US20040010962A1 - Beaver barrier - Google Patents

Abstract

The Beaver Barrier is a unique use of rubber and steel to form a barrier that will restrict where beavers build dams without harm to animals. The material is recycled tire parts woven together which forms a tube composed of connected rings which allow water to freely pass through but restricts animals from plugging or moving the natural course of the water. This unit prevents the animals from being able to dam the flow of water.

The unit is so designed to allow for easy cleaning. The approximate life expectancy of a unit is over ten years.

All materials used are non-toxic eliminating damage to water quality, or soil in any way. Natural black color can free unit from ice at first thaw.

The unit has a built in harness allowing easy cleaning even if unit is completely submerged in soils, trash or water. Installation is simple, merely placing it upstream the aperture to be protected. The upstream end is anchored with a post.

The downstream end of the structure can have a built in flare to adapt to structure size eliminating any possibility of beaver getting between the unit and the protected structure.

Description

• Beaver barriers will drive the beaver away without harm and is fabricated of tire beads. The beads are cut with a narrow edge through which holes are drilled and cable is fed through using spacers to separate the beads forming a flexible tube. This forms a tube that bars entrance to the beavers between the beads. Each end is woven with the cable forming a cross hatch face top side to common ring. Two stout pipes suspended inside the tube are joined by drilling holes through the pipe ends and bolted to a chain section and to the two outside ends of the pipe. The center connecting chain loops over the center bead to support the pipe under the top of the tube and inside it. The cables are pre-set lengths which loop through holes in the outer ends of the pipes and a bead at each end. The cable that ties the beads together has the last few spacers missing to allow the unit to capsize into half its working length. When being set up, “U” shaped lengths equal to the length of the spacers are placed between the beads that are missing the spacers. These inserts have bolts to fasten them around the cable. These tighten the cables and thus tightening the unit. Three cables are attached to the middle and each end of the stout pipe and on the other end to a common ring allowing the entire unit to be lifted out for cleaning which is required on a regular basis. At the downstream end of the system increasingly larger rings are used to increase the size of the end and thus close off access to the inside of the culvert by the beaver. These beads increase the size by a distance equal to the uniform spacing of the rings between the outside diameter of the smaller bead and the inside diameter of the larger bead until the size of the culvert is reached that the system is to be placed into. Each additional larger bead used changes the angle of these last beads to slant creating an ever increasing size. [0001]
• The joint in the pipe also allows lifting the lead end up to break it free of trash before lifting the entire unit, thus assisting the clean-out process. [0002]
• The cables are attached to the lift ring which is placed over a steel post setalong side the system to provide easy access even if the unit is completely under water. [0003]
• The culvert size, length of the system will vary depending upon the conditions of each individual application. Lifetime expectancy is over ten years. The beaver barrier will frustrate the beaver, but they don't restrict fish movement. It is non-polluting, easy to install and clean. [0004]
• By removing the Beaver Barrier tightening spacer inserts allows the unit to capsize reducing its volume for shipping purposes. When located at the instalation site the spacers are placed over the cable between the rubber rings that have no spacers between the rings. This tightens the cables expanding the unit to its full size. [0005]
BEAVER BARRIER DRAWING DESCRIPTION
• FIG. 1-[0006] 1 Is the cut bead taken from a truck tire
• FIG. 1-[0007] 2 Are the holes drilled through the rubber section of the bead.
• FIG. 2-[0008] 1 Are the beads set in a row forming the housing of the barrier.
• FIG. 2-[0009] 2 Are the holes also shown in FIG. 1-2.
• FIG. 2-[0010] 3 Is the cable threaded through all the holes systematicly to form a tube with the ends closed to beaver access.
• FIG. 2-[0011] 4 Are the spacers composed of plastic or steel through which the cable FIG. 2-3 is threaded.
• FIG. 3-[0012] 1 Is the steel or concrete culvert into which the beaver barrier is placed to stop dam building by the animal.
• FIG. 3-[0013] 2 are the oversized tire beads to form a flare which restricts beaver from getting in below the dam.
• FIG. 3-[0014] 3 Are the beads shown in FIG. 1-1 and FIG. 2-1.
• FIG. 3-[0015] 4 Are the spacers illustrated in FIG. 2-4.
• FIG. 3-[0016] 5 is a backbone which has cable threaded through FIG. 3-7 or attached at the loop FIG. 3-6 on either end of the backbone FIG. 3-5 and on the oposite end it is attached to a central ring FIG. 3-8 which facilitates lifting the unit out of the water to clean or move.
• FIG. 3-[0017] 6 The loop on either end of the backbone.
• FIG. 3-[0018] 7 Is the hole in the end of the pipe.
• FIG. 3-[0019] 8 Is the central ring which facilitates lifting the unit for cleaning or moving.
• FIG. 4-[0020] 1 Is an enlarged view of the spacers FIG. 2-4 and FIG. 3-4.
• FIG. 4-[0021] 2 Is the cable FIG. 2-3 running through each spacer.
• FIG. 5-[0022] 1 Is the tightening spacer insert.
• FIG. 5-[0023] 2 Are the holes through which a locking pin is inserted to hold the spacer in place over the cable which tightens the entire unit when it is at the instalation site.
• FIG. 6-[0024] 1 Is the cable that runs through each ring and spacer bonding the entire unit together.
• FIG. 6-[0025] 2 Is the pin that holds the spacer over the cable.
• FIG. 6-[0026] 3 Is the spacer and FIG. 5-1.
• FIG. 6-[0027] 4 Are the holes the pin FIG. 6-2 goes through.
• FIG. 6-[0028] 5 Is the hole in the pin FIG. 6-2 through which the cotter pin locks the pin FIG. 6-2 in the holes FIG. 6-4.
• FIG. 7-[0029] 1 is the cable FIG. 2-3.
• FIG. 7-[0030] 2 is the spacer FIG. 5-1.
• FIG. 7-[0031] 3 is the pin FIG. 6-2.
• FIG, [0032] 7-4 is the underside of the spacer FIG. 6-3 and FIG. 5-1.
• FIG. 7-[0033] 6 is the expanded view of the cotter pin.

Claims (11)

I claim:

1. Steel encased rubber form ring prevents rusting and resists chemical damage and is material from recycled tires.

2. Steel inside rubber repells beaver biting to penetrate unit.

3. Flexability of unit discourages removal by animals.

4. Design has too many openings to be plugged with floatsum, debris.

5. Sealed ends eliminates plugging with foreign matter.

6. Innerty rubber eliminates polution.

7. No harm can come to animals.

8. Flexability to withstand animal intrusion frustrates animals.

9. Steel inside rubber repells beaver atttempts to crush unit.

10. Suspension yoke enhances cleaning of unit.

11. Removable of expansion spacers allows for easier shipping by collapsing the unit until at the instalation site where they are replaced in the unit to tighten the cables.

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