CA1041850A

CA1041850A - Automatic fish feeder

Info

Publication number: CA1041850A
Application number: CA256,313A
Authority: CA
Inventors: Donald B. Adams
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1976-07-05
Filing date: 1976-07-05
Publication date: 1978-11-07

Abstract

A B S T R A C T

This invention consists of an automatic fish feed-ing device which is controlled and operated electrically and which can be set to go on and off at predetermined times, thus eliminating personal attention when such attention is not avail-able. The feeding mechanism consists of a hopper which con-tains the fish food, and a conveyor screw at the bottom of the hopper for carrying the food to, and discharging it into an aquarium to which the device is attached. The "ON" and "OFF"
timing can be controlled by means of a standard household timer or by any one of a number of more sophisticated time control devices at present on the market, and the R.P.M. of the con-veyor determines the quantity of food delivered to the aquarium, during a predetermined period of rotation.

Description

~a~ sv This invention con~ists of a device for automatically feeding fish in an aquarium.
Aquariums containing gold fish and a huge variety of multi-colored tropical fish, are used extensively at the present time in stores and offices, private homes, and apartment~, ror decorative purposes. In apartments, where animal pets are u~ually prohibited, fish of various sizes and description often are kept as pets.
~he proper feeding Or aquarium kept fish i8 an important factor in 80 far as the health, appearance, and the life span of the fish are concerned. When fish are cared for and fed manually by a person, the problem of feeding the fish often arises when manual ~eeding cannot be done because of the person's absence.
It is therefore the primary object o~ thi~ invention to provide a failproof method for feeding aquarium ~ish auto- -matically at predetermined regular intervals and with the re-quired quantity of food at each feeding.
Thi~ is accomplished in the invention by the use of -an electrically operated type conveyor which di~charges a pre-determined quantity of food into the aquarium, to which thi~
device i8 attached, at rsgular intervals. --In describing the invention reference will be made to the attached draw~ngs in which,- -Figure 1, is a plan of the invention with the hopper cover removed, - -Pigure 2, is an elevation of the invention showing the hopper covered, and ~ -~
Pigure 3, is a schematic diagram of one method of ~- -wiring the device.
In the drawings, the devi¢e is shown consisting o~ -a base plate 1 to uhi¢h 1~ a~tached and centrally located a '~
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food hopper 2 having downwardly converging walls which termin- ' ate at their bottoms into an enclosed U-shaped trough ~.
Located within the U-shaped trough is a screw type conveyor 4 which extends beyond the trough 3 at its discharge -end, and has an exit at the opposite end for the passage there-through of the shaft 5 o,~ the conveyor 4.
The shaft 5 is connected to a motorized speed reducer 6 by means of which the conveyor 4 is rotated at a low speed.
The hopper 2 is supported by a bracket 11 by means o~ which it is attached to the base plate 1. The motor speed reducer 6 is held and supported by means of a bracket 13 which is attached to said base plate. ' '' In Figure 2, the food hopper is shown covered with a cover 12 ~hich may be required in some location where the "~
food may be subject to contamination.
Figure 2 also demonstrates a suggested method for , ''-removably and rapidly attaching the device to an aquarium.
The under~ide of the base plate 1 is provided with a rectan- , eular, inverted channel 7 which fits snugly over the usual 20 aquarium rim 8. To further support,the device, a knee brace 9 '' is attached to the underside of the said base plate so that it can swivel on the point of attachment. After the channel 7 has been placed on the rim 8, the knee brace 9 is rotated and -braced against the wall 10 of the aquarium.
Tho ~otor-reducer 6 is started and stopped by means of an electrical timer 15~ the length Or time that the motor 6 i8 in rotatlon being dependant upon the number of rotations re-quired by the screw conveyor 4 in order to discharge the required ' quantity Or food per feeding. The conveyor 4 i8 made to extend ~' 30 beyond the base plate 1 80 that food discharged ~rom the hopper ~,

2 can fall ~reo and unobstructed into the water of the aquarium.
In Figure 3 i8 ~hown a suggested electrical circuit 14, for u~e with an ordinary household timer 15, to activate - . , ,, . : ,, ~ o~ o and stop the rotation of the conveyor 4 at predetermined regular intervals, in conjunction with a contact 16 and a relay 17.
It is obvious that the device can be made in a variety Or sizes depending upon the æize of the aquarium. The timer will of course be set for the number of feedings in 24 hourss and since the quantity of food delivered to the aquarium per single feeding depends upon the number of rotation of the con-veyor, the R.P.M. of the conveyor is determined by the quantity of food required.
There are many ways of controlling the timing of the above described device, such as mechanically, electrically, snd electronically. It is therefore not intended to limit the scope of this invention by the above description, the main feature Or the invention being the time controlled delivery o~
food to aquariums by means of a screw conveyor.
It can also be pointed out that a similar device Or con~iderably larger dimensions can be used in feeding fish in man made bodies of water used in breeding fish for commercial purposes .

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Claims

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclu-sive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:-

1. A time controlled, non-clogging, screw conveyor feed-ing device for household aquariums comprising a hopper for con-taining fish food therein, consisting of an open top rectangular container having downwardly converging walls which terminate at the bottom of the container into a U-shaped trough; a screw con-veyor located within said U-shaped trough and extending a short distance beyond the trough at its discharge end; in combination with a speed reducer electric motor attached to the drive end of said screw conveyor, end located outside of said hopper, for pro-viding rotation to said screw conveyor; a standard electric timer for starting and stopping said motor at predetermined in-tervals; a rectangular base plate which supports said device, and which is just short of the discharge end of the conveyor, so as not to obstruct the flow of the fish food discharged from the conveyor into the aquarium, said base having on the underside thereof a U-shaped channel, running crosswise to the conveyor, by means Or which the base can be attached to the rim of the aquarium, and a knee brace swivelably attached to the underside of said base to provide it with additional support; and a remo-vable cover for the top of said container.