Abstract:
This invention is a water and pet food dispenser equipped with a non-power consumption water dispenser and a power consumption pet food dispenser. The water dispenser siphons water from a storage container to a water feeding bowl. Pet food is dispensed from a storage container by vibration, utilizing the weight and time sensing components to control pet food to be dispensed in the exact quantity at the exact time as predetermined. The exact quantity is monitored by a weighing scale and the exact time is controlled by a timer. The feeding cycle repeats as soon as the electrical timer turns on electrical power supply.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     (1) Field of the Invention 
     This invention relates to an automatic pet feeder. Specifically, the present invention is a water and pet food feeding machine, which provides water to a feeding bowl maintaining a constant water level, also it dispenses pet food on a set time interval at a predetermined quantity. 
     (2) Description of the Related Art 
     Oftentimes, we are away from home for work, school, or vacation. We do not spend enough time at home, which leads to neglect on our pets. If we are not home for a few days, then we can not feed our pets for a few days, our pets suffer from dehydration and hunger. Leaving excessive pet food does not solve this problem, because the unconsumed pet food spoils quickly. If we want to own pets, the least we can do is to feed them right, the right quantity at the right time. This is the basic requirement which can be an unbearable burden to many of us. The present invention will decrease this burden by feeding water and pet food to our pets for weeks at a predetermined quantity on a set time interval. 
     It is difficult to come by a reliable machine to feed our pets in a proper output. As the prior art, U.S. Pat. No. 5,003,925 to Robert John D, is a Fish Food Dispenser. The dry pet food is dispensed with half-cup scoop in the production line. The minimum serving for each dispense was half a cup with increments of half cup. In other words, the servings could only be ½, 1, 1½, 2 cup and so on with no other measurements in between. In real practice, the half cup increment of fish food will most likely miss the target badly for the desired quantity. The set quantity for dispensing controlled by the number of scoop of half a cup suffers significantly from inaccurate dispensing. 
     The feeding output monitored by a number of scoops has a similar inaccurate dispensing effect as the other methods that the feeding outputs monitored by the number of revolutions or the duration time for dispensing. As illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 6,681,718, an Animal Feeding Device from Mcllarky, Scott Alan. “The urging member rotates for a duration or number of revolutions commensurate to the desired quantity of food to be dispensed at each feeding interval.” This device depends solely on the dispensing time or the number of revolutions to control the quantity of pet food to be dispensed. These are the unreliable trial and error methods. For every setting, multiple guesses are most likely taking places to make certain the outputs from the number of revolution or a dispensing time that may closely match the desired quantity. In such manner, it is difficult to dispense pet food to the exact desired outputs. This method cannot even maintain a constant feeding output at the same setting due to any tiny change of the dispensing condition. 
     Development of a device which can provide a predetermined weight of food to a pet at a predetermined time without the need for a feeding bowl represents a great improvement in the field of pet feeding and satisfies a long felt need of the pet owner. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     One object of the invention is to provide a dispenser that would be able to provide water and food for all the pets in our care, including dogs, cats, fish, birds, as long as the dispensed pet food is in a granular dry form. 
     Another object of the invention is to provide a regular feeding time schedule for our pets. Our pets are fed on a set time of our desired. We do not need to be present when we are feeding our pets. Even if we are going away from our pets for a vacation, the present invention will feed our pets for weeks regularly until the storage containers become empty. 
     A further object of the invention is to provide a dispenser that feeds our pets in the precise amount of pet food as predetermined. A mechanical scale of the present invention can be set to any amount of pet food to be dispensed. Our pets will receive many health benefits from the correct persistent feeding. 
     This invention is a pet food dispensing apparatus. It has a storage container for holding pet food with an adjustable hole near its base; a downward sloping ramp with its proximal end affixed to the storage container below the adjustable hole; a catch bowl, without a bottom, positioned below the distal end of the ramp; an adjustable scale, having a weighing pan, a fulcrum, a measuring arm and a poise below the catch bowl; an electrical vibrator attached to the storage container; an activator near the fulcrum and below the measuring arm; a three way switch further from the fulcrum and below the measuring arm; and an electrical timer providing electrical current to the three way switch at a preset time for a preset interval. 
     The weighing pan is directly below the catch bowl and functions as a separable bottom for the catch bowl. When energized the activator pushes the weighing arm up. Then the catch bowl and weighing pan are moved from a position in contact with each other to a position separated from each other. The three way switch energizes the vibrator when the measuring arm is close to the three way switch and the three way switch energizes the activator when the measuring arm is not close to the three way switch. The three way switch may be mechanically, magnetically or proximity activated. 
     To operate this invention, the electrical timer is set to provide current to the three way switch at a preset time for a preset interval and the poise is set on the measuring arm to deliver a pre-determined weight of pet food. When the electrical timer first turns on the current to the invention, current flows to the three way switch. Then the vibrator vibrates and pet food is thereby caused to flow out of the hole in the container, down the ramp and into the bowl. When the weight of pet food in the bowl reaches the pre-determined weight the measuring arm pivots upwards causing current to cease flowing through the vibrator thus stopping the vibration and pet food flow. Then current flows through the activator which causes the activator to push upwards on the measuring arm and the bowl to separate from the weighing pan. 
     In summary this invention causing a predetermined weight of pet food to flow from a container into a bowl at a predetermined time by vibration; and then causes the pet food to spill from the bowl when the weight of pet food in the bowl reaches the predetermined weight. 
     An appreciation of the other aims and objectives of the present invention and an understanding of it may be achieved by referring to the accompanying drawings and description of a preferred embodiment. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a perspective view of the comprising mechanical components for water dispensing 
         FIG. 2  is a perspective view of the comprising mechanical components incorporating the pet food dispensing 
         FIG. 3  is the electrical schematic diagram of the pet food dispensing 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     While the present invention is described herein with reference to illustrative embodiments for particular applications, it should be understood that the invention is not limited thereto. Those having ordinary skill in the art and access to the teachings provided herein will recognize additional modifications, applications, and embodiments within the scope thereof and additional fields in which the present invention would be of significant utility. 
     No electrical power is required for the water dispenser of the present invention. Water is siphoned from a water storage container at a high point to the feeding bowl located below. Referring to the drawing of  FIG. 1 , the replenishment of water is stored in the container  61 . Water fills into the storage container  61  from the mouth  62 . When the cap  60  is open, the spring  71  is able to push the washer  72  up to close the dispensing opening  63 . The dispensing opening  63  is located at the center of the bottom of the storage container  61 . No water can flow out from the storage container  61  when the cap  60  is opened because the spring  71  freely extends to push the washer  72  to the dispensing opening  63  to close the said opening  63 . The cap  60  is mainly opened for water refilling to the storage container  61 . It is essential that there is no water flow out from the storage container  61  to the bowl  80  during refill. 
     When the cap  60  is closed, the mouth  62  is sealed. This creates a leak-free siphon-able system for the storage container  61  with only one opening path to the bowl  80 . Closing the cap  60 , the said cap pushes down the washer rod  64  which directly pushes down the washer  72 , compressing the spring  71 , opening the dispensing opening  63 . The water can flow out from the storage container  61  through the dispensing opening  63 , the washer housing  75 , the siphon tubing  81 , where it finally arrives at the bowl  80  to be served. 
     While the water flows out from the storage container  61 , the outside air enters the storage container  61  from the reverse direction of the above mentioned water flow. The air goes inside the storage container  61  to maintain the atmospheric pressure inside said container  61 , which is required the atmospheric pressure to continue the water flow. The air goes into the storage container  61  while the water flows out from the storage container  61 , this process taking place until the water level in the bowl  80  raises to submerge the tip of the siphon tubing  81 . At this point, the only opening path to the storage container  61  is sealed by water, thus air is unable to go to the inside of the storage container  61 . Gravity tends to draw the water down, creating a partial vacuum inside the storage container  61 . Water stops flowing out from the water storage container  61  since there is negative atmospheric pressure inside said container  61 . 
     Water starts flowing again from the water storage container  61  to the water feeding bowl  80  as soon as the water level in the bowl  80  goes below the tip of the siphon tubing  81 . The outside air is now able to go through the siphon tubing  81 , then to the storage container  61 . Once again the atmospheric pressure is re-established inside the said container  61 . Under this atmospheric pressure, water is allowed to flow to the bowl  80  again. 
     The removable portion  70  of the washer housing  75  is required to have a leak-free installation. It provides a service access to the washer housing  75  for future maintenance. 
     Referring to the drawing of  FIG. 2  and  FIG. 3  for pet food dispensing, the dry granular pet food is placed in the storage container,  18 . There is a hole  15  located in the side wall  22  at the base  24  of the said container  18 . The size of the hole  15  can be adjusted for different kinds of dispensing by sliding the valve-cover  3  up and down. The valve-cover  3  slides up for a bigger hole to dispense bigger size of pet food. The valve-cover  3  slides down for smaller hole to dispense smaller size of pet food. 
     In a pre-arranged time, the electrical timer  5  turns on the electrical power supply by connecting the electrical terminals  1  to  6  and  2  to  50  where  1  and  2  are the power source. As soon as the power is turned on, the vibrator  40  starts to vibrate because the push button  52  of the three-way micro-switch  16  is depressed by the measuring arm  8 . At this point, the three-way micro-switch  16  is connecting terminals  50  to  20 . The vibrator  40  is energized. There is a permanent magnetic flat bar  11  on top of the iron core  14  with a permanently fixed magnetic polarity and a fixed distance from the iron core  14 . The permanent magnetic flat bar  11  can only be moved on top of the iron core  14  and parallel to the iron core  14 . When the A/C voltage is applied to the electrical coil wrapped around the iron core  14 , the said iron core has become a magnetic core with magnetic force in an oscillated manner by changing its magnetic polarity continuously. The oscillation of the magnetic polarity from the magnetic core  14  drives the permanent magnetic flat bar  11  back and forth parallel to the magnetic core  14 . This movement creates vibration to dispense pet food out from the hole  15 , through the ramp  9  and then drop to the catching bowl  10 . 
     Pet food in the bowl  10  actually is on a scale to be weighed. The scale in the present invention is composed of a weighing pan  12  which is also function as the bottom piece of the catching bowl  10 , a fulcrum  13  which is a knife edge v-shape pivot seats to hold up the scale, a measuring arm  8  which is made of a straight beam containing precise numerical numbers referring to the real weights on scale, and a poise  7  which can be slid along the measuring beam to set the desired weight of pet food to be dispensed. The further poise  7  is away from the fulcrum  13 , the more pet food that will be dispensed. Otherwise, less pet food is dispensed when the poise closer to the fulcrum  13 . 
     The weighing pan  12  holds up pet food in the catching bowl  10  until it is finally released. When the weighing pan  12  is separated from the catch bowl  10 , the pet food in the bowl  10  will be unloaded downward. The unloading process takes place when the catching bowl  10  has enough pet food to match the set quantity to be dispensed. At this point, the pushing button  52  of the three-way micro-switch  16  is released from depressing by the measuring beam  8 . The release of the push button  52  turns off the vibrator  40 . The pet food ceases to come out of the storage container  18  to the catching bowl  10 . The release of the push button  52  simultaneously turns on a gear-box or a solenoid coil  4  to activate the pushing rod  32  to push the measuring beam  8  upward in order to move the weighing pan  12  further down from the catching bowl  10 . As the bottom piece  12  of the catching bowl  10  is separated wider from the catching bowl  10 , the pet food in the bowl  10  is released to be served. 
     The small units of present invention may not have enough weight to press down the push button  52 , therefore the pushing button  52  of the three-way micro-switch  16  can be substituted by the non weight activated magnetic switch or a proximity sensor. Button  52  is installed in a fixed position with a magnetic switch or a proximity sensor instead of a push button. The function for the three-way micro-switch  16  and its pushing button  52  remains function the same as mentioned, with one exception that the button  52  is not longer required to have physical contact with the measuring arm  8 . When the measuring beam  8  is resting on the nearest position to the button  52 , terminal  50  is connected to terminal  20  to energize the vibrator  40 . Instead, when the measuring beam  8  slightly goes up from button  52 , the terminal  50  is connected to terminal  30  to energize the pushing rod  32 . The magnetic switch or a proximity sensor is able to switch power from the vibrator  40  to the pushing rod  32  by the movement of the measuring beam  8  whether it is close or away from button  52 . 
     The timer  5  is working at all time, it turns on and turns off electrical power on the set schedule. When the timer turns off electrical power, all the above mentioned electrical components are de-energized, The bowl  10  is emptied and the weighing pan  12  goes back up to the bottom of the catching bowl  10  and the next cycle can be started as soon as the timer  5  turns on the electrical power supply again. 
     Thus, the present invention has been described herein with reference to a particular embodiment for a particular application. Those having ordinary skill in the art and access to the present teachings will recognize additional modifications, applications and embodiments within the scope thereof. 
     It is therefore intended by the appended claims to cover any and all such applications, modifications and embodiments within the scope of the present invention.