007]
As shown in FIG. 1, the breeding device 1 includes a breeding shelf frame 2, a box cage 3, an air supply pipe 4, an exhaust pipe (not shown), an automatic water feeder 5, and an exhaust and drainage device 6 shown in FIG. 5. It has.
[0008]
The breeding shelf frame 2 is a rectangular parallelepiped box-shaped frame formed of an angle material or the like as shown in FIG. 1, and a vertical duct 7 constituting an air supply passage and an exhaust passage is fixed to the rear surface, and the bottom surface. Four casters 8 are provided in the. For example, three-stage shelves 9 are provided at equal intervals between the upper surface and the bottom surface. In each shelf 9, for example, three box cages 3 can be inserted side by side in the lateral direction, and a box cage described later is provided at a position corresponding to each box cage 3 on the lower surface of each shelf 9. An inverted T-shaped and L-shaped guide rail 14 for guiding the three edge portions 13 and a leaf spring 15 for fixing the box-shaped cage 3 to the shelf 9 are provided. In addition, the leaf | plate spring 15 is fixed to the shelf 9 so that it may form in a bow shape and swells below.
[0009]
The box-shaped cage 3 is a box formed of transparent plastic as shown in FIG. 2, and an edge portion 13 formed in a bowl shape toward the outside is provided on the periphery. Further, a fixed lid 16 and a lid 18 that can be opened upward by a hinge 17 are provided on the upper surface, and an insertion port 19a of the air supply pipe 4 is provided on the surface to be inserted onto the shelf 9. Further, an exhaust pipe insertion port 19b (not shown) and an automatic water feeder 5 insertion port 20 are provided. The longitudinal direction of the edge 13 is guided by the guide rail 14 to slide the box-shaped cage 3 in the front-rear direction. It is supposed to be fixed to.
[0010]
The air supply pipe 4 includes an air supply main pipe 21 and a seal cup 22 as shown in FIG. For example, four supply holes 23 are formed upward in the supply main pipe 21 and a plug 24 is fitted to the tip. Further, the seal cup 22 made of a rubber material is fitted to the rear portion of the supply main pipe 21, and the supply main pipe 21 is connected to the duct 7 of the breeding shelf frame 2 so as to protrude onto the shelf 9. In addition, a blower (not shown) is connected to the upstream end. Note that an exhaust pipe is provided behind the air supply pipe 4 as viewed in FIG. 3, but this exhaust pipe is not visible in the figure. The air supply pipe 4 and the exhaust pipe are connected to the duct 7. A seal cup similar to the seal cup 22 is also provided in the exhaust pipe.
[0011]
The seal cup 22 has a larger diameter than the insertion port 19 of the box-shaped cage 3 and is formed in a bowl shape, and an annular edge 25 is formed at the periphery, and the seal cup 22 opens toward the tip of the supply main pipe 21. The air supply main 21 is fitted.
[0012]
As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the automatic water feeder 5 includes an outer pipe 26, a water supply pipe 27 inside the outer pipe 26, and a seal cup 28. The outer tube 26 has a tip opened obliquely upward so that the rat can easily drink water, and an opening 29 opened downward is provided at the base outside the cage. The upstream end is connected to the water supply main 30. The outer tube 26 is fixed to the shelf frame 2 so as to protrude onto the shelf 9. Further, between the opening 29 and the distal end of the outer tube 26, the same seal cup 28 as the seal cup 22 provided in the air supply tube 4 is attached to the outer tube 26 in a direction opening toward the distal end of the outer tube 26. Has been.
[0013]
The water supply pipe 27 is a thin pipe whose tip is located slightly inside the tip of the outer pipe 26 and is not shown in the drawing so as to be substantially parallel to the center line of the outer pipe 26. It is mounted inside the outer tube 26 so as to protrude from the outer tube 26.
[0014]
Since the automatic water feeder 5 is configured in this way, when the rat moves the tip of the water supply pipe 27 with the mouth, the on-off valve 27a is displaced and opened, and water is supplied to the tip through the inside of the water supply pipe 27, Rats can drink water. When the rat stops contacting the tip of the water supply pipe 27, the on-off valve 27a is automatically closed by elasticity and the supply of water is stopped.
[0015]
Since the air supply pipe 4, the exhaust pipe and the automatic water feeder 5 are provided with seal cups 22 and 28, respectively, when the box cage 3 is pushed into the shelf 9, the air supply main pipe 21 and the exhaust pipe of the air supply pipe 4 The outer pipe 26 of the automatic water feeder 5 is inserted into the insertion ports 19a, 19b, 20 of the box cage 3, respectively, and the edges 25, 31 of the seal cups 22, 28 are inserted into the insertion ports 19a, 19b, The air supply pipe 4, the exhaust pipe, and the automatic water feeder 5 are fixed to the box-shaped cage 3 by being adsorbed on the respective peripheral surfaces of 20.
[0016]
As shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, the exhaust / drainage device 6 includes a branch pipe 32, a communication pipe 33, and a discharge pipe 34, which are made of, for example, transparent silicon rubber.
[0017]
The branch pipes 32 are fixed in the downward direction to the openings 29 of the outer pipe 26 of the automatic water feeder 5, and these branch pipes 32 are connected in an inverted T shape to the communication pipes 33 arranged in the horizontal direction. . The discharge pipe 34 is disposed and fixed to both ends of the communication pipe 33 in the vertical direction. Reference numeral 35 denotes a plug, 36 denotes a filter, and 37 denotes an exhaust fan.
[0018]
Since the exhaust and drainage device 6 is configured in this way, air sent from the air supply pipe 4 into the box-shaped cage 3 and contaminated by the rat is exhausted from an exhaust pipe (not shown). The air is also sucked by the air blower 37 and passes through the outer pipe 26, the opening 29, the branch pipe 32, the communication pipe 33 and the discharge pipe 34 of the automatic water feeder 5 as shown by the arrows in FIG. After that, it is discharged to the outside.
[0019]
On the other hand, the water left by the rat from the water supply pipe 27 of the automatic water feeder 5 and dripped into the outer pipe 26 passes through the outer pipe 26 as shown by the arrows in FIGS. 32, passes through the communication pipe 33, falls to the discharge pipe 34, and is naturally discharged from the lower part of the discharge pipe 34 to the outside.
[0020]
In the present embodiment, the dirty air is sucked by the exhaust fan 37 in addition to the exhaust system by the exhaust pipe. However, when the pressure inside the box-shaped cage 3 is positive, the exhaust pipe 34 is used. By removing the blower 37 and removing the plug 35 and opening the upper portion of the discharge pipe 34, dirty air can be discharged to the outside. In the present embodiment, the branch pipe 32, the communication pipe 33, and the discharge pipe 34 are made of transparent silicon rubber, but may be made of transparent plastic, or may be made of an opaque steel pipe.
[0021]
FIG. 6 shows another embodiment of the exhaust and drainage device of the present invention. In FIG. 6, since the part which attached | subjected the code | symbol same as the code | symbol attached | subjected to FIG. 3 thru | or FIG. 5 is an equivalent part, the description is abbreviate | omitted and it demonstrates only a different part. The branch pipe 32 (upper in the figure) connected to the opening 29 of the outer pipe 26 is configured in the same manner as in the previous embodiment, but the lower branch in the figure has an upper branch pipe 32a and a lower branch pipe. The pipe 32b is configured to be open to the outside air on the way. In order to be able to open to the outside air, an outer pipe (not shown) is slidably fitted over the upper branch pipe 32a and the lower branch pipe 32b, and the upper pipe is slid upward or downward when released to the outside air. The space between the tubes 32a and 32b can be opened. Further, an opening that can be opened and closed is provided in the side wall of the branch pipe 32 that is integrated in the vertical direction, so that the inside of the branch pipe 32 can be communicated with the outside air.
[0022]
In the exhaust and drainage apparatus shown in FIG. 5, when a power failure occurs in the air supply system and the exhaust system, animals inside the cage 3 may suffocate. In order to prevent this from happening, the branch pipe 32 communicates with the outside air during a power failure, so that the inside of the cage 3 communicates with the outside air through the inside of the outer pipe 26 of the automatic water feeder 5, and the animal can breathe. It becomes like this.
[0023]
【The invention's effect】
In the present invention, an opening that opens downward is formed on the base side of the outer pipe of the automatic water feeder of each breeding cage, a branch pipe is connected to the opening in the downward direction, and the branch pipe is connected to the communication pipe. Since drainage and exhaustion are simultaneously performed through the same pipe through these branch pipes and communication pipes, the piping can be simplified, maintenance and inspection can be easily performed, and the apparatus can be obtained at a low cost. Is obtained.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a breeding shelf frame of a breeding apparatus.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a box cage.
FIG. 3 is a partial cross-sectional side view of a box-shaped cage equipped with an air supply pipe and an automatic water feeder.
FIG. 4 is a partial cross-sectional side view of an automatic water dispenser.
FIG. 5 is a piping diagram of an exhaust and drainage device.
FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing another embodiment of the exhaust and drainage device of the present invention.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Breeding device 2 Breeding shelf frame 3 Box-shaped cage 4 Air supply pipe 5 Automatic water supply device 6 Exhaust and drainage device 9 Shelf 14 Guide rail 15 Leaf spring 21 Air supply main pipe 22 Seal cup 26 Outer pipe 27 Water supply pipe 28 Seal cup 29 Opening Part 32 Branch pipe 33 Communication pipe 34 Exhaust pipe 37 Blower

Claims (3)

An air supply pipe is connected to the box cage to supply air into the cage, and an automatic water feeder having a water supply pipe and an outer pipe surrounding the water supply pipe is connected to supply water into the cage. An exhaust and drainage device of a rearing device for rearing laboratory animals such as rats, wherein the opening provided in the automatic water feeder is opened downward to the base side outside the cage of the outer tube inserted into the cage. An exhaust and drainage device characterized by forming and connecting a branch pipe in a downward direction to the opening, connecting a communication pipe to the branch pipe, and separately connecting a drainage section and a wind exhauster to the end of the communication pipe . 2. The exhaust and drainage device for a laboratory animal breeding apparatus such as a mouse or a rat according to claim 1, wherein the branch pipe and the communication pipe are made of a transparent material. 2. The exhaust and drainage device for laboratory animal breeding apparatus such as mouse and rat according to claim 1, wherein the branch pipe is openable to the outside air.

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