GB2326325A - Timed horse feeder - Google Patents

Abstract

A manger type feeder is disclosed comprising a recessed holder 1 for a feed bucket 3. A lid 2 is held in a closed position by a timer controlled latch 4. At a preset time the lid is unlatched and is sprung open. The latch may be activated by a cam (13 figure showing latch) rotating at a clock speed.

Description

Animal Feedinq Apparatus The present invention relates to a timed automatic animal feeding apparatus. Although it is envisaged that the invention could be used to feed other animals, it will be specifically described in relation to horses.

However, aspects of the invention are not limited to horses only.

It is particularly important to carefully regulate the times at which a horse is fed. It is especially import ant to ensure a sufficiently long period between feeding the horse and exercising it. Ideally, a horse should not be exercised until at least one hour after it has been fed. Exercising too soon after eating can cause problems such as colic. In certain cases, severe colic can be fatal.

At present, horses are fed by, e.g. a stable worker, who must prepare the feed, which is usually put into a bucket in the stable. To prevent the bucket from being knocked over, and to ensure it is at a suitable height for the horse, the bucket is usually placed in a manger-type unit, mounted on the stable wall. The more traditional and most commonly used manger is a corner unit which is formed as a triangular shelf attached to two adjacent walls of the stable across the corner. A recess is provided in the shelf into which the feed bucket is placed. The rim of the bucket overlaps the edge of the recess so that the bucket is suspended in the unit and can be easily lifted out by its handle.

However, since the horse must be fed some time before exercising, this method of feeding can be inconvenient and inefficient.

If, for example, a horse is taking part in a an event early in the morning, it will have to be fed very early, which requires the person feeding the horse to be up at a very early hour.

Also, in large stableyards, stable workers often help with the horses in the morning and then go off to other jobs. It is inconvenient and time consuming for these people to have to wait an hour between feeding the horses and exercising them. It would clearly save time if the horses could be fed before the stable workers arrive, so that they are ready to be exercised.

Since horses have to be fed and exercised every day, it is not possible for the person feeding them to lie in occasionally or to take a day off.

Further, staff can sometimes be unreliable and arrive late or not at all. This may result in a horse not being fed in time to take part in an event, for example.

Thus, there is a need for a time and labour-saving device which enables a horse to be fed automatically at a set time, so that it has eaten its meal and digested it by the time the stable worker arrives to exercise it.

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided an automatic horse feeding device comprising a base having a recess for receiving a food container; a lid closable over said recess, said lid being resiliently biased to the open position; a latch for retaining said lid in the closed position; and a timer associated with said latch which releases said latch at a preset time upon which said lid opens automatically.

In a preferred embodiment the base comprises a manger type unit having a recess adapted to receive a bucket or bucket sized food container, the unit having means for securing it to a stable wall at traditional horse feeding height. The lid extends over the bucket in use, with the lid and base preferably formed of sheet metal to be suitably robust. Thus, there is provided a timed horse feeding device which can be conveniently loaded with food the night before the morning feed, and which in the preferred embodiment resembles conventional feeding arrangements save for the automatically released lid.

Many types of latch mechanisms and timers are known and could conceivably be used to open the lid at a preset time. As discussed later, possible timers include countdown timers, which may be clockwork or digital or analogue electronic; and "alarm clock" type timers.

Countdown timers operate by setting a "feed time" a certain number of hours or minutes from the present time. The number of hours/minutes are then counted down to zero at which time the latch is released. Small domestic pet feeders are known for automatically opening a food bowl for a cat or dog, which use countdown timers. The timer is set by e.g. rotating a dial by a certain amount, corresponding to the length of time until the lid is due to be opened. The dial then rotates back, e.g. by clockwork, to its start position at which time the latch holding the lid is released.

Alternatively, a digital countdown timer is set by holding down a button until the LCD shows the number of hours/minutes until the desired feed time. This then counts down to zero at which time the latch is released.

The latch may be, e.g. an electromagnetic latch or a solenoid or a mechanical latch.

However, such timers have several disadvantages.

In particular, such timers are not particularly user friendly and can be difficult to understand and could lead to errors in the set time, as it is necessary to calculate how many hours it is from the present time to the desired feed time. This may be particularly significant in a stable environment where the need to stop and calculate time settings is inconvenient and prone to error.

In a particularly preferred embodiment, therefore, the timer includes a twelve or preferably twenty four hour clock face, and means for setting a feed time (in real time) in relation to the clock face at which time the lid will be released.

This represents a new departure in animal feeders generally, and the present invention, according to a second aspect, provides an animal feeding apparatus comprising food containing means; a lid; a latch for retaining said lid in the closed position; and a timer mechanism, wherein said timer mechanism comprises a clock face and release means operably associated with said latch mechanism and rotated by a clock movement relative to said clock face, such that, at a preset time which has been selected in relation to said clock face, said release means is at a position relative to said clock face to cause said latch to be released which causes said lid to open.

Different types of latches may be used in this aspect of the invention and there may be some mechanical opening means provided between the lid and the latch such that when the latch is released the opening means lifts or slides the lid away from the food container.

However, in a preferred embodiment, the lid is hinged and spring based in the open position. The latch comprises a detent means which extends through or over a part of the lid to hold it in the closed position against the force of the springs. When the latch is released it moves out of engagement with the lid, allowing the lid to lift under the force of the spring.

This opening mechanism is simple and has a minimum number of moving parts.

By using the preferred timing mechanism, the actual desired feed time can be set using the clock face, which is preferably a 24 hour dial. In a preferred embodiment, the release means and clock face, in relation to which the release means rotates by clock movement, form part of a sub-assembly which is itself manually rotatable. The release means releases the latch mechanism whenever it reaches a particular point in its rotation relative to the timer housing. The release means further includes an indicator which indicates the actual time in relation to the clock face, and the housing includes an indicator which is aligned with the release means indicator when the release means is in its lid release position. To set the desired feed time the sub-assembly of clock-face and release means is rotated until the desired feed time on the dial is adjacent the relase point indicator on the housing.

When the release means indicator (which moves by clock movement relative to the clock face) reaches this time, the lid will be released. The preferred release means comprises a rotatable cam located adjacent the clock face.

As discussed, this timing mechanism is advantageous over the known countdown timers in that the timer can be set to release the latch at a particular time of day rather than after a certain period of time and so it is much easier to set and understand. The release means is preferably driven by a quartz clock mechanism mounted within the rotatable sub-assembly.

If the device is to be used by larger animals such as horses or is used in conditions where it needs to be fairly robust it is important to have a relatively heavy lid. In order for such a lid to open automatically the springs biasing the lid in the open position must also be strong and so the latch holding the lid closed, against the force of these springs, must be a relatively heavy duty latch. However, often there is no mains power supply available for these feeders and, in any case, it is desirable to keep the power requirement low and so the timer should preferably be battery driven and have a low power consumption. Thus, in relation to the heavy latch, the clock movement will be relatively delicate. Therefore, it is necessary, in such a case, to provide a mechanism for translating this delicate clock movement into a sufficiently strong latch movement.

Thus, according to a third aspect, there is provided an automatic animal feeding device comprising a base having a recess for receiving a food container; a hinged lid, resiliently biased to the open position, closable over said recess; a mechanical latch mechanism including a latch movable to retain said lid in the closed position and a latch trigger connected to said latch via a latch mechanism; and a timer mechanism associated with the latch trigger such that, in the closed position, the trigger is engaged in part of said timer mechanism which rotates with time, wherein, at a preset desired feed time said trigger is released from said timer mechanism and pivots away therefrom, said pivotal movement being translated via said latch mechanism into movement of said latch out of retaining engagement with said lid, whereby said lid opens automatically under its resilient bias.

The latch mechanism is preferably moved under a spring biasing force, and the coupling between the pivotal trigger and the latch mechanism is such that the full force of the biasing spring is not applied to the timer mechanism. In this way a strong spring biasing force may activate a robust latch mechanism for a relatively heavy lid, whilst a relatively delicate, battery powered timer mechanism is isolated from a major part of the biasing force.

In a preferred embodiment, the latch has a manual release handle whereby it can be manually opened and then locked again without interfering with the timer setting after it has been set to open at a particular feed time.

The preferred feeder is rugged and rust and damp resistant. It should also be vermin proof. Since mains power is often not provided in stables, the timer and latch mechanism should be independently driven, e.g. by a battery. However, the lid must be heavy enough, and the latch strong enough, to prevent the horse forcing the lid open. The preferred device is designed to be safe for horses and is simple to use.

A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example only, and with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein: Figure 1 shows a general view of a horse feeder according to the present invention; Figure 2 shows, on an enlarged scale, view of the latch and timer mechanism The basic hardware of the feeder will first be described with reference to Figure 1.

The feeder comprises a support unit 1 with a hinged lid 2, a feed bucket 3 and a timer and latch unit 4 The support unit 1 comprises a shelf adapted to be mounted on a stable wall. The shelf is preferably triangular, such that it can be mounted across the corner of the stable in the manner of a traditional feeding manger. Of course, other shapes and arrangements could be used but the traditional corner unit style is preferred.

The shelf is provided with a recess 6. The size and shape of this recess are such that the feed bucket 3 can be placed therein and suspended in the recess 6 by its rim 7, with no gaps for vermin. The bucket 3 can be easily removed from the support unit 1, for refilling or cleaning, by its handle 8. The bucket 3 is preferably a standard heavy plastic bucket and the support unit is preferably made of folded stainless or galvanised sheet metal.

The hinged lid 2 of the support unit 1 closes over the top of the bucket 3. The latching and timer mechanism is provided in a separate, self-contained unit 4 attached to a corner of the support unit 1 by screws 9. This unit 4 can be separately assembled and tested and installed on the support unit 1.

own weight.

The support unit 1 is mounted via screws with spacers to timber battens which are first fixed to the stable walls. Spacers ensure that the various moving parts have clearance and that any spillage can fall clear of the unit.

At times other than feeding times, the hinged lid 2 of the support unit 1 is closed over the bucket 3 and held in place by a latch 26 (described in detail below), When the latch 26 is released at the desired feed time, as described below, the hinged lid 2 opens under the force of torsion springs at the hinge so that the food in the bucket 3 can be accessed by the horse.

The latching and timer mechanism will now be described in more detail with reference to Figures 2 and 3.

The timing mechanism 10 comprises a feed time setting knob 11, a clock face 12, a conical release cam 13, an hour plate 14 and a clock mechanism (not shown).

The hour plate 14 and cam 13 are connected to and together driven round by the clock mechanism via a spindle 16. The clock face 12 forms part of a rotatable sub-assembly with the setting knob 11. A time adjusting knob 17 (which houses the clock mechanism) is fixedly connected to the spindle 16 to rotate the hour plate 14 and cam 13 relative to the clock face 12 to enable a user to intially set the current time of day. Hence, the hour plate 14 is rotated relative to the clock face 12 until the hour indicator 18 points to the correct current time on the scale of the clock face 12.

The preferred embodiment uses a standard 24 hour quartz analogue clock mechanism. Quartz movements are accurate, reliable and readily available. They use batteries and have low power consumption.

The clock mechanism rotates the hour plate 14 relative to the clock face 12, such that, when correctly set, the hour indicator 18 on the plate 14 moves around the scale on the clock face 12 to always point to the current time, in the manner of a normal clock. The scale on the clock face 12 may be labelled 0-12 am/pm, or 0-24 hr. or NIGHT/DAY, for example.

The release cam 13 is also attached to the spindle 16 and rotates with the hour plate 14, relative to the clock face 12. The release cam 13 is a shallow conical component which can be either injection moulded or turned and machined, and is push-fitted onto the spindle 16. The cam 13 has a concentric groove 19 around its upper edge and a narrow exit slot 20 extending outwards from the groove 19. The exit slot 20 is aligned with the hour indicator 18. The purpose of the groove 19 and slot 20 will be explained later.

The latch assembly includes a trigger comprising a relatively small lever 21 constructed of sheet material with a rigid wire component 22 attached. The lever 21 pivots about a pin 23 through a large arc of approximately 1200. The free end of the wire 22 has a downwardly turned portion 24 which engages in the. groove 19 of the timer cam 13 when the latch is set.

The trigger is coupled to a lever plate 25. This relatively large component is also constructed from sheet material and is pivoted about a mounting stud 42.

The arc of movement is approximately 60, and is sufficient to move the latch 26, described below, from the open to the closed position with significant force.

This movement is enabled by release of the trigger.

In view of its application, the lid 2, covering the feed bucket 3, must be fairly robust and heavy. Thus, to keep this lid 2 closed, a heavy duty latch 26 is necessary. However, since stables do not often have mains power supplies, and since it is, in any case, desirable for the feeder to have low power consumption, such that it can be operated by a battery without having to replace the battery too often, the clock movement is relatively delicate.

The advantage of the preferred latch mechanism is that the comparatively delicate clock movement is translated by the latch assembly into a movement strong enough to control the release of the heavy latch.

A latch plate 27, also constructed of sheet material, is pivoted about the same stud 42 as the lever plate 25. The two plates 25,27 are linked together by a spring 28 and normally move together.

The metal latch 26 is rigidly fixed to the latch plate 27 by bolts 29. One end of the latch 26 extends beyond the latch plate 27 and is moved axially, by movement of the latch plate 27 to protrude through an aperture 30 in the side of the timer and latch unit t and a corresponding aperture 31 in the side of the lid 2.

The aperture 31 in the lid 2 is reinforced with a striker plate (not shown) and engages with the latch 26 which holds the lid 2 in the closed position. Torsion springs located on the hinge ensure that the lid 2 rises when the latch 26 is released, i.e. when the protruding end of the latch 26 is withdrawn from the aperture 31 in the lid 2.

The other end of the latch 26 projects downward through aligned slots 32 in the latch plate 27, the lever plate 25, the timer and latch unit 4 and the support unit 1, to form a manual release handle 33. The latch plate 27 can be made to move independently of the lever plate 25 by manually moving the handle 33 as indicated by the arrow in figure 3. The solid outline shows the latch 26, latch plate 27 and handle 33 in the locked position. The dotted lines show the latch 26 in the unlocked position when the handle 33 is moved manually. This mechanism allows the latch 26 to be opened after the timer has been set, without interfering with the timer setting. This feature is useful if, for example, vitamins etc., need to be added to the food in between the time the timer is set and the desired feed time.

On releasing the handle 33, the latch plate 27 assumes its normal position relative to the lever plate 25 under the action of the spring 28.

The above-described timer and latch mechanism is all contained within a metal timer case 34 and lid 35.

The lid 35 has a circular aperture, covered with a transparent window 36, positioned over the clock face 12 when the lid 35 is in place. An indicator in the form of feed arrow 37 is marked on or near the window 36 to mark the desired feed time.

A typical operation sequence of the automatic feeder will now be described.

Firstly, the hour indicator 18 should be pointing to the correct curre:l. ime on the scale of the clock face 12. If not, this should be set as described above.

Once the time has been set, it should not require resetting again unless the battery is allowed to run out or the clocks go forward or backward in accordance with British Summer Time.

Before the latch and timer are set, the lid will be open. The feed is mixed and put into the bucket 3 which is then located in the recess 6 in the support unit 1.

The desired feed time is decided on. The feed time setting knob 11 is then rotated from underneath the support unit 1. This causes the entire timing subassembly, i.e. the clock face 12, the timer cam 13 and the hour plate 14 to rotate together, in fixed relationship to each other. The setting knob 11 is rotated until the selected feed time on the scale on the clock face 12 is adjacent the feed arrow 37.

Thus, when the timer is set, the feed arrow 37 always points to the desired feed time on the clock face 12. The clock face 12 remains in the set position and the clock movement causes the hour indicator 18 on the hour plate 14 to rotate relative to the clock face as time passes, so that the hour indicator 18 always points to the current time.

The timer cam 13 is arranged such that the slot 19 is located directly below the hour indicator 18. Thus, at any time, both the hour indicator 18 and the slot 19 in the cam 13 are aligned with the current time on the clock face 12.

Once the timer has been set, the splash cover 5 can then be closed.

The lid 2 can then be locked shut in one of two ways. Either the lid 2 is pushed down, against the force of the torsion springs and held down in the closed position while the latch 26 is set by moving the handle 33, from underneath the unit 1, to the left in figure 3 until it is felt to engage and does not return.

Alternatively, the latch 26 can be set first, by moving the handle 33 as above and then the lid 2 is gently slammed into the closed position, with the latch 26 engaged in the slot 31.

Figure 2 shows the latch in the unlocked condition.

The spring 40, which connects the lever plate 25 to a pin 41 is relaxed and the lever plate 27 is in its natural position. The trigger is pivoted away from the timer, and the latch 26 is withdrawn into the timer and latch unit 4 so that it does not extend through the slots 30,31.

The latch is set by moving the handle 33 towards the lid 2. The respective positions of the latch components are shown by the solid outline in figure 3.

As the handle 33 is moved to the left, the other end of the latch 26 is caused to pass through the slot 30 in the timer and latch unit 4 and, if the lid 2 is already closed, through the corresponding slot 31 in the lid 2.

As the latch 26 is fixed to the latch plate 27, the latter is caused to pivot about its pivot mounting 42.

The lever plate 25 moves with the latch plate 27, also pivoting about the pivot point 42, against the force of spring 40, causing the spring 40 to be stretched. The movement of the lever plate 25 causes the trigger 21 to pivot about its pivot point 23, towards the timer. This is due to a pin in slot camming arrangement 50 between the two which is provided adjacent the pivot trigger 23 as shown in Figure 3. The free end 24 of the wire 22 passes over the conical wall of the release cam 13 and engages in the groove 19 where it is held.

The latch mechanism will stay in this position until the hour indicator 18 has reached the same position on the clock face 12 as the feed arrow 37, i.e.

the feed time. At that time, the exit slot 20 in the cam 13 is also aligned with the feed arrow 37. The position of the feed arrow 37, and hence the position of the exit slot 20 at the feed time is arranged in the pivotal arc of the wire 22 such that the free end 24 of the wire 22 is released from the groove 19, under the force of the spring to, when the slot 20 is in that position.

Thus, at the set feed time, the end 24 of the wire 22, is released through the exit slot 20 and the wire 22 pivots back towards the lid 2. This causes the latch plate 25 and the lever plate 27 to return to their normal position, with the spring 40 in its relaxed state. The movement of the latch plate 25, and lever plate 27 also moves the latch 26 out of the aperture 31 in the lid 2. The holding force on the lid 2 is thus removed and the lid 2 springs open under the force of the torsion springs.

If, at any time after setting the feed time, it is necessary to open the lid to inspect or change the feed, or add vitamins, etc., the lid 2 can be opened by pulling back the manual release handle 33, this causes the latch plate 25 and the latch 26 to move away from the lid 2 independently of the lever plate 27. Since the lever plate 27 stays in the lock position, the wire plate 21 and wire 22 also stay in the lock position and so the timer setting is not affected. The lid 2 can then be closed by gently slamming it home. The lid 2 will then open automatically, as described above, at the set feed time.

Claims (5)

1. EOUINE AUTOMATIC FEEDER 1. An equine automatic horse feeder which is fitted onto two batons in the corner of the stable with a lid which is sprung and a catch to hold the lid down by a device called the timer.
2. 2. An equine automatic feeder, as in claim 1, where the timer is preset to allow the lid to open at the requisite time in order to allow access to the feed.
3. 3. The timer unit is based on a 24 hour clock, operated by 1 AA battery which last for approximately one year.
4. 4. The timing device is designed for opening once per setting and allowing only one feed at a time.
5. 5. The equine automatic feeder, as claimed in any preceeding claim is for allowing an automatic automatic feed for the animal at a pre-set time.