GB2035033A

GB2035033A - Feeding apparatus for dogs

Info

Publication number: GB2035033A
Application number: GB7937450A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: SGODZAJ E
Current assignee: SGODZAJ E
Priority date: 1978-10-28
Filing date: 1979-10-29
Publication date: 1980-06-18
Also published as: FR2439547A1; GB2035033B; DE2847089A1

Abstract

A vertically adjustable frame on a stand 12 has two rings which are connected together and which support bowls 34. On each ring a retaining element 28 engages over the edge of the bowl 34. A clamping device 36 between the rings is movable from a clamped position in which a clamping member 38 engages over the edges of the bowls 34 to an open position in which the clamping member 38 does not overlap the edges of the bowls 34. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Feeding apparatus for dogs The invention relates to a feeding apparatus for dogs, comprising a stand to which a frame is secured so as to be vertically adjustable, the said frame comprising two rings which are connected to one another in a horizontal plane and in each of which a bowl is supported, the outer edge of which rests on the ring. Dogs' feeding apparatuses of this type are known from the German Utility Model DE-GM 73 1 9 619. The advantage lies in the fact that the food bowl and the drinking bowl may be arranged at the same level on the stand, it being possible to adjust the level to the size of the dog in question. The frame is positioned according to the size of the dogs such that the bowls are disposed at approximately the chest level of the dogs to be fed.The dog stands upright therefore while drinking and eating, so that postural disorders are avoided. This is particularly important in the case of growing dogs. Since the bowls no longer stand on the ground, they can no longer be knocked over.

The risk of fouling is eliminated. In the two rings the bowls are protected from being knocked out, and to this end clips engaging over the edges of the bowls are provided. on the outside of the rings. A holding plate, which likewise engages over the edges of the bowls on the inside, is disposed between the two rings. It has now been found in practice however that securing the said holding plate is awkward, since in order to lock the holding plate the same clamping screw must be used which secures the frame to the stand in such a way as to be vertically adjustable.

The object of the invention is further to develop the known feeding apparatus for dogs so as to secure the bowls in the two rings in a simpler manner.

This object is attained according to the invention in that at least one clamp engaging over the edge of the bowl is attached to each ring at a diametrically outward position and that in the area between the two rings a clamping device is provided which is mounted so as to be movable from a clamped position, in which a clamping member engages over the edges of the two bowls, to an open position, in which the clamping member does not overlap the edges of the bowls.

Whereas the holding plate had to be unscrewed in order to remove the bowls from the rings while tilting them sideways in the case of the known feeding apparatus for dogs, the clamping member according to the invention is merely moved from a clamped position to a rest position, and so no longer needs to be removed from the frame and kept in a suitable place.

One arrangement of the invention consists in connecting the two rings to one another on the underside by means of a base plate which acts as an abutment for the clamping member in the clamped position. In addition the base plate provides a reinforcement of the frame and according to a further development of the invention it extends from the guide member guiding the frame in a vertically adjustable manner on the stand as far as the area between the two rings. In a simplified embodiment even a narrow plate connecting the two rings to one another would be sufficient, but a longer plate which extends as far as the guide member of the frame provides a substantial reinforcement of the said frame.

According to an important development the clamping member is constituted as a clamping plate, the length of which is greater than the inside distance between the two rings and the width of which is less than the said distance, and the clamping plate is pivotally mounted about a vertical axis. By means of this important arrangement, it is sufficient, simply by turning the clamping plate through 90 , to release or actuate the locking device. Unscrewing a holding clamp, taking off the said holding clamp and after inserting the bowls again the awkward re-securing of the holding clamp-which hitherto were necessary-are thus entirely eliminated. By one slight turn of the holding plate the latter is moved from the clamped position to the open position and vice versa.

An important further development lies in the fact that the clamping plate is higher in the open position than in the clamped position. In order to move the clamping plate into the clamped position therefore, it must be lowered on to the edges of the bowls, which provides the advantage that the clamping plate only touches the edges of the bowls immediately before reaching the clamping position so as to prevent the edges of the bowls being scraped and scratched by the clamping plate.

The clamping plate is advantageously secured to a pivoting pin which is disposed so as to pivot in the base plate and the upper end of which has a handle. This arrangement renders operation particularly easy.

A particularly simple embodiment would be possible therefore in which the clamping plate together with the pivoting pin forms a lock in the form of a conventional bar, which is effective on both sides however. Although a bar of this type, which would be pivotable in a horizontal plane, could prevent the bowls from being knocked upwards in an undesirable manner, it is necessary however in the first place to take account of the fact that the edges of the bowls are scratched, and secondly to keep within certain tolerances in order to ensure reliable locking even after a long period of use.The consequence would be that a certain safety play for the bar with respect to the edges of the bowls would have to be provided, with the disadvantage that the bowls would not be held tightly but loosely in the rings, so thåt unpleasant disturbance could be produced by the noise of the dog knocking against the bowls. In order to remedy this it is provided, according to an important characteristic feature of the invention, that the clamping plate should be fastened to a pivoting pin which projects downwards through the base plate and bears a support ring at a distance from the base plate, and a compression spring is arranged between the base plate and the support ring. By means of this step not only may the clamping plate be pivoted but it may also be moved axially, i.e.

raised and lowered. The spring ensures that the clamping plate is held tightly on the edges of the bowls, so that any risk of rattling is avoided. When actuating the clamping plate, any sliding over the surface of the bowls is also prevented since the clamping plate may easily be raised first and moved to the open position.

An additionai very important characteristic feature lies in the fact that the clamping device is locked in the clamped position. To this end a locking ring disposed between the two rings is secured to the base plate; the ends of a pin passing through the pivoting pin rest on the said locking ring and determine the vertical position of the clamping plate. The said locking ring has two diametrically opposite depressions for receiving the ends of the pin. This arrangement ensures completely foolproof operation. When the clamping plate is rotated out of the clamped position by means of the handle, the ends of the locking pin slide out of the depressions and move up ascending guide surfaces to reach the upper edge of the locking ring, and in this way the clamping plate is moved to a raised position.

This lifting is effected within a very small pivoting angle, so that practically no sliding of the clamping plate takes place on the edges of the bowls. After the clamping plate has been moved to the raised position, it is further rotated in this plane into the open position.

Conversely, it is likewise unnecessary to take great care when locking the bowls, since after the bowls have been put in position the handle is merely turned until the ends of the locking pin engage in the depressions in the locking ring by themselves. At the same time however the pin is not used to support the clamping plate, but rather its ends project freely into the depressions and the clamping plate itself forms its support on the edges of the bowls. In this way automatic adjustment to the thickness of the edges of the bowls is effected, and the device according to the invention is still adjusted precisely even when the edges of the bowls have been bent after a certain period of use.

In principle a variation of the apparatus according to the invention could also consist in an arrangement in which the clamping plate may be screwed into the base plate, preferably by means of a coarse thread to guide the clamping plate from the open position into the clamped position by a 90 turn.

At the same time axial movement towards the edges of the bowls also takes place, so that the latter are only touched at the end of the pivotal movement of the clamping plate. This arrangement should therefore be regarded as a simplified embodiment since springs and the like are no longer required.

The invention will be described in greater detail in the drawing in which two embodiments are illustrated and in which: Figure 1 is a front view of the novel feeding apparatus for dogs; Figure 2 is a side view of the apparatus according to Fig. 1; Figure 3 is a plan view of the apparatus according to Figs. 1 and 2; Figure 4 is a sectional view, through the clamping device of the apparatus, corresponding to Fig. 1; Figure 5 is a sectional view along the line 5-5 of Fig. 4; and Figure 6 is a sectional view through a modified embodiment of a clamping device.

The dogs feeding apparatus 10 comprises a vertical stand 12, the lower end of which has spread-out projections 14 which are secured in a concrete base 16. A frame 24 is secured so as to be vertically adjustable on the stand 1 2 by means of a guide member 1 8. A screw bolt 20, which may be actuated by means of a bent end 22, is used to clamp the frame 24 to the stand 12. A wing nut 32 is used to make the clamping position secure.

The frame 24 comprises two rings 26 which are joined to one another by a connecting bar 30 which is fastened to the guide member 1 8. The rings 26 and the connecting bar 30 consist of round stock and form a relatively rigid frame. The two rings 26 each have a clamp 28, which is secured to the underside of the respective ring 26 and which engages over the edge of the respective bowl 34, at the two diametrically outward positions, i.e. at the positions furthest away from one another. The bowls are shown in dashdotted lines in the Figures. In the middle of the line connecting the two clamps 28, i.e.

between the two rings 26 and at the point where the two rings are closest to one another, a clamping device 36 is provided which comprises a clamping member in the form of a clamping plate 38, which is shown in the clamped position in Figs. 1 to 3. The length of the clamping plate 38 is greater than the inside distance between the two rings 26 and its width is less than this distance. The clamping plate 38 is secured to a pin 40 which extends vertically and has a handle 42 in the form of a cross bar at its upper end. The pin is pivotally mounted in a base plate 44, as further described below with reference to Figs. 4 and 5. When the handle 42 is turned through 90 , the clamping plate 38 is rotated through this angle, so that its longitudinal and transverse sides are inter changed.The longitudinal edges of the clamp ing plate do not then overlap edges of the bowls, so that the said bowls may be lifted out of the rings 26 after first being slightly tilted.

As shown in Figs. 4 and 5, the base plate 44 is welded to the underside of the two rings 26, so that on the one hand an additional reinforcement of the frame 24 is obtained and on the other a support for the clamping device 36 is provided. In the Figures only a relatively narrow base plate 44 is provided, which is just sufficient to join the two rings to one another. A base plate is preferred however which extends as far as the guide member 1 8 and in addition is welded to the latter in order to reinforce the frame further.

The base plate 44 has a bore through which the pivoting pin 40 projects downwards into a short cylinder member 46 which is welded to the underside of the base plate.

This cylinder member 46 accommodates a compression spring 48, the upper end of which presses against the base plate and which is supported below by a support ring 50, which is secured to the pivoting pin 40 by means of a split pin 52. The lower end of the cylinder member 46 is closed off by means of a plastics cover 54.

A locking ring 56 is attached to the upper side of the base plate 44; a pin 60, which passes radially through the pivoting pin 40, slides over the upper edge 58 of the said locking ring 56. The height of the locking ring 56 is selected such that the clamping plate 38 is raised sufficiently far from the edges of the bowls 34 when the pin 60 rests on the upper edges 58 of the locking ring 56. The pivoting pin 40 may be turned by the handle 42 so that the pin 60 slides correspondingly over the upper edge 58 of the locking ring 56. The said upper edge 58 is lowered at two diametrically opposite positions, so that two depressions 62 are formed, into which the pin 60 engages by the action of the spring 48 when the clamping plate 38 is in the clamped position, without however touching the bottom of this depression 62.The depression 62 is so deep that the clamping plate 38 lies on the edges of the bowls 34, a position shown in Figs. 4 and 5, where for the purposes of illustration however the distances have been exaggerated.

Fig. 6 shows a simplified arrangement in another form in which, although a pivoting pin 140 is likewise provided with a handle 142 and the said pivoting pin 1 40 likewise bears the clamping plate 38 which is identical to that shown in Figs. 4 and 5, the lower end of the pivoting pin 1 40 has a coarse thread 141 by which it may be screwed into a base plate 144. In this embodiment the spring arrangement and the locking or engaging ar rangement are dispensed with. The clamping plate is moved from the open position to the clamped position by rotating the pivoting pin 1 40 through 90 , the coarse thread ensuring that the clamping plate is raised in the open position and only comes into contact with the edges of the bowls shortly before reaching the clamping position.

Claims

1. Feeding apparatus for dogs, comprising a stand to which a frame is secured so as to be vertically adjustable, the frame comprising two rings which are connected to one another in a horizontal plane and in each of which a bowl is to be supported, the outer edge of which rests on the ring, in which apparatus at least one retaining element for engaging over the edge of the bowl is attached to each ring at a position remote from the other ring, and in the region between the two rings a clamping device is mounted so as to be movable from a clamped position in which a clamping member engages over the edges of the two bowls to an open position in which the clamping member does not overlap the edges of the bowls.

2. Feeding apparatus as claimed in claim 1, in which the two rings are connected to one another on the underside by means of a base plate which acts as an abutment for the clamping member in the clamped position.

3. Feeding apparatus as claimed in claim 1, or 2, in which the clamping member is a clamping plate having a length which is greater than the minimum distance between the two rings and having a width which is less than the said distance, the clamping plate being pivotally mounted about a vertical axis.

4. Feeding apparatus as claimed in claim 3, in which the clamping plate is higher in the open position than in the clamped position.

5. Feeding apparatus as claimed in any of claims 1 to 4, in which the clamping plate is secured to a pivoting pin which is disposed so as to pivot in a or the base plate and the upper end of which has a handle.

6. Feeding apparatus as claimed in any of claims 3 to 5, in which the clamping plate is fastened to a or the pivoting pin, which projects downwards through a or the base plate and bears a support ring at a distance from the base plate, a compression spring being arranged between the base plate and the support ring.

7. Feeding apparatus as claimed in any of claims 1 to 6, in which the clamping member is lockable in the clamped position.

8. Feeding apparatus as claimed in claim 7, in which a locking ring disposed between the two rings is secured to the base plate, and the ends of a pin which determines the verti cal position of the clamping plate rest on the locking ring.

9. Feeding apparatus as claimed in claim 8, in which the locking ring has two diametrically opposite depressions for receiving the ends of the pin.

10. Feeding apparatus as claimed in claim 6, in which the support ring acting as a guide for the pivoting pin together with the compression spring is tightly accommodated in a cylinder member projecting downwards from the base plate.

11. Feeding apparatus as claimed in any of claims 1 to 5, in which the clamping member is mounted so as to be displaceable by means of a screw thread.

12. Feeding apparatus as claimed in claim 11, in that the pivoting pin together with the base plate has a coarse thread.

1 3. Feeding apparatus for dogs, substantially as described with reference to, and as shown in, Figs. 1 to 5 or Figs. 1 to 3 and 6 of the accompanying drawings.