GB2228172A - Stable floors - Google Patents

Abstract

A stable floor comprises a pit 12, a grid 13 lying across the pit, the grid being capable of withstanding the weight of a horse or like animal, and a sweeper 16 below the grid for moving animal waste which, in use, passes through the grid to a position or region from where the waste can be taken away. A bed of vegetable stalk material (e.g. straw), paper or shavings may be provided on the grid to give the floor a traditional appearance. <IMAGE>

Description

Stable Floors This invention relates to stable floors and more particularly but not exclusively to floors of horse stables.

Horse stabling is normally divided into a number of boxes or compartments, each of which is designed to accommodate a single horse or a mare and her foal. Conventionally, floors of horse stables are made of concrete and it is common practice to lay a bed of straw on the concrete in each box or compartment to make it more comfortable for a horse and to provide thermal insulation and a non slip floor.

The mucking out and sweeping up of stables fitted with conventional floors is very time consuming, often taking as long as 20 minutes/box/day and sometimes longer. This is expensive in terms of labour, particularly in large stables and on stud farms. Also, straw has become more expensive now that farmers are discouraged from growing corn and the use of large quantities of straw creates a high level of dust and requires storage space.

The present invention seeks to provide stable flooring which reduces the labour involvement in the mucking out of stables and gives a drier, healthier and more comfortable environment for the horse.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a stable floor having a pit therein, a grid lying across the pit, the grid being capable of withstanding the weight of a horse or like animal, and means below the grid for moving animal waste which, in use, passes through the grid to a position or region from which the waste can be taken away.

Preferably, the said means is sweeper means arranged to sweep liquid waste and animal droppings into a gutter in the base of the pit and in this case conveyor means is preferably provided for moving the droppings along the gutter and away from the pit. The conveyor means may be in the form of a chain. The bottom of the gutter may slope downwards away from the pit to drain liquid waste from the pit.

Advantageously, the openings in the grid are no smaller than 2.5 cm by 2.5 cm and no larger than 6.5 cm by 6.5 cm, and typically the openings are about 5 cm by 5 cm.

Conveniently, the grid is a woven mesh preferably of high tensile wire and in this case the wire may have a diameter within the range of 5 mm to 15 mm, and typically of 12 mm. The grid may be formed in a plurality of parts and may be suitably reinforced.

Preferably, the pit is substantially circular as viewed in plan and in this case the said means preferably comprises a rotatable sweeper.

Preferably, the grid is to some extent resilient and thus has shock absorbing qualities.

Preferably, the said means, when in the form of sweeper means, includes a resilient wiper which makes contact with the base of the pit.

If sweeper means and conveyor means are provided, the sweeper means may be drivable by the conveying means, particularly where the sweeper means comprises a rotatable sweeper and the conveying means is in the form of a chain.

According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided stabling for horses or like animals, the stabling comprising a plurality of compartments which each have a stable floor according to the first aspect of the invention.

Preferably, the pit in each compartment occupies at least 25% of the floor area of the compartment and preferably occupies a central region of the floor of the compartment.

Advantageously, a bed of vegetable stalk material (e.g. straw), paper or shavings is provided on the grid to give the floor a traditional appearance and comfort for the horse.

The invention will now be more particularly described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a plan view of the inside of a horse stable equipped with a floor according to the present invention, Figure 2 is a plan view of part of the stable floor of Figure 1, on an enlarged scale, and Figure 3 is a section taken along line Ill-Il I of Figure 2, on an even larger scale.

As shown in Figure 1, the stable is divided into a plurality of compartments 10 often referred to in the art as boxes. Each compartment is designed to accommodate a single horse or, in the case of a brood mare, the mare and her foal.

As shown in Figures 2 and 3, each compartment has a concrete floor 11 formed with a cylindrical pit 12, typically having a depth of about 15 cm. The pit 12 is provided in the centre of each compartment 10 and occupies at least 25% of the floor area of the compartment.

A circular, removable grid 13 lies across the pit 12 and rests on a concrete or brick ledge 14 set into the floor 11 so that the upper face of the grid 13 is substantially flush with the remainder of the floor 11.

The grid 13 is a woven mesh made of high tensile wire having a diameter of between 5 mm and 15 mm and typically of 12 mm. The openings in the grid are within the range of 2.5 cm by 2.5 cm to 6.5 cm by 6.5 cm, and typically of 5 cm by 5 cm. The grid 13 is formed in four segments 13a to 13d and reinforcements, which may be in the form of inverted channel-shaped members 15, are attached to the underside of the grid 13.

Advantageously, there are three radially extending reinforcing members 15 to each grid segment and optionally an arcuately extending reinforcing member at the outer peripheral edge of each grid segment.

A rotatable sweeper 16 is provided in the pit 12 below the grid 13. The sweeper 16 is in the form of a radially extending arm which is mounted for rotation about a vertical shaft 17 supported in the base of the pit 12. The sweeper arm 16 comprises a box-section metal beam 18 and a resilient wiper 19 which is secured to the beam 18 and which projects below the beam 18 to make contact with the pit floor.

Two parallel gutters 20 are provided in the pit floor, one on either side of the shaft 17, and these gutters communicate with gutters in adjoining pits.

A conveyor in the form of an endless chain 21 passes through both gutters 20. The chain 21 serves two purposes. Firstly, it is used to convey horse droppings, which are swept from the bottom of the pit 12 into the gutters 20, away from the pit 12. Secondly, it is used to drive the sweeper 16.

The chain 21 is moved along the gutters by a motor and gearbox unit 22. A sprocket wheel 23 is mounted about a fixed, horizontal axis 24 in one of the gutters 20 so as to be rotated as the chain 21 is drawn through the gutter 20 and the sprocket wheel 23 in turn drives a cast iron cog wheel 25 mounted for rotation about the shaft 17. The sweeper arm 16 is secured to the wheel 25 and therefore rotates as the chain 21 is moved by the motor and gearbox unit 22. Guides 27 are provided where the chain has to change direction.

As envisaged, the single chain 21 will be common to a number of compartments 10 and may, for example, drive up to about ten sweepers 16.

The chain 21 may a be commercially available chain such as a D-link feeder chain of the type used in chicken feeders.

The gutters 20 may be sloped in order to drain away liquid waste and may be fitted with openable gates so as to permit the liquid waste to drain away only when mucking out and to prevent draughts.

A plate 26 is secured to the upper end of the shaft 17 to support the grid 13 at the centre of the pit 12.

A bed of vegetable stalk material (e.g.

straw), paper or shavings is provided in each compartment 10 over the grid 13, but much less material will be needed as compared with that used on conventional stable floors.

The grid 13 is to some extent resilient.

Thus, as an animal moves about on the grid 13, movement of the grid will encourage animal droppings to fall through to the pit below. Also the resilient grid will be less harmful to an animal's legs than concrete and will provide a more comfortable bed for lying on with insulation from the cold floor below.

The sweepers 16 will not be operated continuously but only when required and typically only once each day. It will still be necessary to assist solid matter through the grid of each compartment but this will take significantly less time than when conventional stable floors are employed and indeed it is anticipated that the time spent on 'mucking out' may be reduced by as much as 85%. Much less straw will be required thus cutting material costs and the air pocket below the grid will provide improved thermal insulation.

The above embodiment is given by way of example only and various modifications will be apparent to a person skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, the sweepers may be manually operated and instead of sweeping the waste into gutters, the sweepers could sweep the waste into a plastics tray which can be taken away and emptied.

Claims (21)

1. A stable floor having a pit therein, a grid lying across the pit, the grid being capable of withstanding the weight of a horse or like animal, and means below the grid for moving animal waste which, in use, passes through the grid to a position or region from which the waste can be taken away.

2. A stable floor as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the said means is sweeper means arranged to sweep liquid waste and animal droppings into a gutter in the base of the pit.

3. A stable floor as claimed in Claim 2, wherein conveyor means is provided for moving the droppings along the gutter and away from the pit.

4. A stable floor as claimed in Claim 3, wherein the conveyor means is in the form of a chain.

5. A stable floor as claimed in Claim 3 or Claim 4, wherein the bottom of the gutter slopes downwards away from the pit to drain liquid waste from the pit.

6. A stable floor as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the openings in the grid are no smaller than 2.5 cm x 2.5 cm and no larger than 6.5 cm x 6.5 cm.

7. A stable floor as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the grid is a woven mesh.

8. A stable floor as claimed in Claim 7, wherein the woven mesh is of high tensile wire.

9. A stable floor as claimed in Claim 8, wherein the wire has a diameter within the range of 5 mm to 15 mm.

10. A stable floor as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the grid is formed in a plurality of parts.

11. A stable floor as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the grid is reinforced.

12. A stable floor as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the pit is substantially circular as viewed in plan and the said means comprises a rotatable sweeper.

13. A stable floor as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the grid is to some extent resilient to give it shock absorbing qualities.

14. A stable floor as claimed in Claim 2 or in any one of Claims 3 to 13 when dependent on Claim 2, wherein the sweeper means includes a resilient wiper which makes contact with the base of the pit.

15. A stable floor as claimed in Claim 3 or in any one of Claims 4 to 14 when dependent on Claim 3, wherein the sweeper means is driveable by the conveying means.

16. Stabling for horses or like animals, comprising a plurality of compartments which each have a stable floor according to any one of the preceding claims.

17. Stabling as claimed in Claim 16, wherein the pit in each compartment occupies at least 25 per cent of the floor area of the compartment.

18. Stabling as claimed in Claim 16 or Claim 17, wherein the pit in each compartment occupies a central region of the floor of the compartment.

19. Stabling as claimed in any one of Claims 16 to 18, wherein a bed of vegetable stalk material, paper or shavings is provided on the grid to give the floor a traditional appearance.

20. A stable floor substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

21. Stabling for horses, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.