CA1097995A

CA1097995A - Animal feeder

Info

Publication number: CA1097995A
Application number: CA343,470A
Authority: CA
Inventors: Steven Kuepfer
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1980-01-11
Filing date: 1980-01-11
Publication date: 1981-03-24

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.

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, .
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.

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.