Abstract:
An animal feeder has a container for being filled with animal feed which is pushed by a platform toward an open end of the container. The open end of the container is very large and thus is not blocked even when used with large feed such as apples. The platform is connected to a screw, which is turned by a motor. The motor is controlled in a timely manner with a programmable timer.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    The field of the invention relates to a mechanism for feeding animals, in particular to an animal feeder where feed is pushed toward an open top end of a container. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    Animal feeders are widely used to distribute feed to animals in a controlled manner. In some cases, the feeders simply hide the bulk of the feed from the animal so the animal does not attempt to consume all the feed at one time. They typically provide passageways for the feed to fall to the ground whenever the animal eats the feed blocking the passageways. While this provides some protection against the animal eating all the feed at one time, the feed is continuously being fed through the passages by gravity and thus is consumed relatively fast. 
         [0003]    Other feeders provided times mechanisms to open and close the passages to timely distribute the feed to the animals. This evenly distributes the feed to the animals thus the amount of feed being consumed can be controlled for purposes such as health or simply to increase the chance the animals will returns to one particular spot. 
         [0004]    Prior art distributors rely on gravity to push the feed through the open passages at the bottom of the feeder. While this is convenient for small grains such a wheat and corn, providing large passageways for fruit such as apples and pears become cumbersome and usually tend to get blocked in the mechanism to close the passages unless a very large and heavy mechanism is used. 
         [0005]    There is therefore a need for an animal feeder, which does not rely on gravity nor individual passages and can also timely distribute large fruit such as apples and pears as well as grains such as wheat and corn. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0006]      FIG. 1  is an elevation view of the feeder of the present invention, with the moveable platform at a lower position. 
           [0007]      FIG. 2  is an elevation view of the feeder of the present invention with the moveable platform in an intermediate position. 
           [0008]      FIG. 3  is a top view of a first embodiment of the feeder of the present invention with the roof removed. 
           [0009]      FIG. 4  is a top view of a second embodiment of the feeder of the present inventions with the roof removed. 
           [0010]      FIG. 5  is a partial section of the platform and the screw taken along  5 - 5  as shown in  FIG. 1 . 
           [0011]      FIG. 6  is an elevation view of a second embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0012]      FIG. 7  is a cross-section of an alternative attachment between the motor and the screw. 
           [0013]      FIG. 8  is a cross section of an elevation view of a third embodiment of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0014]    It is an object of the present invention to have an animal feeder with a container having sides, a closed bottom surface and an open top end, a screw passing through the bottom surface and extending toward the open top end of the container, a platform disposed within the container, the platform being threaded with the screw to move relative to the container, a motor connected to the screw to effect a rotation of the screw, wherein rotation of the screw forces the platform to travel within the container between the closed bottom surface and the open top end. 
         [0015]    It is yet another object of the present invention to have a sweeper fixed to a top end of the screw, wherein the sweeper rotates with respect to the container to push feed over the top end of the container. 
         [0016]    Yet another object of the present invention comprises a programmable timer, the programmable timer is connected with the motor to selectively open and close a circuit between the motor and a battery. 
       DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0017]      FIG. 1  shows an animal feeder  10  having an outer wall  12  and a bottom  14  forming an open ended container  13  which will hold animal feed  16  such as apples, pears, wheat, corn etc. 
         [0018]    The top end or edge  18  of the outer wall  12  is open such that the feed  16  may pass over the edge  18  and fall to the ground. 
         [0019]    A roof  20  is attached to the outer wall  12  by two or more stays  22 . Preferably stays  22  are made from a small diameter wire or a narrow structure so the feed  16  is not prevented from falling over the edge  18  of the outer wall  12 . Roof  20  helps prevent the container  13  from filling with rain, snow or falling leaves. It is contemplated that two portions of the roof  20  could be hinged together by hinge  54  along its apex  56  so that a portion of the roof  20  may be lifted to facilitate filling the container  13 . It is contemplated that the roof  20  could be omitted without departing from the scope of the present invention. 
         [0020]    Feeder  10  could be rested directly on the ground by legs  24  or alternatively the feeder  10  could be lifted above the ground using a rope  26  and pulley  28  or other mechanism. Rope  26  could be attached to roof  20  or directly to the container  13 . 
         [0021]    A motor  30  and a battery pack  32  are attached to the bottom  14  of the container  13 . For ease of assembly, motor  30  and battery pack  32  are attached to the outside of the container  13 . These parts could also be attached within the container as well. 
         [0022]    The motor  32  is preferably fixed to the container  13  so not relative motion is permitted therebetween. Attached to the motor  30  is a screw or worm gear  34 . Screw  34  extends from the motor  30 , through an aperture  36  in bottom  14  of the container  13 , toward the tope edge  18  of container  12 . Preferably, motor  30  and screw  34  are centered with respect to the container bottom  14 . 
         [0023]      FIG. 7  shows an alternative connection between motor  30  and screw  34 . A gear reduction mechanism  58  is supplied between the motor  30  and screw  34 . Gear reduction mechanism  58  contains one or more gears  60 . It is contemplated that the gear reduction mechanism  58  could be used to reduce the on-time of the motor  30  so as to require less power from the battery or reduce the necessary torque output required from motor  30  to turn screw  34  which will require less output from the motor  30  and also prolong battery life. 
         [0024]    Returning to  FIG. 1 , a moveable platform  40  is connected to the screw  34  such that platform  40  moves along the screw  34  when motor  30  turns screw  34 . It is contemplated that screw  34  could mate with platform  40  with co-operating threads as shown in  FIG. 5 . 
         [0025]    To prevent platform  40  from rotating with the screw  30  during operation, platform  40  is equipped with one or more slots  44 . As best seen in  FIG. 3 , slide bars  42  are attached to the inside surface of outer wall  12  such that when assembled the slots  44  co-operate with the slide bars  42  so platform  40  can slide up and down along slide bars  42  while being prevented from rotating with screw  34  thus forcing the platform to raise or lower inside container  13 . With reference to  FIG. 4 , a square or rectangular container  113  and platform  140  could be used instead of the circular ones shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 . In this case, slide bars  142  could be used to simply prevent the jamming between platform  140  and container  113 . The non-circular shape of the platform  140  and container  113  themselves would prevent relative rotation therebetween. 
         [0026]    Experimentation has also shown that slide bars  42  and slots  44  can be removed and the friction between the feed  16 , the container  13  and the platform  40  is sufficient to prevent platform  40  from rotating while moving upward. 
         [0027]    With reference to  FIG. 2 , attached to an upper end  46  of the screw  34  is a sweeper  48 . Sweeper  48  is fixed to screw  34  such that it rotates with screw  34 . As the feed  16  is being pushed upward by platform  40  toward edge  18  of container  13 , sweeper  48  pushes the feed  16  toward and over edge  18  so that it will fall to the ground and avoid possibly hitting and jamming under roof  20 . 
         [0028]    As would be appreciate, when using feeder  10  without the roof  20 , the sweeper may not be necessary since the feed will automatically fall over the edge  18  at a certain height. To ensure that most of the feed is pushed over the edge once the platform has reached its maximum height; it is preferable to use a sweeper  48 . Sweeper  48  is preferably placed at a height equal to the height of the container  13 , and may extend radially away from the screw  40  to the container outer wall  12  and possibly beyond. Although only one sweeper  48  is shown, multiple sweepers, placed at different angles from each other, can be used. 
         [0029]    To prevent small feed such as wheat or corn from falling between the platform  40  and container wall  12 , a seal  50  can be placed around the periphery of platform  40  to slidingly engage the container wall  12 . Again, if platform  40  is snugly fitted within the container wall  12  such that only vertical movement of the platform is possible, the snug fit may ensure that no small grains will fall between the platform  40  and the container wall  12  and thus seal  50  can be omitted. 
         [0030]    With reference to  FIG. 6 . Because most feeders are used away from electrical outlets, the battery  32  could be attached to a solar panel  50  to avoid having to remove the battery for charging. A programmable timer  52  is connected between the battery  32  and the motor  30  to open and close the current flow therebetween as desired. Timer  52  can be of any well-known type and thus will not be described in further detail. Timer  52  allows the user to set the time of day and duration the feed is to be distributed from the feeder  10 . 
         [0031]      FIG. 8  shows an alternative embodiment of the present invention. Like elements are numbered the same and will not be further described. Feeder  110  has a roof  120  attached to the top edge  18  of container  13  by stays  122 . A cross member  124  spans between two opposing stays and has an aperture  126  to accept screw  34 . A ball bearing  128  can be provided within aperture  126  such that screw  34  can be vertically aligned to prevent any misalignment when attaching the motor  30  to the container  13  and thereby causing the platform  40  to bind against the container  13  during operation. A hinge  154  is again placed in a portion of the roof  120  so that a portion of the roof can be lifted out-of-way to ease filling of the container  13 . 
         [0032]    Although V or tent-shaped roofs are shown, it is contemplated that conical-shaped roofs could also be used without departing from the scope of the present invention. 
       Operation of the Feeder 
       [0033]    The operation of the feeder  10  of the present invention will now be described. Before filling container  13  with feed, the motor  32  should be operated in a first direction so that platform  40  is lowered or raised to a desired height such as that shown in  FIG. 1 . Feed  16  is then emptied into container  13  through its open end. To facilitate filing, one may remove roof  20 , open the hinged portion  58 , or simply fill the feed  16  through the stays  22 . The motor  32  is then operated in a second direction such that the platform  40  is raised so that the feed  16  is level with the top edge  18  of the container  13  if not done so during filling. 
         [0034]    Timer  52  is then programmed so that the feed  16  is distributed at the desired time and rate. It is preferred to have tested and calculated before programming the speed at which the platform  40  is raised within the container  13  so that the correct timing and rates are made. 
         [0035]    With reference to  FIG. 2 . Once the programmed time is reached, the timer will close the circuit between the battery  32  and the motor  30  such that the screw  34  will rotate for the desired amount of time. During this time, platform  40  will move toward the top edge  18  of container  13  pushing the feed  16  toward sweeper  22  where the feed  16  is swept over edge  18  onto the ground for the animals to eat. Once the desired on-time has passed, the timer  52  will open the circuit and the motor  30  will stop turning thus the feed  16  will stop falling over the edge  18 . 
         [0036]    As should be appreciated, feeder  10  can be used with small grains as well as large fruits without modifications. Unlike the prior art there are no passages or doors to open or close which could get blocked and prevent further distribution. 
         [0037]    Although this aspect of the invention has been described with respect to the embodiment illustrated in  FIGS. 1-8 , various alternatives may be used without departing from the scope of the invention. For example, the game feeder may be constructed of plastic, metal, or wood, or a combination thereof. The game feeder may be constructed in any shape desired and can be camouflaged. It will be understood that various changes in the details, materials, and arrangements of the parts which have been described and illustrated above in order to explain the nature of this invention may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the principle and scope of the invention as recited in the following claims.