Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
(a) Field of Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic
animal feeder and wherein predetermined quantity of
feed can be automatically delivered at predetermined
time intervals.
(b) Description of Prior Art
Various animal feeders are known. However, the
majority of these feeder devices comprise a container
having feed therein with manually operable gate mechanism
whereby to release predetermined quantities or the entire
feed stored in the housing. Such devices are also mainly
for feeding large quantities of animals at a single feed
station. When it is necessary to feed individual animals
separated from one another by enclosures, it is necessary
that a person feeds each animal individually~ This is
a time consuming process and also makes it difficultg
if next to impossible, to feed all of the animals at
substantially the same time whereby to establish-a common
regular diet for such animals. Further, adding to the
time consuming operation, is the necessity for providing
different feeds to different animals~
SUMMARY OF ~HE INVENTION
It is a feature of the present invention to
provide an automatic animal feeder which is automatically
operable to feed individual or individual groups of
animals at predetermined times.
Another feature of the present invention i5 to
provide an automatic animal feeder capable of feeding a
3~ predetermined quantity of ~eed at predetermined times.
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Another feature of the present invention is to
provide an automatic animal feeder capable of housing
fee~ for several meals and wherein the feed is discharged
by an automatic discharge device which is activated at
predetermined times and capable of operating during a
predetermined period of time~
According to a broad aspect of the present
invention there is provided an automatic animal feeder
comprising a housing defining an enclosed feed reservoir~
An inlet opening is provided for receiving feed in the
reservoir. The reservoir also has an outlet opening
and a discharge screw conveyor is located in a cylindrical
tube and rotatably driven by a motor. The tube has an
opening in a sidewall thereof and a sleeve couples the
housing outlet opening with the sidewall opening for
communicating ~eed in the reservoir directlv on a
restricted portion of the conveyor screw whereby the
conveyor screw arrests the discharge of feed when idle.
An outlet pipe is connected to an outlet of the cylindrical
tube to discharge the feed at the remote discharge outlet
of the tube when the conveyor is rotated. An automatic
timer control means is provided for operating the motor
at predetermined time intervals and for predetermined
time periods to thereby control the quantity of feed
discharged at said remote discharge outlet during each
of the time intervals.
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BRIEF DES RIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
A preferred embod.iment of the present invention
will now be described with reference to the example
thereof as illustrated in the accompanying drawings,
in which:
FIGURE 1 is a front view, partly fragmented
of the automatic animal feeder of the present invention,
FIGURE 2 is a section view showing the
discharge means and it.s drive,
FIGURE 3 is a fragmented side view of the
automatic animal feeder, and
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FIGURE 4 is a schematic view showing the
control circuit and a multi feeder system.
DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Referring now to the drawings, there is shown
generally at 10 the automatic animal feeder of the
present invention. The feeder comprises a housing 11
defining therein a reservoir 12 for containment of a
predetermined quan~ity of feed material 13. The feed
material is placed into the housing through an inlet
opening 14 which is closable by a hinged cover 15.
A vertical slot opening 16 is provided in the front wall
of the housing and is provided with a transparent window
17 thus, constituting a gauge whereby to visually de-
termine the qua~ity of feed remaining in the reservoir 12.
The base of the reservoir 12 is conically
tapered and is provided with a discharge opening 18.
A rotatable conveyor discharge screw 19 is secured
adjacent the opening 18 and located within a cylindrical
housing 20 having an opening 21 in the side wall thereof
and coupled to the outlet 18 by a sleeve 22 whereby
feed is directed directly onto a central portion of
the conveyor screw 19. As shown in Figc 1, the conveyor
screw 19 arrests the discharge of feed when idle. The
screw is secured on a drive shaft 23 which is coupled
to a drive motor 24 through a speed reducing coupling 25.
The outlet of the cylindrical tube 20 is connected to an
outlet pipe 26 to which is coupled any suitable conveyor
pipe~ such as 27 schematically illustrated in Figure 4,
whereby to channel the feed 13 to an appropriate location
or feed tray 2~3 located at a convenient position for
~ access by the animal(s~ bcing fed.
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~s shown in Figures 1 and 4 an automatic timer
control mechanism constituted by a time clock mechanism
~9 and a time regulating device 30 is provided to operate
the motor 24 at predetermined time intervals and for
predetermined time periods to thereby control the quantity
of feed discharged through the outlet pipe 26 during each
of the predetermined time intervals which are preset on
the automatic timer control 29. This control device 29
is that commonly known in the art for regulating the power
supply to lamps whereby to turn them on and off at pre-
determined times in a day. This device 29 feeds the
power supply to the electric motor 24 but via a time
regulating device 30 which will maintain the power
supply for preselected time periods onlyO With the
particular embodiment herein described, the reservoir
contains appro~imately ~0 pounds of feed. By operating
the conveyor screw at a specific speed, for a specific
period of time~ a predetermined quantity of feed is
delivered. For example 9 a 35 second operation o the
screw can deli~er 5 pounds of feed. Therefore, by
regulating the time of operation of the motor 249 very
pxecise quantity of feed can be delivered to the animal~
A typical application of the automatic feeder
is to feed horses which are contained in their stalls and
located side-by-side. Depending on the size and health
conditions of the horse, a predetermined quantity of
feed is fed to each individual horse. It is also
important to feed all of the horses at the same time
as t~e horses are usually in visual contact w;th
neighbouring horses and if a horse was not fed1 this
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would result in the unfed horse exhibiting some madness
causing damage to the stall and possible injury to the
horse. ~lso, in such larye animal enclosures there may
be contained several stalls and it can be seen that with
the present invention all of these stalls can ~e equipped
with a device 10 to deliver individual quantities and
cornpositions of feed simultaneously to each stall, which
was heretofore impossible with the prior art devices
known.
The housing 11 can be constructed of stainless
steel or plastics material to provide a sanitary enclo-
sure and the reservoir 12 is properly sealed by the
cover 15 whereby moisture, dust or other foreign matter
cannot entar the enclosure to soil or contaminate the
feed~ The housing 11 is also provided with attachment
flanges 31 whereby to secure the housing against the
wall or other support structure.
As shown in Figure 4, the automatic timer
control 29 comprises a time cloc~ mechanism coupled to a
24 hour time dial 32. A plurality of presettable
contact trip elements 33 are positioned about the dial
throuyh a 24 hour period indicator. By presetting these
trip elements at different times of the day, power from
the electrical connector 34 will be supplied to the
output line 35 which is connected to the time regulating
device 30. This time regulating device 30 is provided
with a dial 36 which is positioned to a preselected time
period whereby to pass electrical power to its outlet
line 37 for a predetermined period of time onlyD The
outlet connection 37 is connected to the mot~r 24 to
35~
cause the operation thereof, as previously described.
In Figure 4~ there is also shown a controller
device 3~3 capable of controlling a plurality of animal
feeders 10. This controller can be connected directly
to the time regulating device 30 of each feeder whereby
to connect power thereto at preselected time intervals
or else could cut-out one or more of these feeders by
activating proper switches~ Thus, it is conceivable
that various systems can be arranged for automatic
operation and wherein the controller could selectively
operate one or more or specific groups of animal feeder
devices 10.
It is within the ambit of the present invention
to cover any obvious modifications of the preferred
embodiment described herein, provided such modifications
fall within the scope of the appended claims.
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