US3139858A - Warm air brooding system - Google Patents

Description

y 7, 1964 P. s. MARTIN 3,139,858

WARM AIR BROODING SYSTEM Filed July 17, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 ag i.

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PL'ARY 5t MART/IV ATTMPMEX July 7, 1964 P. s. MARTIN WARM AIR BROODING SYSTEM 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 17, 1962 INVENTOR. P569) 5. MART/M BY i: W Z

. rlall!l'ilf lllldlfllllii'llill United States Patent 3,139,858 WARM AIR BROODING SYSTEM Perry S. Martin, Box 6, Harrisonburg, Va. Filed July 17, 1962, Ser. No. 210,357 '-1 Claim. (Cl. 11931) This invention relates to the art of artificially brooding artificially hatched poultry.

One object of the invention is to produce an improved brooding apparatus and system.

Artificially hatched chicks must be provided with heat to replace that which, under natural conditions, the mother hen supplies. To this end, it has, for many years, been the practice to use a large number of wood, oil, coal or gas stoves to heat a relatively large brooder house for brooding a large number of chicks. These stoves are equipped with canopies or hovers for heating the floor area there-beneath. The use of a large number of stoves requires much labor and care, and the presence of a large number of stoves constitutes a serious fire hazard.

It has also been proposed to use heating coils which where supplied with hot water, or with steam, and were mounted about 12" above the floor. Such coils are ex pensive to install, operate and maintain, and because coils supplied with hot water respond very slowly and because coils supplied with steam heat cool off very quickly, there was a considerable temperature override and the much desired uniformity in the temperature under the hover could not be attained.

Another disadvantage of using a steam, or a hot water system is the fact that the coils are necessarily stationary and make cleaning under them difficult and time consummg.

It has also been proposed to use warm air for both heating and ventilation, but this expedient, too, has not been satisfactory because, if the air is not diffused gently into the hover, it will produce drafts which induce, and spread, various respiratory diseases. If the warm air is diffused gently, it tends to escape through the space between the bottom edge of the hover and the floor and to rise toward the ceiling without adequately warming the floor or the chicks below the hover. In fact, it is now recognized that the problem of respiratory diseases is largely one of proper temperature and draftless ventilation.

It is therefore a further object of this invention to produce an improved brooder, and an improved brooding system, whereby the requisite warmth and ventilation are inexpensively attained without subjecting the chicks to injurious drafts.

In commercial brooding, a large number of hovers are placed in one brooder house and a large number of chicks are brooded under each hover. Because the chicks brooded under various hovers may be of different ages, and because as a chick grows older, its warmth requirement decreases and its ventilation requirement increases, it is imperative that the warmth and ventilation supplied to each hover be accurately individually controlled according to the age of the chickens using the hover. This is especially critical because fowl in general, and young fowl in particular, have rapid breathing and pulse rates and require more air per pound of live weight than any other animal.

It is therefore a still further object of this invention to produce an improved brooding system and apparatus 3,139,858 Patented July 7., 1964 whereby the warmth and ventilation of each brooder, in a large enclosure housing a number of separate hovers, can be individually and accurately varied and controlled.

Generally stated, my invention contemplates heating air and transforming part of the heat component of the air into radiant heat before the air reaches the chicks and then utilizing the air for ventilation.

The full nature of the invention will be understood from the following specification and the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a highly diagrammatic view, partly in section and partly in elevation, showing a brooding system embodying the invention and including a single plenum supplying a number of individual hovers.

FIG. 1-a is an enlarged, fragmentary and diagrammatic view showing the addition of an auxiliary damper to the structure shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view looking in the direction of line 2-2 on FIG. 1, showing the internal structure of the individual hovers shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view looking in the direction of line 3-3 on FIG. 1 and showing the manner in which the ratio of recirculated air to fresh air is reguated.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged elevational view of the right hand end of the plenum shown at the top of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged and elevational view looking in the direction of line 5-5 on FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view looking in the direction of line 6-6 on FIG. 5.

As diagrammatically shown in FIG. 1, the brooder system includes a furnace, or other air-heating appliance 10, a plenum 12 connected to receive warm, filtered air from the furnace and branch conduits 14 leading to a number of hovers 15, 16 and 17. It will be understood that plenum 12, and the hovers supplied thereby, are located in a building, or other enclosure, only the floor 18 and one side wall 20 of which are shown. In FIG. 1, the furnace is shown within the building with a fresh air intake 13 leading from the atmosphere outside the building into the furance.

The furnace is purely conventional as to the fuel used, and as to the manner in which the fuel is burned. Therefore, these features are not shown or described. For the purpose of this disclosure, it is enough to say that the furnace is provided with blowers 22 and 23 which are provided with dampers 24 and 25, respectively, whereby one, or both of the blowers may be used and whereby, when the dampers are open, as shown in FIG. 1, the air is directed downwardly to insure contact with the entire heated surfaces of the furnace. Likewise, fresh air intake duct 13 is controlled by adjustable damper 26. The portion of the duct inside the building is provided with cross pipe 28, FIG. 3, the open ends of which are controlled by dampers 30 and 32, respectively. It will be noted that pipe 28 is within the building which houses the hovers and that by opening and closing dampers 30 and 32, the re-circulation of room air is controlled as may be indicated.

In order to regulate the pressure within plenum 10, the end thereof remote from the furnace is open and is provided with a damper 36 which is pivoted on pin 38 carried by a bracket 40 which, conveniently, is carried by the end of plenum 10, as best shown in FIG. 4. Damper 36 is provided with arcuately arranged openings 42 adapted to be selectively engaged by the tapered end 44 of a weight 46 at the end of an arm 48 which is pivoted to the damper, as at 50. It will be noted that the uppermost and lowermost openings 42, as viewed in FIG. 5, are diametrically opposed and that, when weight 46 is engaged with the uppermost of openings 42, as viewed in FIG. 5, it presents the least resistance to the opening of damper 36 and that, when weight 48 is engaged with the lowermost of said openings, it presents maximum resistance to the opening of the damper. Therefore, by engaging weight 46 with any of the intermediate openings 42, the resistance offered by weight 46 and, hence, the pressure in response to which damper 36 will open will be varied accordingly. From FIG. 6 it will be seen that damper 36 is of a channelshaped cross section whereby any air issuing at the end of the plenum will be diverted toward the floor where the chicks are. Another advantage of the automatic damper 36 is that it permits an increased volume of air to flow through the end of the plenum farthest from the furnace, thereby helping to maintain a more even temperature throughout the entire length of the plenum. As will be seen from FIG. 2 the hover of the present invention is in the form of a conical casing which encloses the air diffusing and pressure control mechanism so each hover constitutes a preassembled unitary brooder.

In order to facilitate raising and lowering each hover separately, and in order to make it possible to move a hover out of the way to clean under it, each branch pipe 14 is provided with a flexible extension 52 which may be made of canvas, or other flexible material, such as rubber. Each extension 52 is provided with a fitting 54 which leads into chamber 56 which has a larger area than pipe 14 so that it serves to reduce the pressure of the air received from pipe 14. Reducing chamber 56 communicates, through opening 58, with auxiliary plenum 60 which communicates, through opening 61, with distribution chamber 62. Distribution chamber 62 is defined by an insulated upper wall 63 and a good heat-conducting and radiating bottom wall or shield 64. It will be noted that upper Wall 63 is separated from the roof 65 of the hover by a large dead air space, which conserves heat, and that opening 61 is centrally located to equalize the pressure in chamber 62. Opening 58 is adapted to be fully, or partly, closed, by a damper 66, which is carried by arms 67, one at each side of chamber 60. Arms 67 i are fixedly carried by a rod 71 which is pivoted in the walls of chamber 60 and carries balance arm 72 which carries fixed weight 73 and movable weight 74. Secured to damper 66 and freely movable in chamber 56 is a vane 76 which counterbalances arm 72. In the position of FIG. 2, weight 74 has a negligible effect, if any, and weight 73 is so calibrated that, as long as the impact of the air on vane 76 is of a predetermined value, weight 73 will outweight damper 66 and vane 76 and damper 66 will assume the broken line position in which damper opening 58 is wholly unobstructed. When the impact of the air on vane 76 increases, damper 66 is moved down fully, or partially, to close opening 58. By moving weight 74 progressively toward fixed weight 73, the force necessary to move damper 66 downwardly will be increased accordingly. In other words, movement of weight 74 towards weight 73 increases the volume of air flowing into chamber 56, and vice versa. This permits adjustment of the air according to the age of the chicks. For example, when the chicks are young and are huddled closely under the hover, the hover is lowered nearer to the floor and weight 74 is moved to the position of FIG. 2 to maintain the flow of air at the precalibrated value. As the chicks grow older and begin to range, weight 74 is adjusted so as to keep opening 58 open, even in the face of increased flow of air from pipe 14. Also, as the chicks grow older, the hover is raised to increase the ventilation and temperature throughout the brooder house.

The air reaching distribution chamber 62 heats the bottom 64 of this chamber as it flows toward, and out through, suitable peripheral passages, as shown by arrows 79 in FIG. 2. By this arrangement, heated wall 64 radiates heat directly onto the chicks and onto the floor on which the chicks are huddled, and the reduced temperature air flowing between the perimeter of the hover and the floor forms a curtain which provides ventilation and prevents drafts of cold air from entering between the lower edge 78 of the hover and the floor. If desired, a thermometer 89 can be removably inserted through an appropriate hole to enable the attendant periodically to note the prevailing temperature and to make the adjustments indicated.

The hover is adjustably mounted on uprights 82 so that its height above the ground can be varied according to climatic conditions and according to the age of the chicks using the hover. This adjustment is facilitated by canvas connection 52.

When dusk sets in, the mother hen clucks her chicks home. In an artificial brooding house, the chicks are frustrated and must be shepherded into the shelter of the hover. I found that, if a light 32 is provided, the chicks will foregather under it as soon as the room in which they were ranging begins to get dark.

Dust is an effective heat insulator and for best results, the bottom wall 64 of distribution chamber 62 should be kept clean. To facilitate cleaning without extensive dismantling, wall 64 is made in one central section C and two end sections E which are detachably assembled and supported so that they can be individually removed. As shown in FIG. 2, the outer ends of sections E are supported by pivoted brackets 84 which are carried by the hover, and the inner ends of sections E are detachably supported by brackets 86 which are carried by suitably suspended center section C. A suitable hand hole, not shown, affords access to weight 74 to permit adjustment thereof.

By this arrangement, warmed and filtered air, consisting of the desired amounts of fresh and recirculated air is controllably delivered into plenum 10 with the pressure therein controlled by dampers 24 and 25 and by damper 40; the air reaching any one hover is diffused in chamber 56 to reduce its kinetic energy and its volume is controlled by damper 58 so that it may be further diffused in auxiliary plenum 60 and in distributing chamber 62 before it is discharged in the form of a curtain between the bottom edge of the hover and the floor.

While in the commercial production, an effort is made to fill the entire brooder house with chicks of the same age, this is not always feasible and chicks of various ages have to be brooded under various hovers, but in the same house. It is well known that, as the chicks grow, their requirement of oxygen increases while their need for heat decreases. This means that the air input should be increased from week to week for older chicks, and the heat input should be decreased. A reduction of temperature in an individual hover may be secured to a considerable extent by raising the hover to move the heat radiator 64 further from the floor and the brooding area beneath. But for more effective reduction of temperature and greater increase of the ventilation, I provide means for mixing controlled quantities of room air with the air moving toward a given hover. Such control means may take the form of a rotary ring damper 88 which, as shown in FIG. 1a, surrounds pipe 54 and is provided with openings 90. Ring damper is provided with ears 92 which project through a slot 94 in pipe 54 and are clamped, as at 96. When this damper is used, pipe 54 is provided with openings 93. The operation of this damper is conventional in that, by rotating the damper relative to the pipe, the flow of air from the room into pipe 54 may be regulated, or altogether stopped.

What I claim is:

A fowl brooder including:

a hover structure comprising an upper wall,

a lower wall having a high coefiicient of heat absorption and radiation disposed below and spaced from said upper wall,

means mounting said hover structure above a brooding area, 5

conduit means supplying warm air under predetermined pressure to the space between said walls,

said hover structure also including a side wall for directing air downwardly through an opening between the periphery of said lower wall and said side 10 wall to form a curtain of Warm air surrounding said brooding area.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

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