US599572A - Feed-trough - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.) 2 SheetsSheet 1.

N. R.' MEDA U GH FEBD-TROUGH.

No. 599,572, Pament edrebfzz, 1898.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

Patented Feb. 22, 1898.

N. R.- MBD'AUGH.

' FEED TROUGH.

(No Model.)

l lllllll lllll /M/ v n////// 7///////// UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

NORMAN R. MEDAUGH, or ABANAKA, OHIO.

FEED-TROUGH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 599,572, dated February 22, 1898.

Application filed March 25, 1897. Serial No. 629,223. (No model.)

To alt whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, NORMAN RICHARD ME- DAUGH, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Abanaka, Van Wert county, State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Feed-Troughs; andmy preferred manner of carrying out'the invention is set forth in the following full, clear, andexactdescription,terminatingwith claims particularly specifying the novelty.

- This invention relates to the care of live stock, and more especially to that class of devices known as feed-troughs, and the object of the same isto produce a trough which will prevent the crowding and pushing of the stock, so as to deprive the weaker pigs or animals of their share of the food, as well as to produce a device wherein the operator can gain convenient access to the trough for filling or for cleaning it Without interruption to his labors by the stock.

To this end the invention consists in the construction hereinafter more fully described and claimed, and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure l'is a sectional view of the simplest form of my improved trough. Fig. 2 is a perspective detail of the sliding gate or door therefor. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the double form with the gate removed. Fig. 4 is a detail of the gate. Fig. 5 is a vertical section of a slight modification. Fig. 6 is aperspective viewof this trough on runners and with the gate slightly tipped to the rear to better illustrate the trough and strip, and Fig. 7 is a plan view showing t-he use of the latter form.

In the simplest form of my improved trough, (shown in Figs. 1 and 2,) 1 is the pig or hog pen, 2 the trough proper located across one end thereof, and 3 a strip secured transversely across the trough at about its center and provided with two holes 4 4, this strip serving to strengthen the trough and prevent its spreading at the center when it is made of sheet metal or light lumber, as well as having the functions described below. 5 is the gate, across whose upper end is secured abeam or strip 6. '8 are cleats "secured within the walls of the pen and upon which move slides 7 having handles 7 at their front ends to be grasped by the operator. The gate 5 and beam 6 are secured rigidly to the slides 7 and the latter move horizontally, while the gate hangs always vertical. Sliding through guides or eyes 10 10 on the outer face of the gate is a bolt 11, whose lower end is adapted to engage the holes in the upper face of the strip 3 and whose upper end has a ring or handle 12 to be grasped by the operator. At the lower edge of the gate a notch 5 is preferably formed to stand astride the strip 3 in order to permit the gate to extend as low as possible and move closely over the upper part of the trough. With this construction of parts the operator comes with his swill to the right side of the pen, (shown in Fig. 1,) raises the ring-shaped handle 12, presses the gate inward, drops the tip of the bolt 11 into the innermost hole 4, fills the trough, and then slides the gate back to its outermost'position and locks it there, so as to allow the stock to feed; or the gate may be removed entirely by lifting its slides off the cleats. Hence the member 5 serves as a gate, and it may also be used as a door between two pens or between the two parts or divisions of a single pen.

one end being connected, as at 12, with the bolt 11 and the other end having a handle 75,

standing in proper position adjacent one of the handles 7 to permit the operator to press his thumb thereon, so as to raise the tip of the bolt 11 out of one of the holes 4before attempting to move the slides on their supporting-strips 8. The operation is the same as above, but the construction provides greater convenience, as the hand need not be removed from the main handle 7 to operate the bolt. The double form of this pen is shown in Fig. 3 and the gate therefor in Fig. 4. The pen is twice as long and each part the same, except that the trough proper must here be contin ued outward beyond one side of the pen-body, as at 2, in order to permit the ready reception of the swill, for, the pen being built on each side of the trough, the operator could not get at the latter, as in Fig. 2. Such being a fact, the gate 5 must have a main handle 74, projecting to within reach. Here I show a lever, as at 72, pivoted, as at 73, on the top of the pen-body, a link 71 connecting its inner end with the gate, and its outer end 7t constituting a main handle to be grasped by the operator and moved in either direction, as desired; also, the bolt-lever must here be used, located so that its outer end or handle 75 can be grasped by the operator as he stands at the side of the pen and properly manipulated to raise and lower the tip of the bolt. There is here also preferably an additional hole l, midway between the endmost holes at it in the strip 3, and the trough is slightly wider.

The gate and bolt are obviously worked by the handles 74: and 75, and the swill is poured into the trough at 2' and runs in under the gate. The latter can be set at either extremity of its movement to cut off one or the other pen from the trough, or it can stand over the center, so that the pigs in both pens may feed, though I prefer to bolt it in such central position by means of the hole 4.

It will be obvious that various changes in the details of construction could be made without departing from the spirit of my invention, and I have indicated in Fig. 5 a few of them which occur to me now. In some cases the sides of the pen are quite high, and a gate supported 011 cleats 8 near the top only would be apt to swing undesirably as it was moved to and fro. I therefore provide an additional pair of cleats 8, secured within the sides of the pen near its bottom, and fasten across the gate 5 an additional beam (3, to whose ends and the edges of the gate are secured slides 7 resting and moving on the cleats 8, as seen. If the pen and gate are moderately high, the handle will be attached to the gate about midway of its height, as at and the light lever 11 will be pivoted, as at 60", to the handle, so that its own handle or thumb-piece shall stand within convenient reach of the operator. If the gate is very high, the handle may be still lower, even formed at the front end or ends of the slide or slides, as indicated in dotted lines at 71, and the light lever would be pivoted thereto, as at 11. If the gate were quite wide, there might be one handle near the transverse center thereof, or, if two were desired, an additional one could be provided near the transverse center, as at 7 O in Fig. 6.

A further modification to which myinvention is susceptible is also shown in Fig. 6- that is, means for using the gate in connection with a feed-trough which is portable, as where the hog-owner keeps his stock in a field rather than in a pen and desires to carry the food to them only at proper times. In this construction 30 30 are runners, in pairs, double-ended, so as to move in either direction freely and connected by cross-bars 31. There are preferably about three pairs of such supports (so called because wheels might be used insteadlof runners, as indicated in dotted lines at 30) supporting the ends and center of a long trough 2. In each endmost cross-bar is an eye 32, to which horse or other power may be attached for moving the whole. Rising from each endmost cross-bar is a pair of uprights 80, connected across their tops, as at 81, and thus forming the equivalents of the cleats 8' in Fig. 1. The ends of the trough 2 preferably pass between these uprights, as shown, and may be closed, as usual, or left open, and cross boards 82 secured to the outer faces of the uprights and extending for some distance above and outside the trough to prevent the stock crowding into the ends thereof. These boards would thus close the ends of the trough, and the latter would then possiblybe made removable from its supports, as for cleaning or repair. 5 designates the gate, here shown as slightly tipped to the rear the better to illustrate the trough and strip, although it will be understood that the gate never occupies this position when in use, being so illustrated herein merely for the sake of clearness. 7 are the slides adapted to be supported on the cleats or cross-pieces 81, and the notched lower edge 5 moves over the strip 3, which has holes 4 and 4, as above set forth. The same arrangement of bolt 11 in eyes 10 and operated by the light lever 11, havinga thumb-piece 75 adjacent the handle 70, is also here employed.

The use of this device (or at least one use) is shown in Fig. 7. 1 is a field containing the hogs, and hence the equivalent of the pen. This field has a stationary fence 83, with an opening 84:, possibly provided with a gate or with bars to be let down. The trough is drawn to the position indicated about opposite this gate, and temporary fence-panels 85 are set up, so as to keep the hogs from the gate and leave room for the operator, as at 1", between the fence S3 and the trough. This space has its ends closed by the panels 85 and the extremities of the boards 82, if used. The trough, with its gate, is then used in the manner above set forth. After the stock have been fed they are driven back into the field 1", the gate closed at Set, the panels 85 removed, and the trough can be drawn to a new position, where it is again used in like manner.

IVhat is claimed as new is 1. The combination with a pen having cleats secured within its side walls, and a transverse trough beneath said cleats; of slides supported by the cleats, means for moving the slides, and a gate pendent from the latter and moving above the trough, as and for the purpose set forth.

2. The combination with a feed-trough, a pair of uprights near its ends, and a strip secured across the trough and having holes near its extremities and one near its center; of cleats sustained by the uprights, slides moving on the cleats and connected byabeam, a gate pendent therefrom, and a bolt sliding vertically in guides on the gate with its tip adapted to enter any of said holes, the gate at either extreme position closing the trough, and at its intermediate position permitting I the feeding of stock from both sides, substantially as described. 1

3. The combination with two inclosures end to end, a trough extending across between them and out beyond them at one side, astrip secured across the trough and having holes in its upper face, and cleats secured to the sides of the inclosures above the trough; of slides supported on the cleats, a gate connected withand carried by the slides, a bolt on the gate adapted to enter any of the holes in said strip, and a handle connected to the gate and by which it may be moved, as and for the purpose set forth. I

4. i The combination with a pen having elevated cleats secured within its side walls, a transverse trough beneath said cleats, and a strip secured across the trough and having holes in its upper face; ofslides resting on said cleats, a beam connecting the slides, a gate secured to and pendent from the beam, means for moving the gate, beam, and slides simultaneously, and a bolt moving in guides in the gate withits tip adapted to enter the holes in the cleat and its handle within reach of the operator, as and for the purpose set forth.

5. The combination with a pen having cleats secured within its side walls, a transverse trough beneath said cleats, and a strip across the trough with holes in its upper face; of slides resting on said cleats, a gatesupported by the slides, a main handle for moving the slides, a boltmounted in guides on the gate with'its tip adapted to enter the holes in the strip, and a handle therefor adjacent the main handle and within reach of the operator, as and for the purpose set forth.

'6. The combination with a pen having upright side walls,oleats secured therein in pairs near top and bottom, a transverse trough beneath the lower cleats, and a strip across the trough and having holes in its upper face; of two pairs of slides resting on the cleats, an upright gate connected to all the slides, a main handle projecting from the face of the gate, a movable bolt carried by the gate with its tip adapted to enter the holes in said strip, and a light lever pivotedto said main handle and'having one end linked to the bolt and the other end provided with a handle adjacent the main handle, as and for the purpose set forth.

.7. The herein described portable feedtrough comprising the trough 2 mounted on movable supports and having two uprights 80 at each end connected in pairs by cleats 81, slides 7 moving on said cleats, a gate 5 pendent from the slides and moving between the pairs of uprights, a bolt on the gate, crossboards 82 at the ends of the trough, a strip across the top of the trough provided with holes with which said bolt engages, and a main handle formoving the gate, all as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto subscribed my signature on this the 23d day of

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