Hog lot gate

A hog lot gate has top and bottom rails made of stainless steel, with a wide central portion, tapered in width and height towards both ends. The top surface of each rail has sloping crown faces and depending side walls to allow corrosive material to slide off the sides.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to an improved gate for hog feed lots. In the 
improved gate, certain disadvantages of conventional gates have been 
obviated. 
Heretofore, gates used for penning pigs and hogs have generally been made 
of mild steel and had two horizontal rails, one top and one bottom, and a 
series of vertical slats therebetween. There have also been mild steel 
rails having vertical end posts and horizontal intermediate slats. 
Such mild steel rails have been found to be unsatisfactory due to their 
vulnerability to corrosion. The use in hog feed lots exposes these mild 
steel rails to corrosive action, not only of the weather, but also the 
feed and manure of the hogs. 
In order to increase the lifetime of the gates, it has been proposed to 
make the gates out of stainless steel, which would be more 
corrosion-resistant than mild steel. However, in order to make hog feed 
lot gates out of stainless steel in the designs heretofore thought 
necessary, the amount of stainless steel required made their cost 
competitivetly prohibitive. 
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a new gate construction 
allowing the manufacture of gates from stainless steel, using a minimum of 
stainless steel, yet adequately strong for the purpose intended. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention fulfills this need in the art by providing an 
improved hog feed lot gate having top and bottom rails in substantially 
spaced apart parallel relation, left and right end posts, and a series of 
slats substantially parallel to and between the end posts, spanning the 
top and bottom rails. The top and bottom rails each have a left half and a 
right half, extending from a central portion of the rail to the left end 
and the right end, respectively. Each half is tapered in width and height 
from the central portion of the rail to the rail end, and has a pair of 
crown walls sloping outwardly towards either side of the gate. The crown 
wall has a depending vertical side wall along its length. The preferred 
material is stainless steel. The slats may be made of stainless steel 
tubing flattened to an oval and welded to the top and bottom rail.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
As seen in FIG. 5, the assembled hog feed lot gate has top and bottom rails 
12 and 14, end posts 16 and 18 and vertical slats 20. 
Rails 12 and 14 are each made in substantially the same way, so a 
description of one will be understood as a description of the other. The 
rails are made in halves and then welded together to make the entire 
rails. 
As shown in FIG. 1, a sheet of stainless steel, preferably 14 to 16 gauge, 
is cut into a trapezoidal blank 22. It is understood that one of the 
advantages of this construction is the savings in manufacturing in that a 
multiplicity of blanks can be cut from a single sheet of stainless steel 
with the narrow end of each cut out blank adjacent to the wide end of both 
of its neighbors. Preferably, the blank has a length of 60", its narrow 
end has a width of 2" and its wide end a width of 4". It will be 
understood that variations in these dimensions can be readily made. 
After the blank 22 of FIG. 1 is cut, it is folded along central line 24 to 
form an obtuse angle. Blank 22 is further folded along lines 26 and 28 to 
form depending side walls. Thus, the blank is folded to form crown slopes 
30 and 32 and side walls 34 and 36 (FIG. 2). Side walls 34 and 36 are such 
that in the final installation, they will preferably be substantially 
perpendicular to the ground. All blanks are made in this fashion whether 
they are to be for top or bottom rails or for right or left hand halves. 
Two such blanks are then welded together at their wide ends to result in 
an entire rail 38 having the configuration shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. 
Preferably, the thickness of the blank should be such as to permit bending 
or folding using conventional metal fabricating equipment. 
Two completed rails 38 are laid parallel to one another so that their 
sloping crowns both point in the same direction, which is to be the top 
direction of the completed gate. End posts 16 and 18 are welded or 
otherwise rigidly secured to each of the two rails 38, and a series of 
spaced vertical slats 20 are likewise welded to each of the rails 38. 
Savings in the costs of the gates can be realized by providing slats 20 of 
modified tubular stainless steel. The cylindrical tubular stock can be 
compressed so its cross-section is elliptical rather than circular. If the 
slats are installed so that the major axis of the ellipse is parallel with 
rails 38, then the spacing between adjacent slats is decreased, and the 
slats need not be positioned as closely together as would be the case with 
strictly circular cross-sections. Over a lengthy span, the oval shape can 
result in a savings of an entire slat. It is understood that the space 
between adjacent slats depends on the use to which the completed gate is 
to be put. When housing piglets, of course, the slats need to be closer 
together to prevent the piglets from escaping between the slats. For more 
mature hogs, a wider, therefore less expensive spacing, is sufficient. 
The orientation of the rails as above indicated is important for the 
purpose of providing structural strength. Also, by providing the sloping 
crowns, any material that would have a tendency to cause corrosion will 
slide off and not deteriorate the gate. 
Although the vertical slats 20 have been heretofore described as being 
welded to rails 38, it is understood that other affixation methods can 
also be employed. Particularly, holes can be cut in rails 38 and tabs 
formed on slats 20 to interfit through the cut holes, and then lapped over 
to secure slats 20 to rails 38. 
EXAMPLE 1 
When manufacturing a gate according to the preferred dimensions stated 
above (i.e., each blank having a length of 60", a wide end width of 4", a 
narrow end width of 2", and being formed of 14 gauge stainless steel), the 
completed rail was 10 feet long. It has been found that an 800 lb. load 
can be safely supported in the middle of the 10 foot span. 
The gate made according to Example 1 has been found to be two to four times 
stronger than conventional gates made of mild steel. Furthermore, mild 
steel gates have been found to have a lifetime of only about 5 years, 
whereas a gate made according to the present invention should last much 
longer due to the invulnerability of the stainless steel to corrosion. 
Thus, there has been described a hog lot feeding gate which has the 
advantage of a substantially longer lifetime than conventional gates, but 
which is economically competitive therewith.