US1947698A - Sanitary hutch - Google Patents

Description

Feb. 20, 1934. E. A. CORBIN, JR

SANITARY HUTCH Filed Sept. 15, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet l 5 [A BER /i? CofiswJ/e,

ATTORNEY,

Feb. 20, 1934. E. A. CORBIN, JR 1,947,698

SANITARY HUTCH Filed Sept. 15. 19.31 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 II mwm Z'fi g Z /Z /0 9 ZZB'AT/V. CURB/Auk A TTORNE Y.

Patented Feb. 20, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SANITARY HUTCH Elbert A. Corbin, Jr., Swarthmore, Pa., assignor of one-half to William C. Biddle, Landsdowne, Pa.

Application September 15, 1931 Serial No. 562,849

1 Claim.

of which are readily accessible from the front thereof, to facilitate the tending of the animals kept in the hutch, such as the removal of their oifal or the replenishing of their feed.

My invention further relates to a novel hutch construction which is provided with a rear ventilator which is readily accessible for adjustment or control through the front door of the hutch.

My invention further relates to a hutch having a two-part floor, parts of said floor being slanted towards the center of the hutch, and being joined by a central wire netting floor portion, which, if desired, may extend clear through the width of the hutch.

My invention further relates to a hutch of this general character which is provided with a bottom bracket or support which is adapted to engage and support a sliding pan in registration with the wire netting portion of the floor of the hutch, said pan being adapted to receive the droppings which flow thereinto by the force of gravity due to the slanting position of the floor sections. 7

My invention further relates to a novel hutch of the general character set forth which may be shipped in a knocked-down condition, and which may be assembled at minimum cost in time or effort.

My invention further relates to a novel hutch which lends itself to be assembled in tiers or batteries, if so desired.

My invention further relates to various other novel features of construction and advantage, all as hereinafter described and claimed in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 represents a perspective view of a hutch embodying my invention, the front wire door being removed.

Figure 2 represents a section on line 22 of Figure 3.

Figure 3 represents a front elevation of Figure 2.

Figure 4 represents a section on line 4-4 of Figure 2.

Figure 5 represents a section on line 55 of Figure 3.

Figure 6 represents the method of assembling a plurality of hutches into a tier or battery.

For the purpose of illustrating my invention, I have shown in the accompanying drawings forms thereof which are at present preferred by me, since they will give in practice satisfactory and reliable results, although it is to be understood that the various instrumentalities of which my invention consists can be variously arranged and organized and that my invention is not limited to the precise arrangement and organization of these instrumentalities as herein shown and described.

Referring to the drawings, in which like reference characters indicate like parts, my'novel hutchconsists of a back 1, side walls 2, top 3, and front walls 4 and 5. 6 and 7 designate floor sections which slant downwardly from the opposed side walls 2 towards the center of the hutch, said floor sections 6 and 7 being joined by the wire netting 8, under which is thesupporting bracket 9 which is adapted to receive the drip pan 10. The drip pan supporting bracket 9 and the wire netting 8 are both se-' cured to the corresponding edges of the floor sections 6 and 7 by a single fastening device and operation, such as the driving of a single nail or screw, or the like. The slanting floor sections 6 and 7 are preferably supported onthe braces 12 which extend completely around the hutch along the inner sides of the vertical walls 1, 2, 4 and 5 thereof. The drip pan supporting bracket 9 is preferably of a height slightly less than the distance between the braces 12 and the floor line, so as to form a support for the inner edges of the floor sections 6 and 7 at a point slightly lower than the position of the braces 12 where they abut against the inner sides of the side walls 2, so that the floor sections 6 and 7 are supported along substantially all their perimeters. In the rear wall 1 of the hutch are provided a series of holes 14 and a draft slide 15 which may be manipulated by means of the pin 16, the draft slide 15 being provided with openings 17 to register with the openings 14 to whatever extent is necessary to permit the entry of a controlled amount of air into the hutch. To the front wall 4 of the hutch is hinged the wire door 18 which is adapted to be locked by any suitable means to the other front wall 5 as at 19. The wire door 18 carries a hay rack 20 adapted to contain feed for the animals kept within thehutch.

In Figure 6, I have illustrated one way of assembling a plurality of hutches into a tier, and this is accomplished by superimposing the hutches upon each other in adjacent, contiguous, vertical rows, as illustrated in Figure 6. Bolts 24 are adapted to pass through the bottom ends of the adjacent side walls of the contiguous hutches, there being a reinforcing metal strip 25 positioned between adjacent side walls of the hutches to take up the play and to serve as a binder between an upper and a lower pair of hutches, since, as will be seen from Figure 6, the upper bolt 24 passes through the upper end of the metal strip 25 and the lower ends of the adjacent side walls of the contiguous hutches, while the lower end of the metal strip 25 receives the lower bolt 24 which passes through the upper portions of the adjacent side walls of the contiguous hutches, so that in this way each pair of juxtaposed hutches are secured together and are simultaneously secured to the pair of hutches next below or next above them.

From the foregoing description, it will be seen that I have produced an extremely simplified hutch construction, which can be shipped in a knocked-down condition and assembled by the. purchaser almost instantaneously, and it will further. be seen that my novel hutch can receive all the. attention necessary, from the removal of the drip pan 10 to the cleaning of the floor sections. 6 and 7, as well as the adjustment of. control of the ventilating. mechanism in the back wall, by approach from the front, so that, when the hutches are built into tiers, or are positioned singly against a vertical'wall or hedge, it, will not be necessary to have rear access to the hutches.

A. further distinct advantage of my present construction is that by positioning the drip pan 10,. and? its adjuncts, in the center of the hutch with two floor sections slanting towards the drippan, I reduce to a minimum the length of the distance to be traveled by the: excretions of the rabbits, thereby decreasing to a minimum the tendency of such excretions to dry before reaching the: drip pan, which would be the case if the drip pan were: to be located at the rear end of a continuous floor the size of the sections 6 and 7 here shown, wherein the urine of the rabbits at the end of the floor away from the drip pan must travel the entire distance of the floor before reaching the drip pan, so that a great amount of it dries, and only the balance will reach the drip pan, thus encrusting the floor of the hutch with an unsantiary and an ill-smelling deposit. It has heretofore been attempted to build hutches, the floors of which were made completely out of wire netting, with a drip pan positioned below the floor of the hutch of a size equivalent to the size of the floor of the hutch. Obviously, a drip pan of this nature is highly unwieldy for the attendant to handle, as it is well known that flat vessels containing liquids cannot be carried about without danger of spillage. Furthermore, when a drip pan is used. which extends entirely under a wire netting floor, it is obvious that the rabbits, or other animals, kept in the hutch are at all times in a position to breathe the fumes and vapors: emanating from the drip pan below, thereby making it impossible for the animals to breathe. suiiicient fresh air. By my construction, a rabbit sitting on the floor sections 6 and 7, at any point other than the wire netting 8, is at all times protected against the fumes and. vapors arising from the drip pan entering the nostrils of the animals in a direct and undiluted condition.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

In a hutch, a sectional floor composed of imperforate sections slanting towards the center of the hutch, a perforated fioor section joining the longitudinal edges of said solid section, braces carried by the vertical walls of'said' hutch for supporting said solid sections along their outer perimeters, a bracket adapted to support the inner longitudinal edges of said imperforate sections and. to receive a removable drip pan, a ventilator in the back wall of said hutch, and a hinged door in the front wall of said hutch, said ventilator being accessible through said door.

ELBERT A. CORBIN, JR.

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