GB1600200A

GB1600200A - Feeder for animals

Info

Publication number: GB1600200A
Application number: GB1458178A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: CREMONESI F
Current assignee: CREMONESI F
Priority date: 1977-04-13
Filing date: 1978-04-13
Publication date: 1981-10-14
Also published as: NL7803866A; IT1076707B; FR2386987A1; DK161078A; FR2386987B3; BE865892A; DE2739175A1

Description

(54) FEEDER FOR ANIMALS (71) I, FRANCESCO CREMONESI, an Italian subject, of 14, Via G. Zanella, Albignano d'Adda, Truccazzano, Province of Milan, Italy, do hereby declare the invention, for which I pray that a patent may be granted to me, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement:- The invention relates to feeder for animals, more particularly pigs.

In modern pig-breeding methods, stalls are disposed in a row above ground level, each stall comprising a feeder, the feeders likewise being disposed in a row and supplied from a single hopper containing the feed. Known feeds of this kind comprise a hopper in the shape of an inverted truncated cone disposed above the feeder and having a narrow slot at the bottom, above each section of the feeder.

However, it is found that the feed frequently forms an arch and does not fall into the feeder, which thus has to be continuously watched by the operators, who have to take action whenever this phenomenon occurs.

Attempts have been made to obviate this disadvantage by widening the cross-section of the slot, but this results in another disadvantage, i.e. the feeder is filled to excess and a considerable amount of feed is wasted, since the animal instinctively burrows into the trough with it snout.

One object of the invention is to avoid the aforementioned two disadvantages and ensure that the feeder is filled to the right level by action of the animal itself.

According to this invention we propose a feeder for animals comprising a hopper opposed walls of which are at first convergent from the top of the hopper and them become divergent towards the base of the hopper, and a feeding trough to which the feed is supplied from the hopper by a supply device comprising a toothed roller, the roller being rotatable by the animal's snout. Other features of the invention are set forth in the appendant claims.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawing which is a perspective view, partly in section, of a feeder.

The feeder shown in the drawing is elongate and has a number of feeding troughs and may form the front wall of the row of stalls (not shown).

The feeder has a sheet-metal element 1 which forms the rear wall of a hopper for feed material 3, and a front wall 2 which is spaced from the rear wall 1 and extends to within a few centimetres of the base of the feeder.

The walls 1 and 2 are at first convergent from the top of the hopper but then become divergent towards the base, thus ensuring that the feed does not exert excessive thrust on the base and thus also tending to break any arches formed by the feed.

The feeder is divided into individual troughs by partitions 4 which do not extend to the base thus ensuring that the feed from one trough can travel to the next, either naturally or after being pushed by the pig's snout.

Between each pair of adjacent partitions 4 is a toothed roller mounted at each end, in an aperture 6 of a bearing member 5 secured to the partition 4. Each roller is rotatable independently of the others and the rollers preferably have a star-shaped cross-section or indicated at 7 and are disposed so that they occupy most of the space between the end of the manger and the bottom side of the front wall of the hopper 2.

Consequently, feed cannot enter the feed trough unless the toothed roller 7 is rotated anti-clockwise, which is the only way of supplying feed to the feeder in question.

In order to assist feed material to fall through the hopper and prevent the formation of arches, especially when the feed contains molasses, rods 9 are attached to and depend from cross-members 8 so as to allow oscillation thereof the lower free end of each rod being bevelled and co-operating under the action of a spring 10 with the toothed roller 7 so that when a roller 7 is rotated in order to supply the feed, the rod 9 oscillates back and forth to demolish any arches formed in the feed. There is a rod 9 in each sector of the hopper. In addition, each feed trough is fitted with cover 11 defining a curved opening as shown in the drawing and which prevents spillage of the feed when the feeder is violently shaken by the animal during feeding.

When the hopper or silo is full of feed, the animals smell it near the roller and, in the desire to eat, rotate the roller with their snout by pushing against the teeth, and thus fill the feeder.

It may be that the animal recognises that feed is supplied when the roller is rotated and thus continues operation but it will eventually lose interest since it is impossible for the feed to be supplied in excess and reach a height sufficient to overflow the feeder as a result of the violent transverse motion of the animal's snout.

Since there is a space between the bottom of the feeder and the partitions 4 some of the feed is transferred along from one trough to the next, where the pig may be lazier or less inclined to rotate the supply roller.

WHAT I CLAIM IS: 1. A feeder for animals comprising a hopper opposed walls of which are at first convergent from the top of the hopper and then become divergent towards the base of the hopper, and a feeding trough to which the feed is supplied from the hopper by a supply device comprising a toothed roller, the roller being rotatable by the animal's snout.

2. A feeder according to claim 1, and comprising a rod within the hopper one free end of which co-operates with the teeth of the toothed roller so that the rod is moved back and forth as the roller rotates teeth, to demolish any arches formed by the descending feed.

3. A feeder according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the trough is subdivided by partitions into individual troughs each of which has a cover defining a curved opening affording access to the trough and adapted to prevent spillage of feed therefrom.

4. A feeder for animals constructed and arranged substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. trough is fitted with cover 11 defining a curved opening as shown in the drawing and which prevents spillage of the feed when the feeder is violently shaken by the animal during feeding. When the hopper or silo is full of feed, the animals smell it near the roller and, in the desire to eat, rotate the roller with their snout by pushing against the teeth, and thus fill the feeder. It may be that the animal recognises that feed is supplied when the roller is rotated and thus continues operation but it will eventually lose interest since it is impossible for the feed to be supplied in excess and reach a height sufficient to overflow the feeder as a result of the violent transverse motion of the animal's snout. Since there is a space between the bottom of the feeder and the partitions 4 some of the feed is transferred along from one trough to the next, where the pig may be lazier or less inclined to rotate the supply roller. WHAT I CLAIM IS:

1. A feeder for animals comprising a hopper opposed walls of which are at first convergent from the top of the hopper and then become divergent towards the base of the hopper, and a feeding trough to which the feed is supplied from the hopper by a supply device comprising a toothed roller, the roller being rotatable by the animal's snout.