Patent Application
20170035032
This invention relates generally to bird feeder assemblies. More specifically, this invention relates to a bird feeder assembly that can be easily attached as an add-on item to a shepherd's hook of the type that is used to support suspended flower pots and other decorative items from a portion of the hook.
The use of bird feeder assemblies is well known. Such feeder assemblies come in many shapes and configurations and are used to provide conventional feed to birds. In the experience of this inventor, many other foods can be used to attract specific bird species. For example, jelly and orange halves can be used to attract orioles and purple finches. Meal worms can be used to attract blue birds. Other non-traditional foods can be used as well, including other fresh fruits, eggs and egg shells, cereal, cheese, pastas and rice. Such foods are not well suited, however, for conventional gravity-fed bird feeder assemblies.
In the experience of this inventor, other conventional bird feeder assemblies are typically configured to be mounted to the top of a post or hung from any number of stationary objects including tree limbs, roof overhangs, and the like. Conventional bird feeder assemblies can even be hung from shepherd's hooks of the type that are used in yards and gardens to suspend a wide variety of decorative items from the hook, although the height of the hook may not be practical due to other raiders of such feeders including squirrels, raccoons and the like.
A typical shepherd's hook includes a relatively long and upright staff. At a bottom end of the staff is a secondary structure for securing the hook in the ground. At a top end is an inverted U-shaped portion which leads to a smaller U-shaped portion. The smaller U-shaped portion is used to hang any number of items from it in a decorative fashion. One example of such a hook is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 6,588,723 to Moran, Ill.
In the experience of this inventor, however, no use of the inverted U-shaped portion of the shepherd's hook has been used for mounting a bird feeder assembly to it in a way that does not require the modification or alteration of the shepherd's hook structure.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a new and useful bird feeder assembly that can be used as a complementary functional and decorative item when attached to the uppermost inverted U-shaped curved portion of a typical shepherd's hook or, alternatively, to the vertical portion of the typical shepherd's hook. It is another object of the present invention to provide such an assembly that can be quickly and easily attached to the shepherd's hook and that is aesthetically pleasing. It is yet another object of the present invention to provide such a bird feeder assembly that is easy to refill with bird food including conventional bird food such as seeds as well as non-conventional bird food such as mealworms, fruit and the like, to attract different species of birds to the assembly.
The assembly of the present invention has obtained these objects. It provides for a bird feeder assembly having a substantially horizontal plate that can be mounted to the uppermost inverted U-shaped curved portion of a typical shepherd's hook. The plate comprises a plurality of apertures in it. Several of the apertures are used to fasten the plate to the hook by means of a U-shaped bolt, a clamp plate and a plurality of fasteners. Several more apertures can be used to support feeding cups within them. The cups are preferably made of a material that is easy to clean which is particularly important when the bird feeder assembly is used with jellies, fruits, eggs and egg shells, cheese, pastas and rice, as alluded to earlier. Lastly, several more apertures are provided to allow a foot-hold or “perch point” along the plate such that feeding birds can wrap their feet around a portion of the plate as they feed. An alternative attachment means is also provided such that the assembly can be supported at the vertical portion of the shepherd's hook.
The foregoing and other features of the bird feeder assembly of the present invention will be apparent from the detailed description that follows.
Referring now to the drawings in detail wherein like numbers represent like elements throughout,
The clamp plate 40 comprises a first U-shaped bottom channel 42 within which the lower-most U-shaped portion 32 of the U-bolt 30 is received. The clamp plate 40 further comprises a second U-shaped bottom channel 34 within which the upper-most portion 4 of the shepherd's hook 1 is received. When positioned within the clamp plate 40, the lower-most U-shaped portion 32 of the U-bolt 30 and the upper-most portion 4 of the shepherd's hook 1 cross one another substantially perpendicularly. The clamp plate 40 further comprises a substantially flat top surface 45. This top surface 45 provides a point upon which a portion of the plate member 20 is supported.
As shown in
In an alternative embodiment, as is shown in
