Abstract:
A bird feeding device comprising a hollow dome-shaped container for holding food; a food dispensing tray for closing the bottom of the dome-shaped container and dispensing and holding food; a closure with a suspending chain or rope for closing the top of the dome-shaped container.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to the field of devices for feeding animals, and more particularly to devices which are hung on a tree or supported on a pole for feeding relatively small birds, such as finches, chickadees, blue birds etc. without waste of the feed. 
     While the prior art encompasses numerous devices for automatically dispensing feed to fowl, such devices have numerous defects and disadvantages which are obviated by the present invention. The following United States patents are exemplary of such prior art devices: U.S. Pat. No. 2,464,644 to Kwosh; U.S. Pat. No. 2,667,858 to Cussotti; U.S. Pat. No. 2,804,844 to Gigliotti; U.S. Pat. No. 4,691,665 to Hefner; U.S. Pat. No. 4,732,112 to Fenner et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,062,388 to Kilham; U.S. Pat. No. 5,095,847 to Coffer; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,775,257 to Park. All prior art devices above involved too many parts, and the process of the assembly and disassembly during cleaning and/or repair is complicated and hard. Some of them also require tools to be assembled and disassembled. 
     The present invention overcomes these deficiencies and disadvantages in that it provides a new and improved bird feeder that involves less parts and can be easily and quickly assembled and disassembled without any tools. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention provides an animal feeding device that is particularly usable for feeding birds and which includes a container which defines a food reservoir for holding food to be automatically dispensed therefrom. 
     The animal feeding device preferably comprises three basic components, namely, a hollow dome-shaped container for holding food; a food dispensing tray for dispensing and holding food comprising a peripheral skirt and a central portion with a plurality of food dispensing channels around that extends upwardly from the tray into the lower extremity of the hollow dome-shaped container so as to close off the bottom of the hollow dome-shaped container and to provide a plurality of food dispensing openings; and a chain or rope for supporting or suspending the feeding device. 
     It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a bird feeder device wherein less component parts are involved than other general type of bird feeders, and the essential component parts are simplified and are easily and quickly assembled, disassembled, and replaced without using any tool. 
     It is a further object of the present invention to provide a bird feeder device which dispenses food automatically without undue waste and can be inexpensively constructed mostly from beverage containers which are normally disposed of as solid waste. 
     These objects as well as other objects of the present invention will become more readily apparent after reading the following description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and claims. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is perspective view of the bird feeder of the present invention. 
     FIG. 2 is a is a front elevational, exploded, view of the bird feeder of the present invention. 
     FIG. 3 is a front elevational, partially broken away and in section, view showing the mating of the hollow dome-shaped container, the food dispensing tray, and a supporting or suspending device. 
     FIG. 4 is a partially enlarged view of the FIG.  3 . 
     FIG. 5 is a partial cross-sectional, generally side view showing the details of the food dispensing tray including the plurality of grippers for maintaining the tray within the lower portion of the reservoir. 
     FIG. 6 is a close-up, cross-sectional view showing the intersection of the reservoir and the plurality of grippers as depicted in FIG.  3 . 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Referring to drawings, particularly FIGS. 1 and 2 thereof, reference numeral  10  generally designates the preferred embodiment of the bird feeder of the present invention. Still referring to FIG. 1 and 2, bird feeder  10  generally comprises a hollow dome-shaped container  12 , a food dispensing tray  22 , an internally threaded nut  48 , an externally threaded eyebolt  54 , a cap  50 , and a chain or rope  56 . 
     As still best seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, a hollow container  12  includes an inner wall  14 ; an upper section  16  having an opening  20  surrounded by external threads (not numbered); and a lower section  18 . 
     As best seen in FIGS. 5 and 6, a food dispensing tray  22  includes a lower tray section  38  having a peripheral skirt  40  with a plurality of small openings  42  and an upwardly extending marginal wall  44 ; and an upwardly extending central section  24  having a plurality of food dispensing channels  34 , a lower annular portion  26  with a marginal shoulder  28  therein, a plurality of ribs  30  and valleys  32 , and a conically-shaped top portion  36 . 
     The components of bird feeder  10  are best assembled from its exploded, separated, condition as shown in FIG. 2 to its assembled, joined, condition as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3 in the following order: 
     a. First, the upwardly extending central section  24  of the food dispensing tray  22  is inserted within the lower section  18  of the container  12  until the edge (not numbered) of the lower section  18  engages one of the valleys  32  or the shoulder  28  of the food dispensing tray  22  so that at least one rib  30  of the food dispensing tray  22  secure the lower section  18  to the central section  24  of food dispensing tray  22 . 
     b. The container  12  is filled with seed by pouring the same through the opening  20  of the container  12  with the seed being spread outwardly toward the food dispensing channels  34  of the food dispensing tray  22  due to the generally conical shape of the top portion  36  of the food dispensing tray  22 . 
     c. The threaded eyebolt  54  is inserted through the central opening  52  in the cap  50 , and the threaded nut  48  is threadedly engaged with the threads on eyebolt  54  to secure the cap  50  to eyebolt  54 . 
     d. The eyebolt  54  is then engaged to chain or rope  56  for suspension of the bird feeder  10  from a tree limb or a standard. 
     When assembled as shown in FIG.  1  and with bird feed within the container  12 , the combination of gravity and the conically-shaped top  36  of the food dispensing tray  22  forces the feed out toward the food dispensing channels  34  of the food dispensing tray  22  so that the feed goes down through the food dispensing channels  34  to the peripheral skirt  40  of the food dispensing tray  22  and birds standing on the edge  46  of the wall  44  of the tray  22  can peck the feed. The small openings  42  provide the passage for rain water. 
     It has been found that the container  12  and the food dispensing tray  22  of the bird feeder  10  can be held together by friction fit. Each rib  30  of the food dispensing tray  22  is raised higher than the rib  30  directly above so that at least one of the ribs  30  can secure the lower station  18  of the container  12  of varying internal dimensions to the central section  24  of the food dispensing tray  22 . It has also found that the container  12  can be made of any used plastic bottle or container, such as soft drink bottles and peanuts butter containers. 
     While a particular embodiment of this invention has been shown in the drawings and described above, it will be appreciated that the invention is susceptible to modifications, variations, and adaptations without departing from the proper scope and fair meaning of the accompanying claims.