GB1353144A - Cattle handling pens - Google Patents

Abstract

1353144 Cattle pen J L MORRIS 19 April 1971 [31 March 1970] 15125/70 Heading A5R A cattle handling pen comprises a frame having an entrance, an exit gate, and a yoke comprising a pair of elongated members for engaging a beast's neck, the members being supported by links on opposite sides of the frame which enable them to be moved out of the closed position. The elongated yoke members 32 are provided with cranked end portions 34, 35 to which the ends of links 37, 38 are pivotally attached by means of lugs 36. The other ends of the links are rigidly attached to tubular spindles 39 which are rotatable in tubular bearings 40 by means of a bar 42 pivotally connected at each end to lugs 41 on the spindles 39. The bar may be moved laterally across the frame by a link 47 pivotally attached to the middle region of the bar so that the spindles turn and thus rotate the rigidly attached links 37 and 38 and open and close the yoke. The link 47 is pivotally attached on a lug 46 on a further spindle 44 in a tube 40, so that rotation of the spindle 44 by a handle 43 attached to the lug 46 causes the link 47 to move the bar 42 from side to side. A locking bar 49, pivoted on a further lug 48 of the spindle 44, and gravitationally biassed so that when the yoke is closed, Fig. 4, the bar jams against a rail 50 of the frame and locks it in position. When the yoke is open, Fig. 3, the bar 49 rests upon the rail. Side gates 17 and 18 are pivotally attached at the end of the frame adjacent the yoke, and an end gate 21 is pivotally attached to the one side gate 18 to close the frame. The end gate 21 is attached to the side gate 18 by two hinge connections 27-28 and 26. the upper hinge connection consists of a peg 28 on the end gate movable in a flattened tube 27 on the side gate. As well as turning in the tube to allow opening of the end gate the peg may move laterally across the tube so that when the end gate is open it hangs at a small angle to the vertical to prevent it swinging closed. The lower hinge 26 is of screwhole loose fitting in order to make this possible. The side gates are locked in their closed position by means of a locking engagement between a strut 23 on the end gate and a projection 25. A side door 51 provides access to the beast under treatment at the yoke, and links 57, 54 and 55 allow the frame to be lifted by means of the linkage of a hydraulic lifting mechanism. Abutment 16 on the frame may be engaged with a tail bar to keep the animal in the frame.