GB2239382A - Pigeon loft entrances - Google Patents

Abstract

A loft entrance structure for racing pigeons comprises traps 14 through the fronts of which the pigeons enter and from the rears of which the pigeons have to enter the loft. Hanging rods at the rear of the traps and held by release means prevent the birds from leaving the traps until the release mechanisms are operated. The structure has a landing board 12 for the pigeons and when the birds are in the traps access 20 can be had to the traps, under the landing board, and from outside the loft to remove rings from the birds legs before they are released into the loft; the release mechanisms can be operated from under the board as soon as the bird rings have been removed so that the birds can displace the now freely hanging rods and pass into the loft. <IMAGE>

Description

Pigeon Loft Entrance Structure The present invention relates to an improved design for the entrance structure to a loft for racing pigeons.

Racing pigeons are generally fitted with leg rings which must be removed as soon as the pigeon returns to its loft. It is important that the ring be removed without delay since the loss even of seconds may cost the bird its placing in a race.

The present invention seeks to provide a pigeon loft entrance structure that will enable the rings to be removed from the returning birds as quickly and efficiently as possible.

In the past the efficient removal of leg rings has been attempted by placing traps at the entrance to a pigeon loft.

The birds fly into these traps and are held sufficiently captive to enable the rings are to be removed before releasing the traps and allowing the birds to pass through to the loft. A disadvantage of this system is that the person removing the rings must be in the loft in order to remove the rings and to release the traps. The loft entrance structure and the traps are not always easily accessible from the inside of the loft and therefore it would be advantageous to access the traps from the outside.

In a first aspect of the invention therefore there is provided a pigeon loft entrance structure having traps into which the birds fly on arriving at the loft and also having a means of access to the traps, and the birds inside them, from the outside of the loft.

Preferably, the structure has a landing board on which the birds land and from which the birds enter the traps, and the access means comprises a cage under the landing board into which lower portions of the traps open, said cage providing a means of access to the said lower portions of the traps enabling access to the legs of birds in the traps from the front of the loft and via said cage.

Preferably, the front face of the cage has a door which can be opened to allow access to the trap lower portions which open into the cage.

Access from the traps to the loft may be obstructed by means of two vertical rods or wires extending from top to bottom of each trap, the spacing of the wires or rods being small enough to prevent the birds from passing through into the loft until a means holding the rods in position is released, whereupon the rods can be displaced to allow the birds to pass into the loft.

The said means may comprise a release mechanism operable from the front of the loft and, where said cage is provided, from inside the cage.

Preferably, said mechanism comprises an upper plate member defining the floor of the trap, a lower plate member extending beyond the upper plate member at one end and being provided at that end with an upwardly protruding end piece which traps two hanging wires or rods against the end of the upper plate so as to maintain them in position preventing bird recess and an intermediate pivot which allows the lower plate to be rocked with respect to the upper plate so that the wires or rods are released and hang loose.

The intermediate pivot may comprise one or more clothes pegs of the type comprising spring loaded interconnected arms which are connected respectively to the upper and the lower plates. Preferably, each trap is provided with two clothes pegs, one at either side of the trap to form the pivot.

Preferably, the hanging wires or rods are suspended from a rod extending across the trap. The two wires or rods when held by the bottom plate against the front of the trap floor are too close together to allow a pigeon to pass through the trap into the loft. However, when the front of the plate is lowered using the clothes peg pivot, the lower ends of the wires or rods hang freely and the wires can be pushed apart by the pigeon which can then pass into the loft.

The said release mechanism per se forms a second aspect of the invention.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein: Fig. 1 is a perspective front view of a loft entrance structure according to the invention; Fig. 2 is a perspective rear view of the loft entrance structure of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the trap unit; Fig. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view similar to Fig. 1 showing the trap locking mechanism in locked position; and Fig. 5 is a cross sectional view similar to Fig. 4 showing a trap locking mechanism in the open position.

Fig. 1 shows an entrance structure 10 for a pigeon loft.

The pigeons approach the loft and can land on flat section or landing board 12 before passing through traps 14 into the loft. The flat section 12 forms the roof of a cage 16 which is an extension of the front of the loft. The cage 16 is open along its back face 18 which opens directly onto the front of the loft. The traps 14 extend downwards so that lower portions thereof open into cage 16 which has a door 20 on its front face. The traps 14 can therefore be accessed through the cage from outside the loft. The device is also provided with a movable shutter 22 which can be closed over the traps to prevent migrant pigeons entering the traps.

When the pigeons enter the traps 14, they are prevented from passing through the traps to the loft by obstructing means comprising two parallel vertical wires or rods 24 which hang from a rod 26 which reaches across near to the top of the row of traps. The wires or rods hang loose but normally are held at their lower ends by means of a retaining mechanism 28 which holds the ends of the wires against the rear edge of the floor of the trap 14. When the wires are held in position in this way, the gap between them is too narrow for a pigeon to pass through the wires into the loft. The pigeon is prevented from moving backwards out of the trap insofar as when each bird enters a trap, it slides down a sloping plank 30 positioned at the front edge of the trap and cannot back step onto the landing board.To enter the trap the pigeon must leave the flat surface 12 and slide downwards into the trap 14 over the plank 30. Once in the trap it will be unable to leave because of the angle of the plank 30.

The lower part of the trap 32 will be easily accessible to a person entering the cage section 16 by means of the door 20 and therefore such person can remove a ring from the leg of a pigeon without that person entering the loft.

There is also provided a trap locking and releasing mechanism. As explained above, each trap has two vertical wires 24 suspended from a rod 26 which passes across the rear of the row of traps near to the top of the traps. The floor 34 of the traps forms an upper plate and beneath each of the traps is a lower plate 36. The two plates are connected by means of clothes pegs of the type comprising two spring loaded inter-connected arms, the arms being connected to the plates 34, 36 so that the clothes pegs act as pivots.Each of the lower plates 36 is connected to the floor 34 of its trap by means of two clothes pegs 38; Each of the lower plates 36 has an upwardly projecting front section 40 and when the trap is locked, the lower plate 36 is held by the clothes peg 38 so that the upwardly projecting section 40 holds the ends of the wires 24 against the rear edge 42 of the floor 34 of the trap. By this means the wires 24 are held in place and, since they are positioned too close together to allow a pigeon to pass through into the loft, the pigeon must remain in the trap until released by a person putting his hand into the cage 16 and operating the release mechanism 28 at the bottom of the trap. The release mechanism is operated simply by manually pushing the front end 44 of a plate 36 upwards.This causes the clothes pegs 38 to open and therefore the rear end 46 of the plate 36 carrying the upwardly projecting section 40 swings so that the section 40 moves away from the front end 42 of the upper plate 34 and releases the wires 24. The wires 24 therefore hang freely from the rod 26 and therefore the pigeon can easily push the wires 24 out of its way and pass through into the loft. When the pigeon has passed, the rods 24 by gravity take up a vertical disposition and when the end 44 is released, the front end 40 returns by virtue of the clothes peg springs, to the position shown in Fig. 4 trapping the lower ends of the rods 24.

The invention provides a significant improvement on the pigeon loft entrance structures currently available since using this design, the traps can be accessed from outside the loft and the rings removed from the legs of the birds quickly and easily. The clothes pegs provide a simple and inexpensive means of pivoting the plate 36 on the floor 34 of the traps and thus enabling the projecting section 40 to trap or release the wires.

Claims (18)

1. A pigeon loft entrance structure having traps into which the birds fly on arriving at the loft and also having a means of access to the traps, and the birds inside them, from the outside of the loft.

2. A structure according to Claim 1, including a landing board on which the birds land and from which the birds enter the traps and the access means comprises a cage under the landing boards into which lower portions of the traps open, said cage providing a means of access to the said lower portions of the traps enabling access to the legs of birds in the traps from the front of the loft and via said cage.

3. A structure according to Claim 2, wherein the front face of the cage has a door which can be opened to allow access to the trap lower portions which open into the cage.

4. A structure according to Claim 1, 2 and 3, wherein access from the traps to the loft is obstructed by means of two vertical rods or wires extending from top to bottom of each trap, the spacing of the wires or rods being small enough to prevent the birds from passing through into the loft until a means holding the rods in position is released, whereupon the rods can be displaced to allow the birds to pass into the loft.

5. A structure according to Claim 4, wherein the said means comprises a release mechanism operable from the front of the cage, and, where said cage is provided from inside the cage.

6. A structure according to Claim 5, wherein said mechanism comprises an upper plate member defining the floor of the trap, a lower plate member extending beyond the upper plate member at one end and being provided at that end with an upwardly protruding end piece which traps two hanging wires or rods against the end of the upper plate so as to maintain them in position preventing bird access and an intermediate pivot which allows the lower plate to be rocked with respect to the upper plate so that the wires or rods are released and hang loose.

7. A structure according to Claim 6, wherein the intermediate pivot is defined by one or more clothes pegs of the type comprising spring loaded interconnected arms which are connected respectively to the upper and the lower plates.

8. A structure according to Claim 7, wherein each trap is provided with two clothes pegs, one at either side of the trap to form the pivot.

9. A structure according to Claim 8, wherein the hanging wires or rods are suspended from a rod extending across the trap, said wires or rods being held by the bottom plate against the front of the trap floor until the front of the plate is lowered using the clothes peg pivot, when the wires or rods hang freely and can be pushed apart by the pigeon so that it can pass into the loft.

10. A pigeon loft entrance structure having traps through the fronts of which the birds fly on arriving at the loft, and through the rears of which the birds pass in moving into the loft, and including a selective operable released mechanism for said trap controlling means restricting the passage of the birds from the traps to the loft until the release mechanisms are selectively operated.

11. A structure according to Claim 10, wherein the structure includes a landing board for the birds and a cage under the board, through which cage said release mechanisms are accessible for the operation of same.

12. A structure according to Claim 10 and 11, wherein the said release mechanisms are operable simultaneously.

13. A structure according to any of Claims 10 to 12, wherein said means restrictory comprises two vertical rods or wires extending from top to bottom of each trap, the spacing of the wires or rods being small enough to prevent the birds from passing through into the loft until a means holding the rods in position is released, whereupon the rods can be displaced to allow the birds to pass into the loft.

14. A structure according to Claim 13, wherein said mechanism comprises an upper plate member extending beyond the upper plate member at one end and being provided at that end with an upwardly protruding end piece which traps two hanging wires or rods against the end of the upper plate so as to maintain them in position preventing bird access and an intermediate pivot which allows the lower plate to be rocked with respect to the upper plate so that the wires or rods are released and hang loose.

15. A structure according to Claim 14, wherein said intermediate pivot comprises one or more clothes pegs of the type comprising spring loaded interconnected arms which are connected respectively to the upper and the lower plates.

16. A structure according to Claim 15, wherein each trap is provided with two clothes pegs, one at either side of the trap to form the pivot.

17. A structure according to Claim 16, wherein the hanging wires or rods are suspended from a rod extending across the trap, said wires or rods being held by the bottom plate against the front of the trap floor until the front of the plate is lowered using the clothes peg pivot, when the wires or rods hang freely and can be pushed apart by the pigeon so that it can pass into the loft.

18. A pigeon loft entrance structure substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.