Patent Application
20080264963
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to automated dry food dispenser in form of pellets, seeds or grains at predetermined times and predetermined amounts.
Households with pets, particularly in United States, is growing each year. It can be a special problem for pets like dogs and cats being left alone for long time and having to wait to be fed. When the animals are pond fish or birds, the probability to be left alone is even higher because they do not need the presence of the owner or other human being in proximity like dogs and cats need. On the other hand for animals who can access themselves the food it is not recommended to leave at their disposition a large quantity of food.
2. Background
The prior art shows of dry food dispensers with different degrees of complexity. Generally these machines have a large reservoir to contain food and a mechanism, generally in the form of paddle wheel or in some cases a screw conveyor, that distributes a set quantity of food. A timer also allows for the food to be distributed at preset times. Variations between the different prior art can be found in the different ways by which food quantities are measured. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,303,672 by Morris, U.S. Pat. No. 4,079,699 by Longmore and U.S. Pat. No. 5,873,326 by Dave have a rotating wheel having sections that can be blocked to control the amount. This system is very prone to to pellets jamming.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,069,793, to Gower, teaches a pet feeding apparatus having a plurality of food containing tubes, each of which is opened at spaced time intervals by a trap door held closed by the rectangular plunger of an electrical relay connected in electrical series to an electrical timer. Upon receiving a signal from the timer, the plunger of the relay is retracted to allow the trap door to open by gravity to dispense pet food in one of the food tubes.
This system is complex and prone to jamming.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,273,027 by Watson uses a geared motor that opens an opening, this system is also prone to jamming.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,794,560 by Terenzi is directed to an automatic dog and cat feeder having an elongated housing enclosing a hopper in the upper portion thereof. Its lower end is the funnel outlet hole. A spring-loaded cone valve below the outlet prevents the dry pellets particular feed from being released. The cone-valve movement is solenoid operated with timers. The feed delivery system is housed in a container which in turn when in operation directs dry pellets particular feed to the exterior of the feeder into a feed dish.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,834,025 by Tum uses a tumbler and counterweight and requires manual adjustment as well as several trials and errors to get the right amount of food.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,363,291 by Harmsen uses a worm screw which requires two distinct programming, one for the duration of rotation of the worm screw and one for the duration of the flow. There is no mean to unblock potential jamming.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,733,634 by Hooser, teaches about an automatic feeder. The system is very complex.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,993,364 teaches about a food dispenser comprising a housing for containing feed, a feed measuring and dispensing device, and an outlet for directing feed to a desired location. The control actuates the rotating tube at desired times in one or more half turns.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,193,722 by Groya has a plurality of compartments but they are used for increasing the flow not increasing the quantity.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,363,805 by Wing employs an auger to dispense the pellets. The system does not provide the closing of the exit.
U.S. Pat. Application No. 20070000445, by Blais teaches about an automated machine for measuring and distributing pellets by using a downward tilt motion of a food tray, serving vanes for measuring the distributed pellets, and a two state of the tray in one state dispense and block the pellets from falling from the hopper and in the second state block the pellets to be dispensed and open the hopper to allow the pellets to fall into the measuring compartments.
While the above prior art illustrate and describe a number of approaches for automatically providing pellets for unattended animals, the mentioned approaches are generally complex and subject to breaking down. Moreover, they do not provide for a secure sealing of the system against moisture, insects or other agents, some of them are sensitive to the animal environment, difficult to operate, maintain and clean.
A first object of the present invention is to provide the ability to close the exit and perfectly seal the interior of the system in order to protect the pellets against moisture, insects or small animals. This feature will enable the machine to be used outside in bad weather, even for pond applications where the system is the most exposed to moisture, insects and mice.
A second objective of the present invention is to provide a very simple and robust design with a very low probability to break down, clog, or to get jammed and with ability to be easy maintained (for example cleaning) and not to crash the pellets during operation.
A third objective of this invention is to provide a machine which requires a low electrical power to be operated, for example a small battery.
A forth objective of this invention is to provide a machine that measures and program the amount of the pellets to be dispensed without employing complicated electromechanical devices, serving vanes, etc, and to accommodate different sizes of the pellets without changing the mechanical settings of the system.
A final object of this invention is to provide a low cost machine with no need for molding tools, just by using PVC pluming components.
This invention can achieve all the above objective by using just a simple horizontally linear moving platform activated forward and backward by an electromechanical system which transform the circular motion into linear motion. This platform performs the following functions:
The pellets from the container fall through a window determined by the upper threshold on top of the horizontally moving platform. During the forward movement of the platform, the pellets are transported toward the exit end until the platform reaches the opposite end and seals the interior. During the backward movement, the pellets located on the top of the platform between the flexible retaining wall and the edge of the exit opening will fall into the exit opening and into the bowl. This represents the amount of pellets dispensed in one cycle.
In the backward position the pellets dispensed will be replaced by new pellets due to gravity falling from the container. The number of the cycles continues until the programed amount of pellets is dispensed.
The test demonstrated that the amount of pellets released in one cycle is independent of the amount and the size of the pellets present in the container. This is the simplest way to measure and to dispense pellets.
At the end of the last cycle the horizontally moving platform will always stop in the maximum forward position determined by the presence of a micro-switch, thus performing the function of closing and sealing the system.
Another embodiment of this invention assumes that it is not required to close the exit and seal the interior. The same machine can be used to dispense pellets by limiting the maximum forward movement of the platform to the exit edge and backward to the upper threshold. The pellets will be dispensed during the forward movement of the platform and the amount of the pellets dispensed in one cycle equals the amount of pellets present in front of the moving platform in the maximum backward position. This mode of operation is specified in claims 16, 17, 18. This embodiment does not require the retaining flexible wall and the anti-jamming feature implement for the first embodiment.
It is understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of the construction like sizes, materials used and to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings.
If at the bottom of the container is located a horizontally moving platform, one can approximately adjust the exit opening so, that on a defined segment of the platform will always lay approximately the same volume of pellets.
By moving this platform horizontally, it will transport, like a conveyor, the pellets located on the top away from the base of the container, up to the maximum forward position. During the backward movement, the pellets located on the top have no room to be transported back because the space on the top of the platform is occupied by the additional pellets falling out from the main container due to gravity, therefore they will be dispensed.
By limiting the length of the linear movement, only the pellets from a defined zone located on the top of the platform will be dispensed.
The evacuation chamber is provided with an opening at one end and a guide (23) for the pellets to be discarded into the bowl (26).
Another wall (27), (upper threshold) will define the size of the exit window of the pellets from the main container (10) onto the top of the moving platform (21). This wall is necessary only for situations when the evacuation chamber (13) is employed from whatever is available from the marked and is not designed and build for this particular application.
Another wall (18) is provided which separate a location for the electromechanical devices, gear motor (20), mechanical devices (22), electrical components (19), etc. A small gap is provided at the bottom of this wall to allow the platform (21) to slide through.
The embodiment represented in
The present invention compared with previous arts has the most robust and simplest way to measure and dispense the pellets, without crashing the pellets or clogging the system. Moreover, it is one of the few that can provide a perfect sealing of the interior and an easy access to visit, maintain and clean the unit.
The present invention does not require special components and the housing can be accommodated by using PVC plumbing components.
By using PVC pipes one can very simple change the capacity of the main container (10) and the hight of the evacuation chamber (13) just by changing the length of the respective pipes.
This patent is intended to claim only the idea, the basic principle used by this pellets dispenser. It is not intended to provide detailed implementations designs like hinges, systems to secure the basic platform, mechanical devices to adjust the hight and to secure the the bowl, etc.
