GB2213696A - A bottle rack for holding feeding bottles for animals - Google Patents

Abstract

A bottle rack (2) for holding feeding bottles for animals, which bottle rack (2) comprises a body portion (8), at least two first apertures (10) in the body portion (8), at least two second apertures (12) in the body portion (8), a closure device (14) which is movable from an open position in which feeding bottles are locateable in complementary pairs of the first and the second apertures (10,12) to a second position in which the feeding bottles are retained in the complementary pairs of the first and the second apertures (10,12), releaseable fastener means (16) for releaseably fastening the closure device (14) in its closed position so that animals feeding from the feeding bottles cannot dislodge the feeding bottles from their complementary pairs of the first and the second apertures (10,12), and fixing means (18,20) for fixing the bottle rack (2) to a support surface, and the bottle rack (2) being such that the feeding bottles are caused during use of the bottle rack (2) to be inclined downwardly so that feeding liquid in the feeding bottles runs towards a feeding portion of the feeding bottles. <IMAGE>

Description

A BOTTLE RACK FOR HOLDING FEEDING BOTTLES FOR ANIMALS This invention relates to a bottle rack for holding feeding bottles for animals.

Young animals such for example as lambs often become orphaned or too sick to be fed naturally by their mother. In order to keep these young animals alive, feeding by the farmer is necessary. Hitherto, feeding has been effected using a bucket with teats protruding out of the sides. The young animals can suck on the teats and thus obtain feeding liquid in the bucket. With such a system, virtually no control can be achieved on the individual amounts of feeding liquid obtained by each young animal, and too much or too little feeding liquid can adversely affect the animal's progress.

It is an aim of the present invention to obviate or reduce the above mentioned problem.

Accordingly, this invention provides a bottle rack for holding feeding bottles for animals, which bottle rack comprises a body portion, at least two first apertures in the body portion, at least two second apertures in the body portion, a closure device which is movable from an open position in which feeding bottles are locateable in complementary pairs of the first and the second apertures to a closed position in which the feeding bottles are retained in the complementary pairs of the first and the second apertures, releaseable fastener means for releaseably fastening the closure device in its closed position so that animals feeding from the feeding bottles cannot dislodge the feeding bottles from their complementary pairs of the first and the second apertures, and fixing means for fixing the bottle rack to a support surface, and the bottle rack being such that the feeding bottles are caused during use of the bottle rack to be inclined downwardly so that feeding liquid in the feeding bottles runs towards a feeding portion of the feeding bottles.

With the bottle rack of the present invention, it can be attached to a support surface such for example as a fence, gate or wall and an appropriate number of feeding bottles can be securely retained in the bottle rack. Each individual animal requiring to be fed can thus be fed from its own individual feeding bottle. The individual feeding bottles can be provided with relatively precise amounts of feeding liquid appropriate to the individual requirements of the animal requiring to be fed.

Preferably, the bottle rack is one in which the first apertures are larger than the second apertures, and in which the first apertures are higher in the body portion than the second apertures, the first apertures being for receiving a body part of the feeding bottles, the second apertures being for receiving a neck part of the feeding bottles, and the feeding bottles being caused to be inclined during use of the bottle rack due to the first apertures being higher than the second apertures. Other ways however may be employed for causing the feeding bottles to be inclined during use of the bottle rack and, for example, the entire rack may be tilted using appropriate fixing means such for example as angled fixing means.

Preferably, the body portion is made of wire.

The wire may be made of various materials and it may be plastics coated if desired. The body portion can however be made from materials other than wire and, for example, it may be made from apertured sheet material such for example as apertured sheet metal or apertured sheet plastics material.

The closure device is preferably made of the same material as the body portion. The closure'device will also usually be of the same general type of construction as the body portion so that, for example, if the body portion is made of an open wire framework, then the closure device will also usually be made of an open wire framework.

The closure device may have a first end which is hinged to the body portion of the bottle rack. The closure device may have a second end which is provided with the releaseable fastening means.

The releaseable fastening means may be a clip.

Other types of releaseable fastening means may however be employed. The releaseable fastening means should be able to retain the feeding bottles in their complementary apertures in the bottle rack during the pushing and pulling on the feeding bottles that will inevitably occur during feeding.

The fixing means may be a pair of apertured plates. The plates may be welded or otherwise secured to the body portion of the bottle rack. The fixing means may also be, for example, lugs or brackets. The bottle rack may then be secured in position at an appropriate height to, for example, a gate, fence or wall, using screws or nails. The bottle rack can be arranged to be permanently fixed in position or it can be arranged to be easily releaseable from the support means, depending upon the type of releaseable fastening means utilised.

The present invention also extends to the combination of the bottle rack and at least two of the feeding bottles.

The feeding bottles will usually each have a teat.

Preferably, the feeding bottles are made of a plastics material. A presently preferred plastics material is a polycarbonate plastics material.

The feeding bottles may be 500ml feeding bottles.

The feeding bottles may be provided with a marker scale indicating the liquid contents of the feeding bottles at various heights.

The teats may have means for reducing the formation of a vacuum in the feeding bottles. Such teats are available under the name Pritchard1s Flutter Teats.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described solely by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a bottle rack; Figure 2 shows a lamb being fed from a bottle; Figure 3 shows the teat part of the bottle shown in Figure 2; Figure 4 is a front elevation of the bottle rack shown in Figure 1; Figure 5 is a plan view of the bottle rack shown in Figure 4; Figure 6 is an end elevation of the bottle rack shown in Figure 4; and Figure 7 is a section through releaseable fastener means forming part of the bottle rack.

Referring to the drawings, there is shown a bottle rack 2 for holding feeding bottles 4 for feeding animals such for example as lambs 6. The bottle rack 2 comprises a body portion 8, four first apertures 10 in the body portion 8, and four second apertures 12 in the body portion 8. The bottle rack 2 also comprises a closure device 14 which is movable from an open position as shown in Figure 1 in which feeding bottles 4 are locateable in complementary pairs of the first and the second apertures 10,12 respectively, to a closed position in which the feeding bottles 4 are retained in the complementary pairs of the first and the second apertures 10,12 respectively. Releaseable fastener means in the form of a clip portion 16 is provided for releaseably fastening the closure device 14 in its closed position so that lambs 6 feeding from the feeding bottles 4 cannot dislodge the feeding bottles 4 from their complementary pairs of the first and the second apertures 10,12.

The bottle rack 2 further comprises fixing means in the form of a pair of plates 18,20. The plates 18,20 are each provided with an aperture 22. The apertures 22 are keyhole shaped apertures as shown and they are for receiving screws or nails for enabling the bottle rack 2 to be fixed to a support surface such for example as a fence, gate or wall (not shown).

As can be seen from the drawings, the first apertures 10 are larger than the second apertures 12.

Also, the first apertures 10 are higher in the body portion 8 than the second apertures 12. The first apertures 10 are for receiving a body part 24 of the feeding bottles 4. The second apertures 12 are for receiving a neck part 26 of the feeding bottles 4. It will thus be apparent that when the bottle rack 2 is secured to an appropriate support surface, the feeding bottles 4 will be inclined as shown in Figure 2, due to the fact that the first apertures 10 are higher than the second apertures 12. Feeding liquid in the feeding bottles 4 will thus tend to run towards a teat 28 which forms a feeding portion of each feeding bottle 4.

As can be seen from Figures 2 and 3, the feeding bottles 4 are provided with marker lines 30 for indicating the amount of liquid in the bottles. Thus, the marker lines 30 can be marked, starting from the bottom with the numbers 100, 200, 300, 400 and 500 ml for indicating how many millilitres of feeding liquid the feeding bottles 4 contain.

The feeding bottles 4 are polycarbonate plastics feeding bottles 4 and they can be boiled as may be necessary, thereby providing an advantageous hygenic aspect which may be essential to the life of young animals being fed.

Such ease of sterilisation together with the ability to accurately feed from the calibrated scale afforded by the marker lines 30 combine together to help the lambs being.

fed to get a good start in life. The neck part 26 of the feeding bottles 4 is made to be relatively wide for easy filing of the feeding bottles 4.

The teats 28 may be isoprene teats and they may employ a vacuum releasing valve moulded in, to make feeding easier. The illustrated bulbous end 32 of the teats 28 encourages rapid acceptance by the lambs 6. A hollow cone tip 34 can be cut at any desired position along its length to allow regulation of the feeding liquid, for example milk, from within the feeding bottles 4. The teats 28 are held in position by a screw collar 36. The screw collar 36 is provided with a protuberance 38 on its circumference and the protuberance 38 gives a grip for releasing and tightening the screw collar 36. Worn teats 28 can thus easily be replaced on the feeding bottles 4.

The body portion 8 of the bottle rack 2 is made of wire as shown. Various pieces of wire can be welded, brazed, soldered or otherwise secured together. The body portion 8 is made of an open framework construction as shown.

The closure device 14 is similarly made of an open wire framework construction.

The closure device 14 has a pair of side members 40,42 which are bent over to form closed apertures 44,46 at one end. The closed apertures 44,46 thus enable the closure device 14 to be hinged to the body portion 8 of the bottle rack 2 as shown. In the closed position of the closure device 14, the clip portion 16 is secured to an inclined part 48 of the body portion 8. The closure device 14 has cross member 15 extending between the side members 40,42 and it forms a simple and effective closure device for retaining the bottles 4 in complementary aligned pairs of the first and second apertures 10,12 respectively.

It is to be appreciated that the embodiment of the invention described above with reference to the accompanying drawings has been given by way of example only and that modifications may be effected. Thus, for example, the bottle rack 2 may be made of a material other than wire so that, for example, it could be made of sheet material appropriately provided with the first and the second apertures 10,12. Also, more or less than the illustrated four pairs of complementary first and second apertures 10,12 respectively may be employed. Further, different types of fixing means to the plates 18,20 and different types of apertures 22 to the illustrated keyhole-shaped apertures 22 may be employed. Although the body portion: 4 is shown to be made of four pieces of straight wire 52 and two pieces of bent wire 54 joined to and supported on three four-sided wire support members 56, other ways of forming the body portion 8 may of course be employed.

Claims (14)

1. A bottle rack for holding feeding bottles for animals, which bottle rack comprises a body portion, at least two first apertures in the body portion, at least two second apertures in the body portion, a closure device which is movable from an open position in which feeding bottles are locateable in complementary pairs of the first and the second apertures to a closed position in which the feeding bottles are retained in the complementary pairs of the first and the second apertures, releaseable fastener means for releaseably fastening the closure device in its closed position so that animals feeding from the feeding bottles cannot dislodge the feeding bottles from their complementary pairs of the first and the second apertures, and fixing means for fixing the bottle rack to a support surface, and the bottle rack being such that the feeding bottles are caused during use of the bottle rack to be inclined downwardly so that feeding liquid in the feeding bottles runs towards a feeding portion of the feeding bottles.

2. A bottle rack according to claim 1 in which the first apertures are larger than the second apertures, and in which the first apertures are higher in the body portion than the second apertures, the first apertures being for receiving a body part of the feeding bottles, the second apertures being for receiving a neck part of the feeding bottles, and the feeding bottles being caused to be inclined during use of the bottle rack due to the first apertures being higher than the second apertures.

3. A bottle rack according to claim 1 or claim 2 in which the body portion is made of wire.

4. A bottle rack according to claim 3 in which the wire is plastics coated wire.

5. A bottle rack according to any one of the preceding claims in which the closure device is made of the same material as the body portion.

6. A bottle rack according to any one of the preceding claims in which the closure device has a first end which is hinged to the body portion of the bottle rack.

7. A bottle rack according to claim 6 in which the closure device has a second end which is provided with the releaseable fastening means.

8. A bottle rack according to any one of the preceding claims in which the releaseable fastening means is a clip.

9. A bottle rack according to any one of the preceding claims in which the fixing means is a pair of apertured plates.

10. A bottle rack substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

11. The combination of a bottle rack as claimed in any one of the preceding claims and at least two of the feeding bottles.

12. The combination according to claim 11 in which the feeding bottles each have a teat.

13. The combination according to claim 12 in which the teats have means for reducing the formation of a vacuum in the feeding bottles.

14. The combination according to any one of claims 11 to 13 in which the feeding bottles are made of a plastics material.