Abstract:
A hollow, upright hopper to receive particulate material, means operable to discharge material outwardly from the hopper in one direction or in an opposite direction and control means to control the amount, the direction, and the velocity of the discharged material, so as to direct the material into a cattle feeding trough or to a cattle bedding area, for example.

Description:
This disclosure relates to apparatus especially useful in the dairy business, and more specifically, apparatus useful for spreading animal feed such as silage along a trough, and for spreading bedding material in the stalls for the cows to rest on and for spreading other particulate material. 
     PRIOR ART AND OBJECTIVES 
     Dairy cows are typically fed from a long trough or other linear receptacle wherein the cows line up on one side of the trough and have access to the trough via a low retaining wall having partitions for spacing the feeding cows. The adjacent side of the trough is open so as to allow room for a vehicle to pass and unload feed into the trough along the trough length. Prior art spreaders do not provide the capability to discharge the desired quantity of feed while moving and confining the feed to the trough without wasting excessive feed by inadvertently overshooting or undershooting the trough and spreading the feed onto the ground. Thus, one objective of this instant disclosure is an apparatus which is mounted to a skid loader, having a hopper filled with silage or other animal feed, such that the feed may be discharged rapidly and accurately into the trough as the skid loader moves along the trough length. 
     Typically, the dairy cows sleep in stalls having a floor covered with a resilient bedding material such as sawdust or wood shavings or wood turnings. Normally, the bedding is removed and replaced daily, and it is therefore desirable that the task of uniformly spreading the bedding be accomplished rapidly. In the prior art it has been necessary to apply the bedding by driving a skid loader mounted hopper into each stall, spreading the bedding, backing out of the stall, turning the skid loader, entering the next stall, spreading the bedding, and repeating the process for each stall, in a spreading mode referred to as an intermittent spread. 
     Thus, another objective of this instant disclosure is spreading apparatus which discharges the bedding material from the side of the apparatus, so that the floor of the stalls may be covered with bedding as the skid loader passes along a path outside the stalls without having to enter the individual stalls. 
     Another objective is to provide apparatus which can be used to spread bedding material, then emptied and cleaned, and then be used for spreading animal feed into a trough or other feeding receptacle. The prior art spreaders do not provide the capability to use the same spreader for both moist animal feed such as corn silage and dry sawdust, owing primarily to the tendency for the moist silage to agglomerate or clump and fail to spread uniformly and reliably. 
     Yet another objective is to provide spreading apparatus useful for spreading other particulate material such as mulch or oil-absorbing material. 
     U.S. Pat. No. Des. 402,670, copy included herein, describes an ornamental design for a material spreader hopper. 
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     The disclosed apparatus provides the capability to spread a variety of particulate materials, both wet and dry, in several differing spreading modes. These spreading modes includes area coverage, such as blanketing the floor of cow stalls with bedding material; linear coverage, such as filling a long trough with animal feed; and forming piles or heaps of material such as animal feed placed in a pasture or feed lot. 
     A hopper for holding the spreadable material has a chain driven conveyor or belt conveyor located at the bottom of the hopper. The conveyor is driven by a hydraulic motor using pressurized fluid supplied by the prime mover such as a skid loader or tractor. The hopper interior has sloping surfaces to channel the material onto the conveyor. Moist or damp material such as silage tend to agglomerate or otherwise clump together and may resist falling onto the conveyor solely under the force of gravity. 
     This condition is prevented by a transversely mounted agitator shaft having a plurality of radial arms or beaters secured thereto. The beaters are immersed within the particulate material and the beaters are rotated around the agitator shaft so as to urge the material to move downward and onto the moving conveyor. The agitator shaft is also powered by a drive motor. 
     The direction of conveyor movement is controlled by the direction of the hydraulic fluid flow, and is thereby bidirectional so as to provide the capability to spread from either side of the apparatus. The quantity of material spread per minute is regulated by the opening in a manually controlled gate located at each end of the conveyor. The throw distance of the spread particulate material is controllable by the hydraulic fluid velocity, and the height of the hopper above the ground. 
     A removable deflector is provided for use when filling a trough with feed. The deflector plate intercepts the horizontal flow of discharged feed and deflects it downward, so as to minimize the feed spread outside the trough. The deflector is also useful in forming piles of spreadable material when desired, and for changing the direction of the discharged material. 
     The disclosed apparatus is useful for spreading particulate material such as animal feed along a trough, for example, and for spreading animal bedding by throwing the material for distances of the order of 20 feet so as to provide area coverage. The particulate material may be deposited in a heap when so desired. The term spreading is used in this disclosure to include linear spreading such as trough filling; area spreading such as bedding placement; and heap forming such as depositing feed in a pile. 
     In addition to its use for spreading animal feed and bedding materials, the disclosed apparatus is useful for spreading many other particulate materials, including mulch, oil-absorbers, and manure. 
     Following this brief description of the invention, a number of drawings, detailed descriptions and claims more fully define the invention. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective showing the spreader of this invention. 
     FIG. 2 is a plan view of the spreader showing the sloping baffles; the agitator shaft; and the beaters. 
     FIG. 3 is a side elevation showing the material discharge opening; the gate controlling the amount of material spread; and the chain conveyor. 
     FIG. 4 is a front elevation showing the wear strips and deflector plate. 
     FIG. 5 is an elevation showing the hitch assembly for securing the apparatus to a skid loader. 
     FIG. 6 depicts the conveyor arrangement in which slats move the material along a fixed surface. 
     FIG. 7 depicts the conveyor arrangement in which a belt moves the particulate material. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of the spreader as it rests on the ground. Forward wall  22 , right sidewall  24  and rear wall  10  form three of the four walls comprising the hopper  1 . Stiffener  9  provides added strength to rear wag  10  and is also used to form part of the skid-loader hitch, shown in FIG.  5 . Spreadable material is ejected from hopper i via discharge opening  14 , which is partially closed or covered by a gate, shown in FIG.  3 . Gate retainers  12  provide support for gate  11 . 
     FIG. 2 shows the apparatus in plan view. Hopper  1  comprises a generally rectangular box-like structure having sloping baffles mounted within the hopper so as to facilitate the downward movement of the material being spread, and to prevent the material from forming pockets which could prevent the conveyor from receiving a constant supply of material. Agitator shaft  6  is driven by hydraulic motor  20 . Shaft  6  mounts a plurality of beater arms  8  which rotate and assist in moving the spreadable material onto the conveyor floor  21 . Conveyor slats  7  slides the material along the floor and discharges the material from the apparatus via discharge opening  14 . Floor  21  is preferably covered with a polyethylene sheet so as to provide a long-wearing, smooth surface along which slats  7  slide. 
     Agitator shaft  6  is supported by bearings  32  and is powered by motor  20 , which is mounted on bracket  40 . The motor is connected to the agitator shaft  6  by chain  31 . Thus, the apparatus can spread moist, damp materials like corn silage, and other clumping materials, and the apparatus can also spread dry materials such as sawdust. 
     Baffles  2  and  5  are transversely-mounted baffles which direct the material onto conveyor floor  21 . Baffle  3  is a longitudinal baffle which directs the material onto conveyor floor  21 . Frame  39  mounts a removable, sloping cover, which also directs the material onto conveyor  21 . In use, the cover is secured to frame  39  to provide a sloping surface shown by lead line  4 . 
     Hopper  1  comprises forward wall  22 , rear wall  10 , left side wall  23 , and right side wall  24 . Stiffeners  9  provides rigidity, and wear strips  27  are useful when the hopper is being filled by ramming the hopper into a pile of material. 
     FIG. 3 is a left side elevation of the spreader apparatus. Baffles  2  and  5  are shown with dashed lines. Spreadable material reaching the conveyor is propelled along the conveyor floor by slats  7  and discharged through opening  14 . Gate  11  is adjustable vertically by sliding the gate  11  and locking in place by handle  13 . Gate  11  is raised or lowered to change the rate of material discharged and the sideward distance to which the material is spread. Gate  11  slides between retainer plates  12 . Floor plate  26  supports the conveyor surface  21  and forms the bottom of hopper  1 . 
     The conveyor velocity is controlled by changing the hydraulic fluid pressure delivered by the vehicle to which the hopper is attached. Drive motor  16 , preferably hydraulic, is coupled to conveyor drive shaft  17  via gears  18  and  19 . These gears are coupled by chain  25 . Conveyor chains  15  are coupled to drive shaft  17 . Conveyor slats  7  are secured to chains  21  and slide along conveyor floor  21  as the chains move transversely. Sprocket  41  drives chain  1 I. Idler sprocket  42  supports chain  15  at the opposite end. As shown in FIG. 6, the spreadable material is discharged in the direction of the arrow  99 , in which gate  11  serves to control the rate f material discharged. 
     It has been found to be advantageous to use a differing conveyor configuration to achieve better spreading with some types of particulate material such as mulch. In this conveyor embodiment, as shown in FIG. 7, a wide belt is used to support the weight of the material, move the material to the discharge opening  14 , and to propel the material from the spreader. Conveyor belt  43  is supported and driven by rollers  44  and  45 . 
     In FIG. 3 U-channels  28  provide structural rigidity for the apparatus. Longitudinal plates  29  supports the apparatus when resting on the ground, and prevent U-channels  28  from twisting under heavy load. Hopper sidewall plates  23  and  24  are sloped inward, as shown by the dashed lines in FIG. 4 to provide a shelf for mounting motor  16 , wherein the motor and other vulnerable components are inset and protected by the forward and rear walls  22  and  10 , respectively. The hopper forward wall  22  mounts wear strips  27 , which are the primary contact surfaces when the hopper is scooping up a load of material to be spread. Deflector plate  34  provides the capability to spread the material along a trough without excess waste. The deflector plate  34  is supported by strut  35 . The deflector assembly is removable from the apparatus, and it may be placed on either, side of the hopper. The deflector plate intercepts the stream of material discharged by the coneyor and forces the material into a downward direction. 
     FIG. 5 shows apparatus for attaching the spreader of this invention to the front end of a skid loader. A different attachment means can be used to attach the spreader to a tractor 3-point hitch, or to another type of vehicle. Skid loader attachment means consists of a top attachment bar  36 , which has a sloping, projecting surface for securing the tops of the two feet of the skid loader. Bottom bracket  37  has holes  38  for receiving the bottoms of the skid loader attachment feet. The spreader device is attached to the skid loader by first inserting the skid loader attachment feet under top bar  36  and then inserting and locking the lower surfaces of the skid loader attachment feet into holes  38  in bottom bracket  37 . This attachment means allows the hopper to be raised and tipped forward when scooping a load of material to be spread. 
     To use the disclosed apparatus for spreading particulate material such as sawdust, the following steps would be followed. Typically, a pile of sawdust is rammed by the hopper while tipped forward to force the sawdust into the hopper. The hopper is righted and moved to the site for spreading. There, the operator applies hydraulic pressure to both the agitator shaft motor and to the conveyor motor to thereby begin spreading. 
     The distance which the material is spread is controlled primarily by the speed of the conveyor, and the quantity of material is primarily controlled by the opening of gate  11 . The particulate material may be discharged from the opposite side of the hopper by reversing the direction of rotation of motor  16 , which causes the conveyor to move particulate material through the opposite gate. 
     When the spreader is used for spreading silage for feeding livestock, the hopper is typically filled by placing the hopper under a mixer used to blend several ingredients, such as silage nutrients, and additives. Such a blend is usually moist and does not flow as readily as dry material such as sawdust. Spreading such moist material as corn silage and haylage has presented problems in the prior art due to the tendency for the material to agglomerate or clump and Hereby fail to deliver a consistent quantity of material for spreading, Thus, this problem is solved in this invention by using an agitator shaft  6  with a plurality of beater arms  8  to move the material downward and onto the conveyor floor  21 . 
     While a single agitator shaft is adequate for spreading most materials, it has been found to be advantageous to use a plurality of agitator shafts, spaced either side-by-side or one over the other when spreading some materials which resist moving onto the conveyor. 
     The apparatus of this invention has been used to spread many types of materials, both dry and moist, including sawdust, silage, mulch, wood shavings, manure, oil absorbers, and others. Thus, the specific design may be adapted by one skilled in the art so as to provide apparatus capable of spreading many other types of materials within the spirit of this disclosure.