GB2151442A

GB2151442A - Fish food dispenser

Info

Publication number: GB2151442A
Application number: GB08430453A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Ronald Benson; John Boyd
Original assignee: Allison Boyd; BENSON DOROTHY IVATT; Dorothy Ivatt Benson
Current assignee: Allison Boyd; BENSON DOROTHY IVATT; Dorothy Ivatt Benson
Priority date: 1983-12-01
Filing date: 1984-12-03
Publication date: 1985-07-24
Also published as: GB8332061D0; GB8430453D0

Abstract

The dispenser 1 comprises a turntable 3 rotatably mounted on a base 2 provided with a drive means comprising a gear wheel 21 secured to the turntable 3, a reciprocally displacable link 23 having a drive claw member 28 drivingly engageable with the gear- wheel 21 during a drive stroke and disengageable during a return stroke, and a reciprocating drive remote from said drive claw 29. The reciprocating drive comprises a pulse-mode drive means periodically providing a forward pulse-form drive stroke. A fixed side wall 6 extends around the turntable 3 for substantially retaining food on the turntable 3, except at an outlet 11 in the said wall 6, a defector 13 mounted in substantially fixed relation with respect to the side wall 6 extending generally outwardly in close proximity to the upper surface of the turntable 3 for deflecting food towards the outlet 11 during rotation of the turntable 3. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Food dispenser The present invention relates to a food dispenser and in particular to a dispenser suitable for use in dispensing wet or dry fish food.

Fish farming is becoming of increasing importance as an efficient source of valuable food. An important problem in this field is however that of feeding the growing fish. This requires regular controlled feed dispensing throughout the diurnal cycle if serious-problems of contamination of the water, deterioration of the feed, and possible resulting disease of the fish are to be avoided. In order to help reduce high labour costs attempts have been made to automate this process. These tend however to be relatively unreliable leading as a result to the above problems and/or to reduced growth due to insufficient and/or irregular feeding. The unreliability tends to arise from the very harsh operating conditions involved including high humidity levels and often salt water presence which lead to rapid corrosion of conventional systems resulting in jamming, tooth stripping, bearing wear etc.

There are also difficulties in cleaning and maintenance which can give rise to contamination of fresh food.

It is an object of the present invention to avoid or minimize one or more of the above disadvantages.

The present invention provides a food dispenser suitable for use in dispensing fish food, which dispenser comprises a turntable rotatably mounted on a base provided with a drive means formed and arranged for rotation of said turntable, said drive means comprising a gear wheel means secured to said turntable, reciprocally displacable link means having a drive claw means drivingly engageable with the gearwheel means during a drive stroke and disengageable during a return stroke, and a reciprocating drive remote from said drive claw-means, said reciprocating drive comprising a pulse-mode drive means formed and arranged to periodically provide a forward pulse-form drive stroke, a side wall means extending around the turntable and mounted in substantially fixed relation with respect to the base for substantially retaining food on said turntable, in use of the dispenser, except at outlet means in said side wall means, and a deflector means mounted in substantially fixed relation with respect to the side wall means and extending generally outwardly in close proximity to the upper surface of said turntable for deflecting food towards said outlet means during rotation of said turntable in use of the dispenser.

Preferably said deflector and/or side wall means are detachably secured to said base and said turntable is also demountable from the base, whereby said turntable may be readily removed for cleaning purposes.

Thus with a dispenser of the present invention a substantially high degree of dispensing reliability can be achieved by means of the general arrangement for driving of the turntable and improved ease of maintenance.

Further preferred features and advantages of the present invention will appear from the foliowing detailed description given by way of example of a preferred embodiment illustrated with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Fig. 1 is a plan view of a fish food dispenser of the invention; and Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the dispenser of Fig.1.

Fig. 1 shows a food dispenser 1 comprising a base 2 on which is rotatably mounted a circular turntable 3. At one side of the turntable 3 is provided a support bracket 4 secured to the base 2 for detachably securing (e.g. via a nut and bolt 5) an annular side wall 6 in sliding contact with the periphery 7 of the upper surface 8 of the turntable 3. In one side 9 at the bottom edge 10 opposite the bracket 4, the side wall 6 is provided with an outlet in the form of a circumferentially extending recess 11. Towards one end 1 2 of the outlet recess 11 is provided a generally radially extending deflector or scraper blade 1 3 (conveniently formed by displacing part of the side wall 6 to extend radially inwardly therefrom so as to form at the same time said outlet recess 11.

The underside 14 of the turntable 3 is provided with an annular flange 1 5 with a longitudinally extending groove or ridge 1 6 on its radially inner side 1 7 which is drivingly engaged by a complementary formation 1 8 on a drive shaft 1 9 which is a push on sliding fit into said flange 1 5. At the lower end 20 of the drive shaft 19 is provided,inside the base 2, a gear wheel 21 with a plurality of saw teeth 22.A drive transmission means comprises a link means 23 having a centrally pivoted 24 lever 25 having at one end 26 pivotally connected 27 to extend generally transversely a drive claw member 28 extending generally tangentially of the gear wheel 21 with a drive claw 29 and guide means 30 formed and arranged for undirectional driving engagement of the claw 29 with a saw tooth 22 during a driving stroke (downwardly as viewed in the drawing) and the disengagement during a return stroke. At the other end 31 of the lever 25 is piviotally connected 32 to extend generally transversely a drive member 32 having at least a ferromagnetic portion 34 at its end remote from the lever 25.The ferromagnetic portion 33 is disposed with a solenoid coil 35 formed and arranged so that on passage of a predetermined electrical current through the coil 35, the drive member 32 is axially displaced against the force of a resilient biasing means in the form of a return spring 36, so as to displace the drive claw member 28 sufficiently to rotate the gear wheel 21 through an angle corresponding to at least one saw tooth 1 2. When the current is switched off the drive claw member 28 and other transmission elements return to their original positions.

The supply of the electrical current to the solenoid coil 35 is controlled by an adjustable control circuit 37 (shown schematically) including a pulse generator such as a triac or the like formed and arranged to generate an electrical pulse at predetermined intervals of for example from 4 to 30 minutes. Any suitable power supply means may be used including for example a voltaic cell 38.

Various modifications may be made to the abovedescribed embodiment without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Thus for example pneumatic or even an hydraulically operated solenoid could be used where a suitable compressed air or pressurized fluid supply is available.

Claims

1. A food dispenser suitable for use in dispensing fish food, which dispenser comprises a turntable rotatably mounted on a base provided with a drive means formed and arranged for rotation of said turntable, said drive means comprising a gear wheel means secured to said turntable, reciprocally displacable link means having a drive claw means drivingly engageable with the gearwheel means during a drive stroke and disengageable during a return stroke, and a reciprocating drive remote from said drive claw means, said reciprocating drive comprising a pulse-mode drive means formed and arranged to periodically provide a forward pulse-form drive stroke, a side wall means extending around the turntable and mounted in substantially fixed relation with respect to the base for substantially retaining food on said turntable, in use of the dispenser, except at outlet means in said side wall means, and a deflector means mounted in substantially fixed relation with respect to the side wall means and extending generally outwardly in close proximity to the upper surface of said turntable for deflecting food towards said outlet means during rotation of said turntable in use of the dispenser.

2. A dispenser as claimed in claim 1 wherein said deflector and/or side wall means are detachably secured to said base and said turntable is also demountable from the base, whereby said turntable may be readily removed for cleaning purposes.

3. A food dispenser substantially as described hereinbefore with particular reference to Figs. 1 and 2 of the accompanying drawings.