US2584383A - Fowl drinking fountain - Google Patents

Description

Patented Feb. 5, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE I rowr. DRINKING FOUNTAIN John Franz Feck, Norwood, Ohio Application April 15, 1947, Serial No. 741,593

2 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in fowl drinking fountains of the type that operates on the barometric principle.

An object of the present invention is the provision of a fowl drinking fountain that is extremely simple in construction and economical'to produce.

Another object of this invention is the provision of a fowl drinking fountain that is formed of flexible material whereby, in cold weather, it

can be readily separated from ice before refilling and without the necessity of first melting or thawing the ice.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of a fowl drinking fountain that discourages chicks and the like from setting there on and thereby contaminating the same and the drinking water supplied thereby.

It is also an object of this invention to provide a fowl drinking fountain that remains upright in the desired operative position and is not readily upset thereby spilling the drinking Fig. 1 is a top plan view of a fowl drinking fountain embodying the principles of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is an elevational view of the drinking fountain of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a vertical central sectional view of drinking fountain of Fig. 1, as seen from line 3--3 on said Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view of a fowl drinking fountain similar to Fig. 3 but illustrating aslight modification in the construction.

Fig. 5 is a top plan view of one half of the drinking fountain of Fig. l the other half being substantially identical in plan and left 01f of the drawing to save space.

Fig. 6 is a vertical sectional view through a fowl drinking fountain similar to Fig. 3 but illustrating a slight further modification in-the construction.

Fig. 7 is a bottom plan view of one half of the drinking fountain of Fig. 6 the other half 2 being substantially identical in plan but left off of the drawing to save space.

Throughout the several views of the drawings similar reference characters are employed to denote the same or similar parts.

Chick or fowl drinking fountains operating on the barometric principle are old but those heretofore used had inherent draw backs which have been eliminated by the construction of the present invention and as will become clear.

The chick or fowl drinking fountain of the present invention comprises a container in and a base H in the form of a dish or saucer. The container It] is formed, in general, of conical contour having a main portion 12 of frustro-conical construction and a top l3 of a true conical construction. The top portion l3 terminates at its upper end in a substantially sharp point It. The container I0 is hollow and has comparatively thin walls with the lower ends of the frustro-cone or main portion l2 open.

The base II is provided with a flat body portion l5 having its upper surface 16 relatively flat and smooth. At the periphery of the body portion is an upwardly outwardly extending flange II. The upper end I8 of the flange I1 is spaced from the wall of the frustro-cone i2 thereby providing a trough IQ for water for access by the chicks or fowls.

In practice the frustro-cone body portion 12 of the container has the free end 20 of its wall in contact with the upper surface [6 of the saucer or dish disk-like body portion l5. Furthermore at one point the frustro-cone body portion [2 is provided with a 11018.4)1' aperture 2! that communicates with the trough l9. It should be noted that the upp r end of the aperture or hole 2| is always below the free end I8 of the saucer or dish flange I'l;

In order to place the chick or fowl drinking fountain in condition for use the container in is removed from the base I l and filled through the open end thereof. The base H is then inverted in position on the open end of the container ID with the normally upper flat face of the saucer or dish body member I5 in face contact with the free end 2!) of the frustraconical portion l2 of the container, whereupon the fountain is inverted and placed on a suitable support, the floor, ground or other support in the brooder or chicken house. The water within the container in flows through the hole or aperture 2| into the trough [9 until the water level 22, within said trough, rises to a point to .15 seal off the said hole or aperture 2| whereupon further flow from the container It is stopped. This operation is in accordance with the well, known barometric principle.

By forming the body portion l2 as a frustrocone and the top as a true cone the capacity of the container rapidly decreases per unit of length from the open end to the point M. Upon placing the fountain in position for use the water is to a large extent all positioned near the open end of the "container"!!! andithereby providing a comparatively-largeair space 23 in the container l beneath its top l3 and the smaller end of the frustro-conical body portion 1 2 and thereby adding considerable weight to the bottom: or support end of the fountain. By this construction it will be readily seen that a considerable weight is disposed at the base .of the drinking fountain and a considerable force would be required to upset the same.

It has further been found that by forming the container [Baas :well as the dish or saucer H of flexible material, rubber forexample, a sufficient-'.seal-iis."obtained atthe open-end of the container :by rmerely placin the free end 213 of the container bodyzportionwwall on the surface 19 of the basebody portion .15 to prevent leakaage or :seepage between'said engaging faces. Furthermore ibyxforming'the container 19 and zthe dish orysaucer l it of flexible material, such as rubben-zandshould theewater within the con- 'teiner and :dish or-saucerpfreeze the said dish or saucer :I I ;can..-be stripped from the ice in much the same rmanneriasnthe ice cube forming tray in'a me'chanicalircfriger-atorsisstripped from the .ice cubes-after being formed or frozen. The ring -of icepleftxiat the-endxofnthe container I0 can be then broken away whereupon the container 1-0 is stripped from the :ice within the container.

The upsetting :of chick:or.fowl fountains is frequently andzgenerally {caused by the chicks or fowls tending to set or roost on the top of the fountain. As "well :known chicks and fowl tend to ,follow one another and perch adjacent to one another'and it isthe operation of their wings "in alighting andutaking off that they upset the equilibrium ofthe fountain. By form- 'ing the container top '13 as *a comparatively sharp point 14 the chicks are discouraged from setting or roosting and-should one balance itself on the point 14 no other would attempt to perch alongside since there would :be nothing but sharply inclined'walls;toperch on. In this way and-due to the fact of the weighted base, effected by the watervin-the fountairnthe chick or fowl drinking fountain-sis prevented from being. upset and displaced.

It may be :desirable toxeffectT-lai more permanent .connection-w'f the .container and the base or dish or saucer H and any 'suitable or desirable means. may beemployed-to effect this. .As illustrated dnEigs. .4-and 51a more permanent connection of these parts :is effected byforming in the dish onsaucer *body.;por,tion [5 a groove 24 of a width -to-snugly1 receive the free end of thecontainerwall. It istorbe understood that this connection will not prevent the. stripping of the dish .or'saucer. ll fromice should same form in thetroughdland .thatthe container. Ill-is stripped froman-ydce. that may form thereinin the same manner as abovedescribed.

It may further be desirable to provide some means to anchor the chick or fowl drinking fountain against bodily displacement along the floor, ground or other support, and for this purpose, and as illustrated in Figs. 6 and 7, the bottom of the dish or saucer body portion 15 is relieved as at 25 thereby providing a rim 26 downwardly projecting from the periphery of the said dish or saucer body portion I5 and forming in-effectzaa' *suctioncupi'fbelow the dish or saucer II.

It is believed the operation of the modification in Figs. 6 and 7 is obvious since a downward pressure. on the chick or fowl drinking fountain assembly will dislodge air from the suction cup 2.! zandithereby cause a frictional connection betweenthe. chick or fowl drinking fountain and its support.

Thermodification of Figs. 6 and 7, similar to those above described, is preferably formed of rubber vor other flexible material to incorporate therein the .advantages of the constructions above described.

In view of theforegoing .it is believed now evident that there-has been provided a chick or fowl' drinking fountain that overcomes the objections to prior structures and accomplishes the objects-initiallyset forth.

Whatis-claimedis:

1. .A deformable poultry drinking fountain of the-barometric type, coniprisinga dish-shaped and .base' may be separated and stripped 'from each .other and from ice resulting from water freezing .insaid container and trough.

2. -A deformable poultrydrinking fountain as defined inclaim .1 wherein said flexible "base has an imperforateinwardly recessed bottom to pro- --v1de suctionengagement with a generallyplane supporting surface so that said fountain is not :easily .upset.

JOHN FRANZ FECK.

.nEEERENoEs .oizr'nn The zfollowing i'references"areofrecord in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS .Number Name Date 369,351 Lomax Oct. 1, 1867 609,755 Chapin Aug; 23, 1898 1,299,091 Wygal- Apr. 1, 1919 1,536,699 Whitman; May 5,1925 1,729,912 JITolley- Oct. 1, 1929 1,785,921 Thompson et .al. .Dec. 23, 1930 1,805,772 .Lamarre May .19, -1 93 1 1,839,516 Dains Dec. 1, v1931 2,188,962 Sengbusch ,Feb...6,- 1940 2,215,630 Wright et .al Sept-24, 1940

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