Abstract:
A bird feeder having a base and an outer wall extending upwardly therefrom with an access opening is said wall, a shroud extending about the feed container, the shroud also having a shroud access opening which is normally substantially in alignment with the feed container access opening to thereby permit access to the feed container by birds, a hanger connected to the feed container, an extendable means within the feed container interconnecting the shroud and feed container such that when a pre-determined weight is placed on the shroud, the extendable means will extend and cause the shroud access opening to move out of alignment with the feed container access opening to thereby deny access to the feed container. The extension on the extendable means is preferably tension adjustable such that an undesired species or marauder can be excluded from gaining access to the feed container. There is also disclosed a baffle which extends inwardly of the access opening to prevent the seed falling outwardly, the baffle being formed integrally with the side wall by material removed from the side wall to form the access opening.

Description:
This application claims benefit to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/119,444, filed Feb. 10, 1999, which claims benefit to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/150,940, filed Aug. 16, 1999. 
    
    
     The present invention relates to bird feeders, and more particularly relates to improvements therein. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Selective bird feeders are well known in the art and are designed to limit the maximum size of a bird or animal which can access the seed in the feeder. The reasons for excluding certain birds may be many. Thus, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,241,525, there is provided a selective bird feeder which is specific to cardinals. As taught by this patent, a favorite seed of cardinals is the sunflower seed; this seed is also popular with both smaller and larger birds. 
     Some larger birds will also access the seed and many such birds including crows, grackles, bluejays and the like are considered by some people to be undesirable. 
     A further problem associated with bird feeders is marauders which gain access to the seeds. In particular, squirrels are well known for their ability to reach the seed in a bird feeder and to devour the same. Many approaches have been tried to discourage or prevent squirrels from reaching the bird feeder, including various types of covers and baffles on poles. These seldom work as the squirrels have shown great ingenuity in overcoming such devices. 
     Some of the attempted solutions to the problem are disclosed in the prior art such as exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 4,646,686 to Furlani which teaches a movable shroud. U.S. Pat. No. 3,145,690 to Bachman describes a bird feeder in which an inverted cylindrical hopper is suspended over a feeding pan; a bird perch surrounds the pan and is attached to a conical shroud. Both the perch and the shroud are supported by a compression spring whereby heavier birds or mammals on the perch cause the shroud to move downwardly. 
     Another shroud arrangement is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,126,870 wherein a cylindrical shroud surrounds a hopper and is mounted for rotation about a vertical axis under the bias of a weight. 
     While all of the above references disclose shroud type arrangements, such devices have not appeared to have received commercial acceptance in the marketplace. It might be surmised that this is due to the fact that some of the arrangements are relatively complicated and/or expensive to produce. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is an object of the present invention to provide an adjustably selective bird feeder having a moveable shroud to protect and isolate the access openings by which the birds can gain access to the feed in the container from unwanted intruders. 
     It is a further object of the present invention to provide an adjustably selective bird feeder which uses an extendible member such as a spring to cause the shroud to move and protect the access openings when a predetermined weight is placed thereon. 
     It is a further object of the present invention to provide a feed container for a bird feeder which is easy to manufacture and uses a minimum of components. 
     According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a bird feeder which comprises a feed container having a base and an outer wall extending upwardly therefrom, at least one feed container access opening in the outer wall, a shroud extending about the feed container, at least one shroud access opening substantially aligned with the feed container access opening to thereby permit access to the feed container, hanging means connected to the feed container to permit hanging of the bird feeder, and extendible means within the feed container interconnecting the shroud and the feed container such that when a predetermined weight is placed on the shroud, the extendible means will extend and cause the shroud access opening to move out of alignment with the feed container access opening to thereby deny access to the feed container. 
     In a further aspect of the present invention, in a bird feeder having a feed container with a base, a side wall extending upwardly from the base and at least one access opening in the side wall to permit a bird to have access to an interior of the container, there is the improvement comprising a baffle extending inwardly of the access opening to prevent seed falling outwardly through the access opening, the baffle being formed integrally with the side wall by material removed from the side wall to form the access opening. 
     The bird feeder of the present invention provides an arrangement wherein the feed container is encapsulated or surrounded and completely protected by a system of interconnecting members. In a preferred embodiment, there is provided a top ring extending about an upper portion of the shroud, and a bottom ring extending about a bottom portion of the shroud, and a cover member removably secured to the upper end of the shroud. The cover, top ring, bottom ring, and shroud prevent access to any portion of the feed container at any point in time—i.e. whether the shroud is in its normal upward position or in its downward position. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     Having thus generally described the invention, reference will be made to the accompanying drawings illustrating embodiments thereof, in which: 
     FIG. 1 is a side elevational view, partially in cutaway, of a bird feeder according to one embodiment of the present invention; 
     FIG. 2 is a side sectional view thereof; 
     FIG. 2A is an enlarged view of the interconnection of the cover, top ring and shroud as identified by the dashed lines in FIG. 2; 
     FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross sectional view illustrating the bottom portion of the bird feeder; 
     FIG. 4 is a view similar to that of FIG. 3 illustrating the shroud in a closed position about the access openings; 
     FIG. 5 is an enlarged view, partially in cutaway, of the upper portion of the bird feeder of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 6 is a side elevational view of the shroud used in the embodiment of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 7 is a side sectional view of a top ring component of the bird feeder of the embodiment of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 8 is a top plan view thereof; 
     FIG. 9 is a side elevational view of the feed container; 
     FIG. 10 is a top plan view of the feed container; 
     FIG. 11 is a side elevational view of a bottom ring component of the bird feeder of the embodiment of FIG. 1; 
     FIG. 12 is a top plan view thereof; 
     FIG. 13 is a side elevational view of a further embodiment of a bird feeder according to the present invention; 
     FIG. 14 is a side sectional view of the embodiment shown in FIG. 13; 
     FIG. 15 is a sectional view showing the upper portion of the bird feeder of the embodiment of FIG. 13; 
     FIG. 16 is an enlarged cross sectional view of the bottom portion thereof; 
     FIG. 17 is a side elevational view of the feed container of the embodiment of FIG. 13; and 
     FIG. 18 is a side elevational view of a modified version of the feed container of FIG.  17 . 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Referring to the drawings in greater detail and by reference characters thereto, there is illustrated in FIG. 1 a bird feeder according to one embodiment of the present invention and which bird feeder is generally designated by reference numeral  10 . 
     Bird feeder  10  includes a feed container  12 , a shroud  14 , a top ring  16 , a cover  18  and a bottom ring  20 . 
     Feed container  12  includes, as may be best seen in FIGS. 3 and 4, a base generally designated by reference numeral  24  and which base  24  has a bottom wall  26  which is of a generally outwardly sloping nature for reasons which will become apparent hereinbelow. Bottom wall  26  merges with a vertical side wall  28  which terminates in an outwardly extending horizontal flange  30 . 
     Secured to base  24  and in particular to bottom wall  26  thereof, is an upwardly extending center tube generally designated by reference numeral  32  and which is secured to bottom wall  26  by means of a rolled portion  34  and an outwardly extending flange  36  to thereby secure bottom wall  26  therebetween. 
     Feed container  12  also includes a side wall  38  of a cylindrical form extending upwardly from base  24 . As may be seen, side wall  38  rests on flange  30  and is secured to side wall  28  by any suitable means such as dimpling. Drainage apertures  29  are provided within side wall  38  where it meets base  24 . 
     Side wall  38  has a plurality of access openings  39  formed therein and which access openings  39  have a baffle  40  to prevent seed from spilling out of access openings  39 . Preferably, side wall  38  is formed of a material such as a polycarbonate material and baffles  40  are formed by cutting a bottom portion within side wall  38  and pushing baffles  40  inwardly about a hinge point  42 . Thus, the material removed to provide access openings  39  remains to form baffles  40 . 
     Shroud  14 , as best seen in FIG. 6, is formed of a mesh preferably of a suitable metallic material of a non corrosive nature and includes a plurality of vertical wires  46  and horizontal wires  48 . Formed in shroud  14  are a plurality of access openings  49 . As may be seen in FIG. 6, immediately above access openings  49 , there are provided a plurality of supplementary horizontal wires  48 ′ for reasons which will be discussed hereinbelow. 
     Bottom ring  20  is of an overall bell shaped configuration and as may be best seen in FIGS. 3,  4 ,  11  and  12 , has a top wall  52  which is of an overall outwardly sloping configuration corresponding to that of bottom wall  26  of base  24 . Top wall  52  merges with an upper side wall  54  having a generally vertical orientation which in turn terminates in an outwardly tapering portion  56 . Outwardly tapering portion  56  merges with a lower vertical side wall portion  58  which then terminates in a bottom U-shaped portion  60 . 
     Located centrally of top wall  52  is a slot  66  (FIG. 12) while there is provided an indented recess  64  of an elongated nature extending substantially perpendicularly to slot  66 . 
     Top ring  16  is best seen in FIGS. 5,  7  and  8  and reference will now be made thereto. Top ring  16  is cup shaped and includes a lower vertical side wall  68  which, at its lower edge, terminates in an inwardly directing funnel wall  70 . At its upper extremity, lower vertical side wall  68  merges with an outwardly tapering wall portion  72  which in turn merges with an inverted U-shaped portion  74 . As shown in FIG. 7, there is provided a slot  76  which is formed in lower vertical side wall  68 . Also, as seen in FIG. 8, there are provided a pair of vertical channels  75  which are formed in the outer wall of U-shaped portion  74 . 
     Cover  18 , as shown in FIGS. 2 and 5, includes a top wall  78  having a centrally located aperture  80  formed therein. Top wall  78  merges with an outwardly sloping wall  82  which, at its lower peripheral edge, merges with a horizontal wall portion  84 . Extending downwardly from horizontal wall portion  84  is a lower vertical side wall portion  86 . A pair of dimples  87  (only one shown) are formed in lower vertical side wall portion  86  as seen in FIG.  5 . Lower vertical side wall portion  86  terminates in an outwardly extending wall  88  and which is provided with a drip edge  90 . 
     Secured to top wall  78  and extending upwardly therefrom is a conduit generally designated by reference numeral  92 . 
     Bird feeder  10  includes a locking member  96  (FIGS. 2 and 3) and which locking member  96  has an upper body portion  98  and a lower body portion  100 . Formed in lower body portion  100  are a plurality of recesses  102  to thereby provide outwardly extending tabs  103 . At the bottom of lower body portion  100  there is provided a gripping handle  104 . Located proximate to the upper marginal edge of upper body portion  98  is an aperture  106 . Aperture  106  is designed to receive a spring  108  mounted interiorly of center tube  32 . Proximate the upper extremity of center tube  32 , there is provided a locking pin  110  which extends through the walls of center tube  32 . Locking pin  110  serves as an attachment point for the upper end of spring  108  as shown in FIG.  2 . 
     Locking pin  110  also serves as an anchor point for a cable  112  which is looped thereabout and which cable  112  extends upwardly through conduit  92 . As seen in FIG. 2, there is provided a cup member  114  which fits within the upper recess of center tube  32  and which allows drainage of water from cable  112  therethrough. A stopper  113  (FIG. 1) prevents cover  18  from falling off when feed container  112  is being filled. 
     As is shown in FIG. 5, there is also provided a guide pin  116  which is secured to an upper portion of side wall  38  of feed container  12 . 
     As best seen in FIG. 3, shroud  14  is designed to fit within U-shaped portion  60  of bottom ring  20  and inverted U-shaped portion  74  of top ring  16  (FIG.  5 ). In its normal operational position, flange  30  of base  24  will seat on outwardly tapering wall portion  56  of bottom ring  20 . In this normal operational position, access openings  49  of shroud  14  are in alignment with access openings  39  formed in side wall  38  of feed container  12 . In this position, guide pin  116  (FIG. 5) at the upper edge of side wall  38  fits within slot  76  (FIG. 7) of lower vertical side wall portion  68  of top ring  16  and would be positioned at the lower end of slot  76  and maintains rotational alignment of the opening in shroud  14  and feed container  12 . 
     Cover  18  (FIG. 5) is placed in position by aligning dimples  87  with channels  75  (FIG. 8) formed in the outer wall of inverted U-shaped portion  74 . Once placed in position, and mounted thereon, cover  18  may be rotated such that dimples  87  will engage the bottom peripheral edge of the outer side wall of inverted U-shaped portion  74  thereby permitting the same to be retained in position. Prior to doing so, access is provided to the interior of feed container  12  by removal of the cover and feed may be easily poured therein with funnel wall  70  acting as a guide. 
     As aforementioned, in its normal operational position, access openings  49  in shroud  14  are in alignment with access openings  39  of side wall  38 . However, should any marauders such as a squirrel attempt to gain access to the feed container, the weight of the marauder on any portion of cover  18 , shroud  14  or conduit  92  will cause spring  108  to extend and to thereby cause shroud  14  to move downwardly to deny access to access openings  39 . The relatively long length of spring  108  permits one to easily adjust the tension. As shown in FIG. 4 illustrating the shroud in a downward position, supplementary horizontal wires  48 ′ along with normal horizontal wires  48  prevent access to the feed container. Also, shields  73  may be provided on side wall  38  to prevent a marauder from chewing thereon when the shroud has moved downwardly. 
     The arrangement is such that the marauder can not gain access even by such means as attempting to hold on at the top of the feeder. Any weight on conduit  92  and/or cover  18  and/or shroud  14  is immediately transmitted to spring  108  causing extension thereof. The feed container is designed such that the distance between access openings  39  and the upper portion of conduit  92  will not permit the marauder access thereto—i.e. conduit  92  extends upwardly a sufficient distance to prevent an animal hanging from cable  112  to gain access. Conduit  92  also acts as a shield for cable  112  which prevents the animal from gaining a secure hold on the cable. 
     The bird feeder  10  permits the adjustment of the weight required to cause the descent of the shroud  14  to be varied. Thus, as shown in FIG. 3, a user may grasp gripping handle  104  and rotate locking member  96  through 90 degrees so as to bring tabs  103  in alignment with bottom slot  62  (FIG. 11) in top wall  52  of bottom ring  20 . When the desired position is reached, locking member  96  will again be rotated through 90 degrees so as to retain tabs  103  in a desired position on bottom recess  64 . Thus, the degree of extension of spring  108  can be varied and thereby the force required to cause the shroud  14  to move downwardly can also be varied—as aforementioned, the attachment of the spring near the top of the container is important. 
     A further embodiment of the invention is illustrated in FIGS. 13 to  18  and reference will now be made thereto. 
     As shown in FIGS. 13 and 14, there is provided a bird feeder which is generally designated by reference numeral  210  and which includes a cover  212 , a feed container  214 , a bottom ring  216  and a shroud  218 . As many of the components are similar in nature to the first described embodiment, some of the details will be omitted and reference may be had to the first embodiment. 
     Feed container  214  includes a base generally designated by reference numeral  220  (FIG. 16) and which base  220  has a top wall  222 , a vertically extending side wall  224  and an outwardly extending flange  226  on which is mounted the feed container. 
     Feed container  214  also has a side wall  228  preferably of a transparent plastic material such as a polycarbonate. Access openings  230  are provided therein and baffles  232  are formed as previously described. 
     At its upper edge, side wall  228  (FIG. 17) is provided with a pair of slots  234  (only one shown). Located proximate slots  234  are, in the embodiment of FIG. 18, a circular aperture  236  or, in the embodiment of FIG. 17, a tear shaped aperture  238 . 
     Cover  212  has a top wall  242 , an upper sloping wall  244 , a vertical side wall  246  and a lower sloping wall  248  which terminates in a drip edge  250 . As may be seen in FIGS. 13 and 15, dimples  252  are provided in vertical side wall  246 . Dimples  252  are designed to slidingly fit within slots  234 . In this respect, the formation of slots  234  in a material such as a polycarbonate has been found to cause the tubular feed container to somewhat distort from a true circular outline to a somewhat oval outline. The slots  234  impart a greater flexibility of the material adjacent thereto; this permits the rotation of cover  212  whereby dimples  252  will then seat in recess  236  or  238  and tend to restore the cover to its circular configuration due to the memory of the plastic. This arrangement eliminates the use of an upper ring to secure the cover to the feed tube as was used in the previously described embodiment. 
     As was the case in the previously described embodiment, a conduit  254  may be secured to top wall  242  of cover  212 . 
     Bottom ring  216  includes an upper wall  258  which merges with an inner cylindrical side wall  260  and which in turn merges with a bottom wall  262 . A plurality of bottom wall apertures  264  are provided therein for drainage purposes. An outer side wall  266  extends upwardly from bottom wall  262  and terminates in a mounting portion generally designated by reference numeral  268 . Mounting portion  268  is designed to receive a perch member  270  to permit the birds to sit thereon. 
     Shroud  218  includes a cylindrical side wall  274  which is secured to outer side wall  262  of bottom ring  216  by means of dimples  276 . A plurality of access openings generally designated by reference numeral  278  are provided in side wall  274  of shroud  218  and which access openings are aligned with access openings  230  in side wall  228  of feed container  214 . Also provided in side wall  274  are lower apertures  280  which permit access to screws  282  used to secure feed container  214  to side wall  224  of base  220 . Screws  282  will also act as guide members fitting within a slot  261  formed in inner side wall  260  of bottom ring  216 . 
     As was the case in the previously described embodiment, there is provided a locking member  286  which permits the selective adjustment of the tension on a spring  288  mounted within center tube  290 . Similarly, there is provided an upper locking pin  292  to receive the upper end of spring  288  and cable  294 . A cup member  296  is provided to fit within the upper portion of center tube  290  and which permits drainage of any liquid within the center tube. 
     It will be understood that the above described embodiments are for purposes of illustration only and that changes and modifications may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.