Abstract:
An animal feed dispenser includes a feeding tube for receiving a predetermined amount of animal feed from a spinner disk located at the bottom of an outlet in a housing. The feeding tube includes at least one opening through which animals may access the interior of the feeding tube. The opening may be closed by a movable closure flap so as to restrict access to the feeding tube. The motor for rotating the spinner disk and an actuator for moving the closure flap may be controlled by a suitable timer mechanism.

Description:
[0001]    This application is a continuation application of Ser. No. 13/751,478 filed on Jan. 28, 2013. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF INVENTION 
       [0002]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0003]    This invention relates to apparatus for periodically dispensing a controlled amount of animal feed. One application of the apparatus is to dispense a controlled amount of deer feed in remote areas so as to lure game to a particular location for hunting purposes. 
         [0004]    2. Description of Related Art 
         [0005]    There are several devices in use for dispensing animal feed in remote locations. However, several of them suffer from the following characteristics. Many are of the scattering type which dispenses the feed over a project area on the ground. In this situation, a good portion of the feed is consumed by other than targeted animals. For example, if the hunted game is deer, many other types of animals such as wild hogs, squirrels, raccoons, etc. will consume the food. This results in an increase in the amount of feed that is broadcasted. 
         [0006]    Other types include a tripod supported hopper with the scatterer and motor drive located beneath the hopper which interferes with the movement of animals underneath the apparatus. As deer, hogs and other animals feed, they damage the spreader or drive units by hitting the units with their horns, heads, or parts of their body, in some cases, chewing the wiring. Once damaged, they no longer function as designed. This problem is eliminated by placing all electrical and moving parts above the hopper. 
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0007]    The present invention cures the deficiencies noted above by providing a controlled supply of feed and dispensing it in such a way so as to allow access to the feed only to the targeted animal, in one embodiment a deer. 
         [0008]    A dispensing disk feeds a controlled amount of feed to a tray-like feeder which is positioned above the ground at a distance such that only the targeted animals can access the food or the tray. 
         [0009]    This significantly reduces the amount of food required to attract the deer which saves money and also reduces the frequency of filling the hopper with feed. 
         [0010]    A timer may be provided to selectively activate the dispenser mechanism. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S) 
         [0011]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of the deer feeder according to an embodiment of the invention. 
           [0012]      FIG. 2  is a view of an embodiment of the invention showing the hopper and feeding assembly. 
           [0013]      FIG. 3  is an exploded view of  FIG. 2 . 
           [0014]      FIG. 4  is a cross-sectional view of the hopper and feeding assembly. 
           [0015]      FIG. 5  is a schematic view of an alternative arrangement for the feeding tube and outlet. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0016]    As shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 , an embodiment of the deer feeder  10  according to the invention includes a generally rectangular shaped main housing or hopper  50  having front and rear panels  26  and  46  and side panels  9  and  14 . The housing has a floor  17  which may include a plurality of downwardly sloping sections. An opening  90  is provided at the lowest point of floor  17 . A hollow conical member  22  surrounds the opening and extends downwardly from the floor of the hopper as shown in  FIG. 4 . 
         [0017]    The housing includes an upper first cover member  13  which supports a motor M, a timer mechanism T and a power source such as a battery B enclosed with housing  12 . The power source may include a solar cell  103  on a top portion of the housing  12  for recharging the battery. A second cover member  11  is pivotally connected at  16  to the housing and includes a handle  102  for providing access to the interior of the housing. This arrangement allows for placement of suitable game feed within the housing  10 . The housing further includes openings  18  located at a lower portion of the front and rear panels. 
         [0018]    The housing  50  is supported by legs  15  at a height above the ground such that the targeted game, for example deer, is able to feed. 
         [0019]      FIGS. 2 and 3  illustrate an example of a specific construction of the housing and feeding assembly. However it is understood that they represent only an example of the invention and many other arrangements are possible and would be evident to one with ordinary skill in the art. 
         [0020]    In order to form a support  100  for a feeding assembly, a plurality of length wise support plates  107 ,  108 ,  28  and  27  are secured to sideway plates  29  and  30  in the manner shown in  FIG. 3  and the support is the secured to the front, rear and side walls of the housing as shown in  FIG. 2 . This forms a generally rectangular channel  39 . 
         [0021]    The feeding assembly  37  shown in  FIG. 3  comprises a rectangular feeding tube  31  having front and rear sections  36 , a bottom portion  38  and a top portion  34  having an opening  32  through which a shaft  20 , a spinner disc  19  and cone member  22  extend in a manner to be discussed below. Feeding tube  31  is secured within channel  39  in any known manner. 
         [0022]      FIG. 4  illustrates the details of an embodiment of the dispensing assembly. A hollow cone  22  extends downwardly from opening  90  in the floor  17  of the housing. A spinner disc  19  secured to a shaft  20  is located slightly below the outlet of the cone and thereby forms an annular opening  82  through which animal feed may pass. The size of opening  82  is such that the animal feed will not pass through it until spinner disc  19  is rotated by shaft  20  which is connected to a motor in housing  12  in any known manner. Two baffles  65  and  66  extend downwardly from the top of feeding tube  31  such that animal feed that is thrown outwardly from spinner disc  19  will impinge on the baffles thereby being directed to downwardly inclined floor portions  62  and  63  of the feeding tube. Spinner disc  19  may include one or more blades on its top surface. The floor portion of the feeding tube  31  may also include horizontal sections  121  and  120  that form a retaining area for the feed  113 . 
         [0023]    Openings  18  in the front and rear walls of the housing are slightly smaller than the openings  33  of the feeding tube  31  such that a pair of upwardly extending tips  91  and  92  cooperate with sloping wall portions  62  and  63  to form a feeding tray at each end of the feeding assembly which will restrain a given amount of animal feed from being discharged through the outlets  18 . A timer will selectively energize the motor that rotates spinner disc  19  for a given amount of time to fill the feeding tray and then will de-energize the motor so that a pre-selected amount of animal feed is retained in the feeding tray and no more. This significantly reduces the amount of feed that is required as compared to the prior art devices. 
         [0024]    The deer feeder may include a bottom member which isolates the lower discharge assembly from the environment. 
         [0025]    Outlet  18  may be widened so as to accommodate a plurality of animals to feed at one time. In such an arrangement the feeding tube could be modified by having the feeding assembly with feeding tubes  31  diverging outwardly toward the widened outlet  18 ′ as figuratively sown in  FIG. 5 . Support assembly  100  would also be modified to accommodate the diverging feed tube. 
         [0026]    In order to restrict access to the feeder assembly, a closure mechanism, for example, flaps  71  and  72  may be positioned on the housing for selectively covering openings  18 . The flaps may be mounted for reciprocal movement in tracks  73  as shown in  FIG. 4  and may be moved up and down by any known reciprocating mechanism  106  and  107  for example, by a linear actuator, a rack and pinion mechanism, a crank arm or any other mechanical leakage for effecting reciprocal motion. Alternatively, the flaps may be pivotably mounted on the housing for movement outwardly from the housing by a suitable crank mechanism to uncover the opening. The actuating mechanism may include a motor that is synchronized with the spinner disc motor so that the flaps are in an open position for a limited time after the spinner disk has been actuated. The actuating mechanism motor may also be synchronized with the spinner disc motor to open the flaps for feeding during daytime hours and closed at night to prevent nocturnal feeding. 
         [0027]    The apparatus as defined above may be utilized in the following manner. The deer feeder can be placed in the area where game is to be attracted. The openings  18  are positioned at a height above the ground so that only the desired game is able to access the feeding tray. A supply of game feed is placed within the housing and the timer for the spinner disc motor is set for a limited time during the day so that only a measured amount of feed is fed to the feeding trays formed in the dispensing assembly. Once the feed has been delivered to the feeding trays, flaps  71  and  72  can be raised upwardly by a timer mechanism so as to uncover opening  18  in the housing. At this point, game such as deer will be able to access feed in the feed trays until all the feed is exhausted. After a predetermined amount of time, a timer may act to lower the flaps so as to block access to openings  18 . In addition, hunters can reasonably forecast how long the supply of food will last and when it needs to be replenished. 
         [0028]    Although the present invention has been described with respect to specific details, it is not intended that such details should be regarded as limitations on the scope of the invention, except to the extent that they are included in the accompanying claims.