DEVICE FOR SUPPLYING, VERY ACCURATELY METERED, A QUANTITY OF FOOD TO SMALL LIVESTOCK

Abstract: The invention relates to a method and a device for very accurately metering a quantity by weight of food for being supplied to small livestock, such as poultry, which small livestock is present in a number of cages (1) placed one behind the other. The outflow of food from a food hopper (6) filled with food, can be stop the moment when is determined that the receiving trough (13) contains a sufficient quantity of food. This quantity of food corresponds to a certain desired quantity of food per animal multiplied by the number of animals to be fed. After the receiving trough (13) has been filled it is emptied for example into a feed trough (2). The preference the device is provided with a sensor (29) or the like which can scan an indicator (30) which can be fastened to a cage (1), which indicator (30) emits a signal indicating the number of animals present in that cage (1).

Description: The invention relates to a device for distributing food for livestock by gravimetric metering, according to the preamble of Claim 1. Such a device is known from FR-A- 2.507.435. This known device is provided with a hopper from which the outflow of food is caught by a metering trough. This metering trough is pivotally supported at the end of an arm and the weight of the food entered into the trough is measured by measuring means such as a balance. After a certain quantity of food has been entered into the trough, the outflow of food is stopped and the trough is rotated by means of a motor such that the food is entered into a feed trough for the animals. This known device can deliver a standard quantity of food into the animal's feed trough. A disadvantage of this device is that it has not been provided with means to displace the device along a number of cages but even if this device could be moved along cages, the delivery of the food at each cage would take too much time. The food could be put into the metering trough when the device is passing from one cage to the next one, however, to pour out the food from the metering trough into the feed trough takes much time, as the metering trough needs to be turned over by a motor which takes a long time. This makes such a device not very practical, as the efficiency is too low. The aim of the invention is a device which can travel along a number of cages and with which it is possible to deliver at each cage an exact weight of food which weight can differ from cage to cage and which device is highly efficient. The aim of the invention is achieved with a device according to Claim 1. With such a device according to the invention it is possible to deliver at each cage a certain quantity of food depending on the number of animals in the cage and of the age of the animals in the cage. This makes it very handsome for use in farms with small livestock such as rearing farms, where the quantity of food to be fed to the animals changes from day to day. Such farms have a large number of cages and in order to achieve a good competative position such farms must operate as economical as possible. With the device according the invention each day the prosessor can be reprogrammed such that the quantity of food delivered at a cage is determined in forehand. From the British patent 1.562.486 it is known a device for distributing food over a large number of cages, which device can deliver at each cage a certain amount of food. However the amount delivered is a certain volume of food and thus very inexact in weight and thus very ineconomic. In a preferred embodiment of the device according to the invention the device is provided with a sensor with which an indicator can be read off, this indicator showing the number of food units to be poured out for a specific cage and the cage may be provided for this purpose with the above indicator. By providing each cage an adjustable indicator it is always possible during the movement of the device along the cages to adjust the required quantity of food to be placed in the feed trough of a specific cage. It is possible as a result to provide each cage with a weight of food which corresponds precisely with the weight required for each animal so that the operation is optimally economical. The invention will be illustrated in detail by reference to the drawing, in which: Figure 1 shows a cross-section through a cage of a laying battery with a feeding device according to the invention, also in a cross-section; Figure 2 shows a cross-section of the feeding device according to the invention along the line II-II in figure 1; Figure 3 shows cages. In Figure 1, a cage 1 of a laying battery is shown in cross-section, having a feed trough 2. Each cage is provided at the front side with a cage door 3. The device for feeding the small livestock is shown in front of the cage door. This device consists of a house or frame 4 which can be moved along a rail 5. At the top of the house 4 a storage silo 6 is attached and this provided at the underside with an outflow orifice 7. A storage silo 6 of this type is also called a food hopper. Downstream from the outflow orifice the hopper 6 has the shape of a funnel and a food-distributing roll 8 is placed in the slit-shaped outflow orifice 7. This food-distributing roll 8 comprises a bar over the entire length of the outflow orifice and rotatably mounted near the extremities 9, 10. The bar or metering roll 8 is provided with small projections 11 which can always carry along small quantities of food when the roll 8 is turned round. The roll 8 can be turned round by means of an electric motor 12. By interrupting the current supply of the motor 12 the motor can be stopped and the flow of food thus stopped. A receiving trough 13 fastened to a shaft by means of two arms 14 is arranged under the place where the food falls downwards out of the hopper 6. The shaft 15 is rotatably fastened in the house 4 at points 16, 17. Two counterweights 18 are fastened to one arm 19 and are used to rotate the small trough 13 upwards about the shaft 15 if the small receiving trough is empty. The counterweights are chosen such that, above a certain weight, the small trough has a larger moment relative to the shaft than the counterweights, this certain weight being set at a value of a quantity of food in the small trough corresponding to, for example, the quantity of food to be fed to two animals. An arm 19', to which a small iron plate 20 capable of interacting with an electromagnet 21 is attached, is fastened to the member comprising the receiving trough 13, the shaft 15 and counterweights 18 with the various arms. The said electromagnet 21 is fastened near the extremity of a bar 22 the other extremity 23 of which is permanently fastened to the house or frame 4. A strain gauge 24 is fastened onto the bar 23. The signal emitted by the strain gauge is passed to a microprocessor 25 which compares the signal with a set signal. As soon the set signal and the emitted signal from the strain gauge correspond to each other the supply of current to the motor 12 is interrupted as a result which the food-distributing roll 8 will stop. To prevent the bar 22 with the strain gauge 24 from sagging too far when the receiving trough 13 rotates back into the rest position a stop 26 attached to the house, on the other side of the bar 22 at the position where the electromagnet 21 is attached. When the receiving trough 13 is filled with the quantity of food and the signal derived from the strain gauge 24 has stopped the food flow by means of the microprocessor 25 the small receiving trough 13 will still always be in the uppermost position because the member is held in this position by means of the electromagnet 21. As soon as the electromagnet is no longer energized the small receiving trough 13 will rotate about the shaft 15 as a result of the weight of the food present in the small receiving trough 13, and the food will be poured out into a funnel 27 opening into a slit 28. The width of the receiving trough 13 and hence of the slit 28 preferably corresponds to the width of a cage 1. As soon as the device is in the correct position above the feed trough 2 the food will be poured out. Near the top of the device on the house 4 a sensor 29 is attached which is capable of interacting with an indicator 30 which indicator 30 emits a signal indicating the number of animals present in the next cage. Thereafter, the sensor 29 will emit a signal to the microprocessor 25 as a result of which the latter will adjust itself so that the correct weight of food will be poured out into the receiving trough 13. The microprocessor 25 can be set beforehand to the desired weight of food which each is to receive each time. This is often dependent on the position of the cages. Birds near the outer side of the sheds containing the cages are usually in cooler air than birds present in the middle of the battery. In general, animals at cooler places must receive more food than animals at warmer places. This can be taken into account by means of the microprocessor. The microprocessor can be set beforehand to the weight of food to be distributed to each animal in each row of cages. A signal can then be emitted by the indicator 30 to the sensor 29 which signal indicates the number of animals in the next-following cage; the microprocessor can consequently determine which signal belongs to the total weight to be compared with the signal derived from the strain gauge. The receiving trough is thereafter filled with food until it contains the desired quantity of food. The microprocessor is to be calibrated beforehand in connection with the strain gauge. Figure 3 shows part of a laying battery with a number of cages 31, 32, 33, 34, each cage containing a different number of hens. If cage 31 contains, for example, 6 hens, cage 32: 5 hens end cage 33: 4 hens, then the quantities of food to be deposited in the feed trough 2 for each cage must also relate to each other as 6 : 5 : 4. The ratio to be fed to the microprocessor can then be given by the indicator 30 attached to the outer side of each cage. These are to be adjusted if the number of hens in a cage changes. The correct moment at which the receiving trough is to be emptied can be determined by means of a microswitch 35 which fastened to the outer side of the cage and can be operated by a projection, in this case the indicators 30. The current supply to the electromagnet can be interrupted by the microswitch. By correctly positioning the microswitch it is also possible to set the correct moment for emptying the receiving trough.

Claims: Device for distributing food for livestock by gravimetric metering, comprising a food hopper (6), an extractor (8) of food from the hopper rotatably driven by an electric motor (12), from which extractor the food flows into a metering trough (13) which is movable between a first, filling position and a second, emptying position in which the food leaves the metering trough, the metering trough being supported by and fixed to one end of an arm pivotally mounted about a shaft (15), the weight of the quantity of food in the metering trough being determined by a gauge (24) which provides an electrical signal representative of the weight to a processor (25) which will stop the extractor (8) when the signal which represents a certain desired quantity of food in the metering trough has been reached, means (18, 19) being provided to keep the metering trough, when empty, in the first, filling position, CHARACTERIZED IN THAT the arm (14, 19, 19') is a T-shaped piece, the metering trough being connected to the end of one of the legs of the T-shaped piece, one of the other legs of which being provided near its end with an iron pole piece (20) that can be attracted by an electromagnet (21) when same is energized, which is secured on the free end of, and substantially perpendicular to a bar (22) on the surface of which is mounted a strain gauge (24) in order to determine the degree of bending of the bar, the device also being provided with means such that it can be moved along a number of cages and operating such that the processor will de-energise the electromagnet when the device has reached the place at which the food is to be delivered. Device according to claim 1, characterised in that the degree of bending of the bar (22) caused by the return of the trough to the filling position is limited by a fixed stop (26) positioned near the free end of the bar (22) but at the side of the bar (22) reverse from the electromagnet (21). Device according to any of the preceding claims, characterised in that, each cage (1; 31; 32; 33; 34) is provided with an indicator (30) of the number of animals in that cage and of the place of that cage in the row, whereas the movable device itself is provided with a scanning sensor (29) connected to the processor (25), which sensor (29) receives signals from an abutting indicator (30) of a cage indicative about that cage, which signals are transmitted to the processor (25).

Inventors: VAN DER VEER, HARRY MATHEUS
Applicants: FARMTEC B.V.
Application year: 1987
Main classification: A01K5
IPC codes: A01K39, G01G13, A01K5