US3093270A

US3093270A - Automatic livestock feeder

Info

Publication number: US3093270A
Application number: US80671A
Authority: US
Inventors: Sarmento Frank; Louis B Almeida
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1961-01-04
Filing date: 1961-01-04
Publication date: 1963-06-11
Anticipated expiration: 1980-06-11

Description

June 11, 1963 F. SARMENTO ETAL 3,093,270

' AUTOMATIC LIVESTOCK FEEDER Filed Jan. 4, 1961 INVENTORS FRANK SARMENTO K y ous ALMEIA M w Patented June 11, 1963 Calif.

Filed Jan. 4, 1961, Ser. No. 80,671 2 Claims. (Cl. 222-360) The present invention is generally related to livestock feeding systems and more particularly to an automatic feeding system incorporating a novel metering device, wherein such system is capable of feeding both pellet or mash forms of grain.

Heretofore, various feeding systems have been employed for feeding grain of various forms to livestock, fowl, etc. Such prior art systems have been for the most part manual or semi-manual in operation. Several of such systems have also been fully automatic in operation. In the manual or semi-manual types of systems, operation thereof is cumbersome and time consuming a plurality of such sections are disposed in various sequences and configurations. For example, the invention may be arranged in a series of like sections 11 defining a U shape, an L shape, or a straight line, depending on the shape of the confining building or on the desired feeding arrangement. Any change of direcand requires constant supervision to effect smooth and continuous operation. Although such systems permit easier feeding during periods of actual physical operation thereof the aforementioned manual supervision and physical efiiort necessary for proper operation makes such operation an undesirable one.

On the other hand, prior art automatic feeding systems, require very little physical supervision or effort to effect continuous operation. But such systems have been, till the present time, capable of handling only pellet types of feed. Attempts to feed mash or crushed types of feed in such systems have resulted in binding or plugging the various components of the system, which plugging in turn, results in overall system failure and the expenditure of considerable time and effort to correct.

The present invention overcomes the aforementioned problems by utilizing an improved feeding configuration and a completely novel feed metering valve therein. Thus, such invention is capable of feeding with a minimum amount of manual effort and time, either pellet or mash types of grain feeds.

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved cattle or fowl, automatic feeding system capable of handling either pellet or mash types of grain feeds.

It is another object of the present invention to pro- 1 vide a novel feed metering valve wherein minimum physical effort is required to actuate same and where such valve is constantly filled and ready for subsequent use.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a feed metering valve capable of handling with a minimum of physical effort either pellet or mash types of grain feeds.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention in conjunction with the operation thereof will become apparent by referring to the following description and claims in combination with the accompanying drawing, of which:

FIGURE 1 is a longitudinally-sectioned view of a representative section of the present invention including the novel feed metering valve;

FIGURE 2 is a longitudinally-sectioned expanded perspective view of the metering valve of FIGURE 1 in greater detail; and

FIGURE 3 is a detailed removed view of the vane ratchet drive shown in removed-section 3 of FIGURE 2.

Referring now to the accompanying drawing and in particular to FIGURE 1 there is shown a section 11 of the present invention wherein such section represents a typical portion thereof. Although the invention is herein described with respect to a single section 11, it is to be understood that in actual application of the invention tion necessary to effect this configuration is accomplished by the use of elbows of the desired angle located between the respective sections. Such elbows are further described below.

Although the use of such sequences of feeding sections as are mentioned above is well known in the art of livestock feeding systems, the present invention overcomes the problem of feeding both mash or crushed types of grain, by employing certain simple features heretofore not evident in prior art feeding configurations. These features are explained more fully in the description infra.

More particurlarly concerning the structure of the present invention, section 11 further comprises a hopper 12 formed of a rectangular upper main body 13, and a tapered lower body 14 depending therefrom. Peed entering the upper main body 13 falls into lower body 14 and is thus available for continually filling a feed metering valve 16 as the latter is operated. Feed is introduced to the upper body 13 by a conventional screw conveyor means 17 which includes an outer containing tube 18, and a rotating screw herein called a flighting 19 coaxially mounted within the length of the tube v18, whereby such rotating flighting transports feed therealong in a manner well known in the art of screw assemblies. Tube 18 is horizontally attached to one wall .of the body 13 by suitable means such as welding or preferably by bolting thereto. The flighting 19 protrudes beyond the end of tube 18 and the wall of body 13, to mount on the opposite wall of body 13 by means of a bearing 21. Bearing 21 is mounted to the body 13 by means of a narrow bearing support 22 which extends upwardly from the bearing. Such a mounting configuration allows maximum clearance along the bearing for passing feed.

In all but the final hopper it is necessary to pass feed thereth-rough to thus permit filling all subsequent hoppers in the feed system. Therefore, on the bearing side of the intermediate hoppers there is mounted a screw conveyor means 17 identical to that hereinbefore described. The adjoining flightin-gs 1 are secured one to the other within their respective hopper at the bearing 21 by means of a shaft 25 extending therebetween, which shaft passes through the bearing to bear radially thereagainst to provide for low friction rotation of fiighting 19. The shaft 25 is secured to the incoming fiighting by a pin 30 and to the outgoing fiighting by suitable means, i.e. welding. An electric motor or other mode of rotational power is attached to the input end of the integral lengths of the fiighting 19 to rotate the entire length thereof. The elbows of previous mention are located along the lengths of flighting where it is necessary to change direction thereof. Such elbows are usually some form of gearbox and chain drive combination and are well known in the art of feeding systems, thus requiring no further explanation.

Referring now to FIGURES 2 and 3, the feed metering valve 16 of previous mention further comprises an outer cylinder 23, which has welded to the upper end within and is 'bolted to the lower end of the cylinder 23 by means of a plurality of flanges 29. Such flanges 29 are welded to the lower surface of the plate 24, along its circumference. A wedge-shaped portion is removed from plate 28 to form a feed out-let hole 31, similar to the entrance hole 26 in plate 24. The

plates

24 and 28 are mounted on cylinder 23 in a configuration to dispose the entrance and outlet holes respectively in a 180 spaced relation. A hole 32 is drilled through the center of the plate 28.

A rotating, divider vane assembly 33 fits snugly within cylinder 23 and comprises a center axis of a hollow pipe 34 which extends the length of the cylinder 23 to protrude therefrom. The diameter of the pipe 34 is such to fit snugly within the holes 27 and 32 of

plates

24 and 28 respectively, and to rotate therein. Vanes 36 are welded along the axial length of pipe 34 to extend radially therefrom at 120 spaced intervals, to thus divide the cylinder 23 into three equal volumes. The vanes 36 are of such dimensions to extend radially to the wall of the cylinder, and axially to the

plates

24 and 28. The upper end of pipe 34 is formed into three tapered shoulders spaced 120 apart along the circumference thereof, thereby forming a three shouldered ratchet 37. Such ratchet 37 allows unidirectional rotational force to be exerted upon the vanes 36, preferably in a clockwise direction as viewed from above. A drive shaft 38 extends the length of the pipe 34 to protrude therefrom at either end. The upper end of the shaft 38 has a single projection 39 extending radially therefrom to engage a shoulder in the ratchet 37. A hollow cylindrical sleeve 41 is coaxially welded to the upper surface of the plate 24 to thus extend above the protruding shaft and pipe. The sleeve 41 is in turn covered with a cap 42, which is attached thereto by threaded means. The sleeve and cap thereby prevent feed from entering the upper end of the shaft 38 through the hole 27 to cause binding therein.

The lower end of the shaft 38 extends substantially beyond the lower end of the pipe 34 and has a handle 44 attached thereto by means of a set-screw 43. The handle 44 is mounted on the lower end of the shaft 38 at a substantial distance therefrom to allow sufficient travel in the axial direction of the integral shaft to permit the projection 39 to move upwardly to clear the shoulder after an operation of the metering valve 16.

Concerning now in detail the operation of the present invention and more particularly the operation of the novel feed metering valve 16, at such time as the hopper 12 is being filled by the screw conveyor means 17, feed drops through the upper entrance hole 26 and into the two volumes defined by the vanes and which are exposed to the hole. These two exposed volumes are thus filled and ready for a subsequent feeding operation whenever feed is introduced to the hopper, or as long as feed remains therein. As the above two exposed volumes are being filled, the third volume formed by the vanes is disposed 180 in opposed spacial relation to the upper entrance hole 26 and is therefore not exposed to such upper hole. Rather, such third volume is exposed to the lower hole 31 in the plate 28, thereby allowing the feed therein to pass from such volume to a waiting feedtrough (not shown) disposed below. Thus during operation of the metering valve 16, there is always one empty volume, one full volume and one full or filling volume within the cylinder 23. At no time is it necessary to wait for the valve to fill, as in prior art devices. At such time as the handle 44 is actuated clockwise (as viewed from above) through an operating cycle of the first approaching filled volume between two vanes is presented to the lower hole 31 in plate 28 as previously described to allow the feed therein to drop therefrom. Simultaneously the previously emptied volume, newly exposed to the upper hole 26 is filled. Although the valve may be operated twice in succession feed is still available due to the fact that there are two volumes exposed to the hole 26 simultaneously, whereby the subsequent volume to approach the hole 26 is being filled even as the valve is being operated.

While the invention has been disclosed with respect to .a single preferred embodiment, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that numerous variations and modific-ation may be made within the spirit and scope of the invention and thus it is not intended to limit the invention except insofar as defined in the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A mash and pellet feed metering valve for dispensing feed from a hopper, the combination comprising a cylinder permanently closed at its upper end and demountably closed at its lower end, said cylinder having an upper hole in the top thereof and a lower hole in the bottom spacially disposed in opposed relation to said upper hole, said cylinder being rigidly sealed to said hopper, a hollow pipe extending axially through the cylinder and protruding through the upper and lower ends thereof, a shaft extending within said pipe to protrude therefrom at either end thereof, a handle affixed to the lower end of said shaft, unidirectional ratchet means connecting said pipe to said shaft at their upper ends, and a plurality of vanes radially affixed to said hollow pipe to divide the length of the volume of said cylinder into three equal axially-extending volumes, wherein two of said volumes are filled through said upper hole and the third of said volumes is simultaneously emptied through said lower hole.

2. An improved feed metering device for dispensing feed from a hopper comprising a containing cylinder rigidly secured to the bottom of said hopper, a circular upper plate rigidly disposed to separate the volumes of said cylinder and hopper, said upper plate having an entrance hole therein, a circular lower plate demountably secured to seal the lower end of said cylinder, said lower plate having an outlet hole therein, said entrance hole being circumferentially spaced from said outlet hole by 180", vane support means coaxially extending through said cylinder, an uneven plurality of vanes secured to said vane support means to define an uneven plurality of axially extending rotatable volumes Within said cylinder,

wherein said outlet hole is in register with a single axially extending volume defined by adjacent vanes while said entrance hole is simultaneously in register with a portion of at least two of said axially extending volumes defined by three successive vanes, a handle, and unidirectional ratchet means disposed to rotatably couple said vane support means to said handle, whereupon reciprocal operation of said handle causes said plurality of vanes to rotate in unidirectional motion.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

Claims

1. A MASH AND PELLET FEED METERING VALVE FOR DISPENSING FEED FROM A HOPPER, THE COMBINATION COMPRISING A CYLINDER PERMANENTLY CLOSED AT ITS UPPER END AND DEMOUNTABLY CLOSED AT ITS LOWER END, SAID CYLINDER HAVING AN UPPER HOLE IN THE TOP THEREOF AND A LOWER HOLE IN THE BOTTOM SPACIALLY DISPOSED IN 180* OPPOSED RELATION TO SAID UPPER HOLE, SAID CYLINDER BEING RIGIDLY SEALED TO SAID HOPPER, A HOLLOW PIPE EXTENDING AXIALLY THROUGH THE CYLINDER AND PROTRUDING THROUGH THE UPPER AND LOWER ENDS THEREOF, A SHAFT EXTENDING WITHIN SAID PIPE TO PROTRUDE THEREFROM AT EITHER END THEREOF, A HANDLE AFFIXED TO THE LOWER END OF SAID SHAFT, UNIDIRECTIONAL RATCHET MEANS CONNECTING SAID PIPE TO SAID SHAFT AT THEIR UPPER ENDS, AND A PLURALITY OF VANES RADIALLY AFFIXED TO SAID HOLLOW PIPE TO DIVIDE THE LENGTH OF THE VOLUME OF SAID CYLINDER INTO THREE EQUAL AXIALLY-EXTENDING VOLUMES WHEREIN TWO OF SAID VOLUMES ARE FILLED THROUGH SAID UPPER HOLE AND THE THIRD OF SAID VOLUMES IS SIMULTANEOUSLY EMPTIED THROUGH SAID LOWER HOLE.