JPH11289898A - Automatic feeding machine - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an automatic feeding machine for automatically feeding at a prescribed time, saving the labor for feeding and decreasing the entering frequency of person in a breeding chamber. SOLUTION: This automatic feeding machine for the automatic feeding of feed from a feed box 2 is provided with a feed box 2 for a small animal such as guinea pig and a feeding channel 3 for supplying the feed in the feed box 2 to a breeding chamber. The machine is further provided with a gate means 23 composed of a looped tape belt 26 surrounding the feeding port, placed on the feeding channel 3 and closing the feeding ports 10, 11, 12 of the feed box 2 closed with the face 27 of the belt 26 and having an opening 29 on the face of the tape belt 26 to open the feeding ports 10, 11, 12 and a driving means 24 to drive the gate means 23.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an automatic feeder used for raising small animals such as guinea pigs.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When breeding small animals such as mice and rabbits required for medical research, as shown in FIGS.
Generally, it is often bred in an apartment-type breeding apparatus 61 that is individually partitioned by a wire net 60 or the like. In front of each breeding room 62 of the breeding apparatus 61, a feed box 63 for putting food to be given to the small animal is provided.

[0003] Feeding is performed manually, and is distributed in a predetermined amount of food box 63 at predetermined time intervals.

[0004] In particular, in the field of medical research and the like, it may be necessary to keep the inside of the breeding room 62 sterile.
In this case, each time the food is distributed, the feeding worker is disinfected.

[0005]

However, usually,
Small animals need to be fed every day, which requires human labor at all times, which increases labor costs and is troublesome.

Further, when it is necessary to keep the inside of the breeding room 62 in a sterile state, it is necessary to perform a treatment such as disinfection for the feeding worker before the feeding operation, which is troublesome. Furthermore, since humans frequently enter and leave the breeding room 62 in a sterile state, there are many opportunities for bacteria to enter the breeding room 62, and there is a problem that inconvenience may occur in research and experiments.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems, to automatically feed at a predetermined time, to save labor for feeding, and to prevent people from entering and leaving the breeding room. It is to provide an automatic feeding device that can be reduced.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention relates to a feeding box for feeding small animals such as guinea pigs with a feeding channel for feeding the food in the feeding box to a breeding room. In an automatic feeder for automatically feeding the food inside, a tape belt formed in a loop around a feed port on a feed path is provided so as to close the feed port of the feed box with the surface of the tape belt, Gate means having an opening for opening a feed port formed on the surface of the tape belt, and drive means for driving the gate means.

It is preferable that the tape belt is supported by a reel having gears, and a plurality of holes meshed with the gears are formed at a widthwise end of the tape belt.

It is further preferable that the gate means and the driving means are provided on a base to form a gate opening / closing main body, and the gate opening / closing main body is detachably provided in a case.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As shown in FIG. 7, an automatic feeder 1 comprises a feed box 2 for storing food for small animals such as guinea pigs, and a feed box 63 provided with feed in the feed box 2 near a breeding room 62. And a feeder main body 4 provided between the feed box 2 and the feed path 3.

As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the feed box 2 is of a rectangular shape in a plan view, which is detachably provided on the feeder body 4, and has an upper part opened so that food can be put therein. ing. The bottom surface 5 of the feed box 2 is inclined toward the feeder main body 4 so that the bait contained in the feed box 2 slides down to the feeder main body 4 with the inclination.

The bait box 2 has three bait storage chambers 7 formed by partitioning the inside thereof by a pair of parallel partition plates 6a and 6b extending in the inclined direction of the bottom surface 5 so that the bait can be stored several times. , 8,9. An opening is formed in the surface of the feed box 2 on the side of the feeder main body 4, and the food in the feed storage chambers 7, 8, and 9 is separately discharged to the feeder main body 4 side by being partitioned by the partition plate 6. Feed ports 10, 11, and 12 are formed.

The feeding ports 10, 11 and 12 are each provided with a feeding box 2
Has a lower end formed by the bottom surface 5 so that the bait can be smoothly discharged.

The upper ends of both ends in the width direction of the feed box 2
It is formed to extend upward, and the extension 13 is attached to the front surface 22 of the feeder main body 4.

The feeder main body 4 comprises a gate opening / closing main body 14 for opening and closing the feeding ports 10, 11, and 12 in a freely openable manner, and a case 15 for accommodating the gate opening / closing main body 14 in a detachable manner.

The case 15 comprises a rectangular container-shaped case body 16 having an open back (not shown) and a lid 17 for opening and closing the back of the case body 16. It can be attached via screws or the like.

The case main body 16 has a feed box 2 attached to the front surface 22 thereof.
First openings 18 for taking in the food in the food box 2 are formed at positions 0, 11, and 12.

A funnel 19 is formed at the bottom of the case body 16 so as to be depressed at the center and opened. A vertical pipe 2 forming the feeding passage 3 is formed at the center of the funnel 19.
0 is connected. That is, the feeding port 21 is opened by the funnel 19 provided at the upper end of the pipe 20 so as to open upward in the case body 16.

As shown in FIGS. 1, 3, 5 and 6,
The gate opening / closing main body 14 is provided with the feeding ports 10, 11, 1 of the feeding box 2.
Gate opening / closing device (gate means) 23 for opening and closing 2
And a driving means 24 for driving the gate opening / closing device 23 are provided on a base 25 to form a unit.

The gate opening / closing device 23 has a tape belt 26 formed in a loop around the feed port, and a tape belt such that a surface 27 of the tape belt 26 closes the feed ports 10, 11, and 12 of the feed box 2. And a belt supporting means 28 which stretches and supports 26.

The tape belt 26 is formed of a thin plate such as a metal tape.
It has a second opening 29 for opening 11 and 12.
The second opening 29 is formed in a rectangular shape at the center of the tape belt 26 in the height direction (width direction), and the first feeding port 10 and the second feeding port
When positioned at the feeding port 11 or the third feeding port 12, at least the lower ends of the feeding ports 10, 11, 12 are not closed.

Further, the upper and lower ends (both ends in the width direction) of the tape belt 26 are provided with reels 3 of belt support means 28 described later.
A plurality of holes 30 meshed with the gears 3 and 34 are formed. The holes 30 are continuously formed at the same interval as the pitch of the gear 38 so that one of the holes 30 always meshes with the rotated gear 38.

The belt supporting means 28 are provided on the base 25 on the front face 22 side of the case 15 (on the side of the bait box 2), and are provided on the cover 17 side. And two reels 33, 34, which are separated from each other so as to be in contact with the inner peripheral side of the tape belt 26 so as to stretch the tape belt 26 in a rectangular shape in plan view.

The guide rollers 31 and 32 are roller shafts 35 that are supported on the base 25 and are rotatably supported.
And a cylindrical roller portion 36 rotatably provided on a roller shaft 35. In particular, the tape belt 26 and the case 1
5. It is adjusted so that a gap is hardly generated between the bait boxes 2.

The reels 33 and 34 are composed of a drive reel 33 which rotates by receiving power from the drive means 24 and a driven reel 34 which rotates in accordance with the movement of the tape belt 26.

The drive reel 33 has a rotating shaft 37 rotatably supported at both upper and lower ends, and a pair of upper and lower gears 38 fixed to the rotating shaft 37 and engaged with the holes 30 of the tape belt 26.
And a pulley 39 provided near the upper end of the rotating shaft 37. The gears 38 are formed to have the same diameter and the same pitch, respectively, and are configured to feed the tape belt 26 according to the rotation of the rotation shaft 37.

The pulley 39 is connected to a driving means 24, which will be described later, via a belt 40, and rotates the rotary shaft 37 with a driving force transmitted through the belt 40. The surface of the pulley 39 that is in contact with the belt 40 is formed with anti-slip irregularities 41 so that the driving force can be reliably transmitted from the belt 40.

The driven reel 34 includes a rotating shaft 37 whose upper and lower ends are rotatably supported, and a pair of upper and lower gears 38 fixed to the rotating shaft 37 and engaged with the holes 30 of the tape belt 26.

Further, the base 25 feeds the food in the center to the feeding path 3.
It is made of a plate having a third opening 42 for passing through. Side plates 43 are provided upright on both sides of the base 25, and the roller shafts 35 of the guide rollers 31, 31 are provided on the side plates 43.
A top plate 44 for supporting the upper end and the upper end of the rotating shaft 37 of the reels 33 and 34, respectively, is provided.

The driving means 24 is specifically composed of a servomotor. The servomotor is fixed upright on the base 25 with the drive shaft 45 facing upward. A drive pulley 46 is fixed to a drive shaft 45 of the servomotor, and a belt 40 is hung on the drive pulley 46.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 7, a cable 47 for supplying power to the servomotor and transmitting a control signal is connected to the servomotor, and a timer or the like is connected to the cable 47 via a cable terminal 48. The control device 49 provided is connected.

Next, the operation will be described.

When the bait is put into the bait box 2, first, as shown in FIG. 5, the second opening 29 of the tape belt 26 is located at a position separated from the first opening 18 of the case 15, and It is confirmed that 18 is closed by the surface of the tape belt 26. Then, each food storage room 7, 8, 9
A predetermined amount of food is put in the feed box 2 so as to put the food for the batch.

The control device 49 rotates the servomotor as the driving means 24 by a predetermined amount of rotation at a preset time, and the power of the servomotor is transmitted to the drive reel 33 via the belt 40.

At this time, the gear 38 rotates in the direction A shown in FIG. 3, and moves the tape belt 26 in the direction C while engaging with the hole 30 of the tape belt 26. The rotation amount of the motor at the time of feeding is set in advance so that the rotation feeds the tape belt 26 by the same length as the width of the feeding ports 10, 11 and 12 of the feeding box 2.

The tape belt 26 stops when the front end of the second opening 29 in the traveling direction reaches the position of the first partition plate 6a, and as shown in FIG.
0, the first opening 18 and the second opening 29 overlap.
As a result, the discharge path of the food stored in the first storage chamber 7 is opened, and the food in the first storage chamber 7 is discharged toward the case 15.

The bait discharged into the case 15 flows through a funnel 19 formed at the bottom of the case body 16 into a pipe 20 forming the feeding path 3, and enters a bait box 63 provided in a breeding room 62. Provided. At this time, the tape belt 2
6 is formed in a loop around the feeding port 21 on the feeding path 3, the bait discharged into the case 15 does not jump out to the outer peripheral side of the tape belt 26, and the feeding is surely performed on the feeding path 3. Will be sent.

Further, at a predetermined time, the control device 49 rotates the servomotor by a predetermined rotation amount, and similarly moves the tape belt 26 in the C direction.

The tape belt 26 stops when the front end of the second opening 29 in the traveling direction reaches the position of the next second partition plate 6b, and the second feeding port 11 and the first opening 18 of the second feeding chamber 8 are stopped.
And the second opening 29 overlap each other. This allows the second
The bait in the accommodation room 8 is discharged into the case 15 similarly to the bait in the first accommodation room 7 described above, and the bait box 63 provided in the breeding room 62 is provided.
Provided to

In this way, when the feeding in all the feeding chambers 7, 8, and 9 of the feeding box 2 is completed, and the inside of the feeding box 2 becomes empty, the control device 49 rotates the servo motor in the reverse direction (B
), And the tape belt 26 is circulated in the direction D. Then, when the tape belt 26 returns to the position where the first opening 18 of the case 15 is completely closed, the servomotor stops and returns to a state where new food can be put into the food box 2.

When the automatic feeder 1 is to be cleaned, the lid 17 and the feed box 2 are removed from the case main body 16, and the gate opening / closing main body 14 is further removed from the case main body 16 for cleaning.

As described above, the automatic feeder 1 is provided with the tape belt 26 formed in a loop shape around the feed port 21 on the feed path 3 and the feed port 1 of the feed box 2 on the surface of the tape belt 26.
0, 11 and 12 and the tape belt 2
6 is provided with a gate opening / closing device 23 serving as a gate means having an opening 29 for opening the feeding ports 10, 11, 12 on the surface of 6, and a driving means 24 for driving the gate opening / closing device 23. Feeding can be automatically and reliably and accurately performed, and labor for feeding can be saved.

Further, since it is not necessary to constantly control the feeding by humans, labor costs can be reduced and breeding costs can be reduced. Further, it is possible to reduce the number of times a person enters and leaves the breeding room 62, and it can be expected to have an effect of preventing bacteria from entering the breeding room 62.

The tape belt 26 has a plurality of holes 30.
The gears 38 of the reels 33 and 34 are engaged with and supported by the holes 30.
And the tape belt 26 can be prevented from slipping, and the tape belt 26 can be fed accurately.

As another mechanism that does not use the hole 30 or the reel 33, for example, as shown in FIG. 10, wires 71 are fixed to both ends in the width direction of a tape belt 70, and the wires 71 are respectively driven by a drive shaft. A similar mechanism can be provided by fixing the tape belt 70 to the reel 73 on the 72 and sliding the tape belt 70 left and right by rotation of the drive shaft 72.

The gate opening / closing device 23 is provided on the base 25.
And the driving means 24 to form the gate opening / closing main body portion 14, and the gate opening / closing main body portion 14 is detachably provided in the case 15. And the inside of the automatic feeder 1 can be easily cleaned.

Since the feeding port is opened by circulating the loop-shaped tape belt 26 having the second opening 29, the number of the partition plates 6 of the feeding box 2 may be increased or decreased, for example, to increase the number of the feeding chambers 7, 7, or the like. Even if the number of 8, 9 is increased or decreased, it can be easily coped with only by changing the setting of the control device 49 (the amount of rotation of the motor, etc.), and individually changing the amount of food supplied to the plurality of breeding rooms 62. And so on.

Further, since the tape belt 26 is fed by rotating the reels 31 and 32 by the motor, the tape belt 26 can be fed in the forward and reverse directions only by rotating the motor forward and backward.

Further, by connecting the control device 49 to a plurality of automatic feeders 1, a plurality of breeding rooms 6 can be simultaneously controlled.
Automatic feed feeding to 2 is also possible.

The driving means 24 is not limited to a servo motor, but may be an ordinary AC or DC motor. In this case, the state of the tape belt 26 may be transmitted to the control device 49 by disposing a limit switch around the tape belt 26 or the like.

The partition plate 6 of the bait box 2 may be detachable from the partition plate 6 or may be capable of selectively adjusting the interval between the partition plates 6.

[0054]

In summary, according to the present invention, the following excellent effects can be obtained.

(1) Feeding several times can be automatically and reliably and accurately performed.

(2) Cleaning can be performed easily.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an automatic feeder showing a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a bait box.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a gate opening / closing main body.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of an automatic feeder.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line VV of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line VV of FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is an explanatory view showing a state where an automatic feeder is attached.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a rearing room.

FIG. 9 is a side view of FIG.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a gate opening / closing main body showing another embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Automatic feeder 2 Feeder box 3 Feeding path 10 Feeder 11 Feeder 12 Feeder 21 Feeder 23 Gate opening / closing device (gate means) 24 Drive means 26 Tape belt 29 Opening

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Shigeru Nakata 2-20-14 Aobadai, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 2nd Inari Building Inside Nippon Crea Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Toyasu Imai 2-chome Aobadai, Meguro-ku, Tokyo No. 14 No. 2 Inari Building Nippon Clea Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Hiromi Kono 4-2-1 Hidakacho, Hitachi City, Ibaraki Prefecture Within Hitachi Cable Equipment Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Masatoshi Kikuchi Hitachi City, Ibaraki Prefecture Hitachi Cable Equipment Co., Ltd. 4-1-2, Hidakacho Hitachi Cable Equipment Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Junichi Katogi 4-12-1, Hidaka-cho, Hitachi City, Ibaraki Prefecture

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An automatic feeder for connecting a feed box for feeding small animals such as guinea pigs to a feed room for feeding the food in the feed box to a breeding room, and automatically feeding the food in the feed box. Gate means provided with a tape belt formed around a feed port on a road so as to close the feed port of the feed box with the tape belt surface, and an opening for opening the feed port on the tape belt surface. And a driving means for driving the gate means. 2. The automatic feeder according to claim 1, wherein the tape belt is supported on a reel having gears, and a plurality of holes meshed with the gears are formed at a widthwise end of the tape belt. 3. The tape belt is supported on a reel,
The automatic feeder according to claim 1, wherein the reel and the widthwise end of the tape belt are connected via a cable such as a wire. 4. A gate opening / closing main body formed by providing the gate means and the driving means on a base, and the gate opening / closing main body is detachably provided in a case.
Or the automatic feeder according to 3.