ANIMAL FEEDER

MANGEOIRE

English Abstract

ANIMAL FEEDER
Abstract of the Disclosure
An animal feeder is disclosed having end walls,
vertically movable side walls and a bottom pan of "W" cross-
section, all defining a feed bin. The side walls are
vertically movable through adjusting means provided on the
upper ends of the end walls and the bottom pan has a high
pitch in the central portion which, combined with the side
walls being set farther apart at the bottom than at their
tops, provide free gravity flow of feed in the bin. Side
lips are provided on the bottom pan to prevent the feed
running out and grill work provides individual place feeding
for animals using the device.

Claims

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE ? IN WHICH AN
EXCLUSIVE PROPERTY OF PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS
FOLLOWS:
1. An animal feeder comprising end walls interconnected
by a bottom pan and a pair of vertically movable side walls
defining between them a feed bin; said bottom pan comprising
in cross-section a single, longitudinally extending, central
primary panel of "A" shape providing a steeply inclined feed
divider within said bin and a pair of secondary panels each
extending upwardly and outwardly from the lower end of each
side of said primary panel to define a pair of spaced,
elongated troughs; the movable side walls of said feed bin
being spaced closer together at their top ends than at their
lower ends to facilitate gravity flow of granular material
in said bin; and means mounted on said side walls and end
walls adjacent the upper ends thereof, interconnecting the
end walls and the movable side walls for selectively
raising and lowering at least one of said bin side walls.
2. A feeder according to claim 1 including a spill
guard extending along the outer terminal side edge of the
secondary panels.
3. A feeder according to claim 1 including a grill
over said troughs to define individual place feeding
positions for said animals.

Description

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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to animal ~eeders of the type
used for feeding hogs, sheep, cattle and the like.
PRIOR ART
Many forms of animal feeders exist and one of the
common problems with currently available feeders is that the
feed tends to pack in the bin, particularly when using feed
such as corn which has a high content of mois~ure. It is
- often necessary to manually dislodge the packed feed in the
bin and because of this, many so-called automatic feeders
lo~e the very characteristic which makes them desirable.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The feeder according to the present invention is
designed to virtually eliminate the abovementioned problems
by having a steep or high pitch feed divider at the base of the
feed bin in combination with a negative angle on the feed bin
walls so that they are spaced closer a~ the top than at the
bottom thereby ensuring continual gravity flow of the feed
within the bin.
According to a broad aspect, the invention relates to
an animal feeder comprising end walls interconnected by a
bottom pan and a pair of vertically movable side walls defining
between them a feed bin; said bottom pan comprising in
cross-section a single, longitudinally extending, central
primary panel of "A" shape providing a steeply inclined feed
divider within said bin and a pair of secondary panels each
extending upwardly and outwardly from the lower end of each
side of said prLmaX~ ~anel to define a pair o~ spaced,
elonga~ed trou~hs; the moYable side walls o~ said feed bin
being spaced closer together at their top ends than at their
lower ends to facilitate gravity flow of granular material

in said bin and ~e~ns mounted on said side ~d :nd walls
adjacent the upper end5 thereof, interconnecting ~he end
walls and t~e ~ovable side walls ~or s~Iecti~veI~ rais~ng
and lowering at least one`of said ~in side walls.
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; BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The invention is illustrated by way of example in
the accompanying drawings in which:
Figure 1 is a perspective view of the animal ~eeder
according to the invention, and
Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along the
line 2-2 of Figure 1.
Referring to the drawings, the animal feeder lndicated
generally at 10 consists of an elongated, vertically oriented
bin defined by the pair of upwardly tapering end walls 12
interconnected at their upper and lower ends by spacing rods
14 and 16 respectively. A bottom pan 18 has a shallow "W"
shape in cross-section and consists of a pair of central
primary panels 20 which constitutes a feed divider in the
center of the bin and the lower end of each panel 20 is either
formed integrally with or is secured to a secondary panel 22
which extends outwardly and upwardly from its connection with
panel 20. The extreme outer ends o panels 22 are folded
inwardly in a squared "C" shape to provide a spill guard or
lip 24 running the length of each secondary panel 22. It will
be appreciated from Figure 2 that the angle between the panels
20 a~d 22 together with the spill guard 24 define a pair of
elongated troughs from which the animals may take feed.
; The walls of the bin consist of elongated panels 26,
the lower ends of which rest in the troughs as shown in Figure
2. The panels 26 have outwardly flared lips 28 at their upper
ends to facilitate the filling of the bin with granular
material and it will be noted that the upper ends of the
panels 26 are spaced closer together than they are at their
lower ends to inhibit any packing of the granular material
therebetween and to facilitate easy downward flow to the trough
portions. The panels are restricted in their outward movement

by guide members 30 secured to the end walls 12 of khe feeder.
Means are provided for selectively raising and
lowering the panels 26 to provide the desired amount of flow
of granular material from ~he bin area into the troughs. Each
panel is provided with an elongated captive nut 32, one at
each end of each panel. As shown in Figure 2, the end wall
12 has an "L" shaped bracket 34 welded thereto and this bracke~
supports a pair of elongated threaded rods 36 the upper ends
thereof having cranked portions 38. A pair of spaced washers
40 are provided on each rod 36 above and below the lip of the
bracket 34 through which the rods pass. It will be evident
from Figure 2 that rotating the cranks 38 will ralse or lower
the panels 26 by virtue of the engagement between the threaded
rods 36 and the captive nuts 32. As the panels are raised,
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more feed is allowed to fall by gravity from the bin into the
trough.
As seen at Figure 1, a grill a2 is placed over the
trough area to provide individual places for the animals to
feed.
~hile the invention has been described in connection
with a specific embodiment thereof and in a specific use,
various modifications thereof will occur to those skilled in
the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the
invention as set forth in the appended claims.
The terms and expressions which have been employed
in this specification are used as terms of description and
not of limitation, and there i~ no intention in the use of
such terms and expressions to exclude any equivalents of the
featuxes shown and described or portions thereof, but it is
recognized that various modifications are possible within the
scope of the invention claimed.