Abstract:
The present invention provides a self cleaning humming bird feeder equipped to protectively store sugared nectar and contaminated feed tank from insect infestation. The feeder including a feeding cup jacketed within a contaminated feed trap emptying onto a contaminated feed holding tank, a feed reservoir and a pump for pumping nectar to the feeding cup. Cleansing of the feed cup may be accomplished by pumping and overflowing excess sugared nectar into the feed cup causing it to spill over with contaminates onto the contaminated feed trap.

Description:
This application is a non-provisional application of earlier filed provisional application No. 60/407,632 entitled “Humming Bird Feeder”, filed on behalf of Joseph David Coburn and Joel Ralph Bernhardt on Sep. 3, 2002. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to bird feeders and more particularly to a hummingbird feeder and its use. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     It is difficult (if not impossible) to maintain a feeding cup in a hummingbird feeder free from contaminates. Insects, wind blown debris and other undesirable materials contaminate the feed source so that it becomes unsightly, as well as being unhealthy to the feeding birds. In many instances, the contamination also contaminates the feed reservoir. The Patent literature abounds with alleged solutions to the contamination problems with bird feeders. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,980,990 to Hiday discloses a insect trap used in combination with a bird feeder having a water barrier to cut off insect infestation into the bird feeder. The Hiday patent trap includes a water receiving cavity having a base wall, a side wall and a stem with a means for positioning the insect trap between a hanger and the bird feeder so as to prevent movement of insects beyond the trap. U.S. Pat. No. 5,247,904 to Anderson discloses a hummingbird feeder having a divider wall and support posts which support the hummingbird feeder and prevent crawling insects from accessing into the surrounding body of fluid. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,450,816 to Santa Cruz, there is disclosed a tubular design for a humming bird feeder with a limited capacity fluid chamber so as to prevent spoilage of a water/sugar solution. In another patent, U.S. Pat. No. 5,454,348 to Colwell, et al, there is disclosed a hummingbird feeder having a top wall, a bottom wall, and the top and bottom walls join at the ends to create an enclosure for a reservoir. The feeder is provided with a cleaning opening which is large enough to facilitate cleaning of the reservoir, and a removable cap for cleaning the opening. U.S. Pat. No. 6,318,290 B1 to Fisher discloses an automatic bird feeder and waterer which contain both a food and a water reservoir for supplying food and water in dispersed portions. Another U.S. Pat. No. 6,499,430 B2 to Garcia-Lucio, et al discloses a feeding tube used with a hummingbird feeder having a design of a imitation flower. Additionally, U.S. Pat. No. 6,553,936 B2 to Sasso discloses a hummingbird feeder that includes a storage vessel for fluid, such as nectar, and an attached portion for feeding. Lastly, U.S. pat. application Ser. No. 2001/0029899 to Arlitt discloses a hummingbird feeder which may be disassembled for cleaning. 
     None-the-less, there still exists a need for a liquid bird feeder, such as a hummingbird feeder, which may be readily cleansed of undesirable debris and insect infestation by mechanical flushing of the contaminates therefrom without requiring manual intervention into the feeding cup or feeding reservoir. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention provides a liquid bird feeder which may be readily cleansed by flushing unwanted debris and contaminates from a feeding cup. The hummingbird feeder includes a feed reservoir for retaining a liquid feed reserve (such as a sugared nectar) essentially protected from insect penetration, a feeding cup from which the bird may feed upon the liquid feed, a pump for pumping the liquid feed from the feed reservoir to the feeding cup and an overflow trap positioned so as to capture undesirable contaminates which are flushed from the feeding cup by overflowing the feeding cup with the liquid feed. Cleansing of the feeding cup may be accomplished by pumping excess liquid feed into the feeding cup causing an overrun of liquid feed laden with contaminates onto the overflow trap. The hummingbird feeder of the present invention also provides a method for flushing liquid feed contaminates and debris from the hummingbird feeding cup by pumping liquid feed to the feeding cup causing the contaminates to overflow from the feeding cup and run onto the overflow trap. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a side view of a hummingbird feeder of this invention. 
     FIG. 2 is a vertical bisectional view of the feeder shown in FIG.  1 . 
     FIG. 3 is a top view of the feeder shown in FIG.  1 . 
     FIG. 4 is an enlarged and exploded cross sectional view of the upper portion of the bird feeder shown in FIG.  2 . 
     FIG. 5 is a side view depicting another embodiment of the bird feeder shown in FIG.  1 . 
     FIG. 6 is a bisectional view of FIG.  5 . 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     With references to the accompanying Figures, the present invention provides a hummingbird feeder  1  comprised of a feed reservoir  3  for retaining liquid feed F, a feeding cup  5  for feeding the liquid feed F to a feeding bird (not shown), a pump  7  for pumping the liquid feed F from the feed reservoir  3  to the feeding cup  5  and an overflow trap (generally identified as  9 ) positioned so as to capture the feed contaminates X flushed from the feeding cup  5  by pumping excess liquid feed F into the feeding cup  5  causing a feed F overrun. With reference particularly to the figures, the basic operating features of the hummingbird feeder  1  includes a feed reservoir  3  for a sugared solution F, a pump  7 , a conduit (generally identified as  11 ) for pumping the sugared solution F to the feeding cup  5  and an overflow trap (generally referred as  9 ). The bird feeder  1  as depicted by FIGS. 1-4 portrays a potted plant container  13  simulating a plant pot which serves not only as a supportive base but also as a holding container or housing for feed reservoir  3  containing the sugared water feed supply F and as a housing overflow trap tank  33  for holding or retaining the overflow contaminates X. A protective pot covering lid  14  rests upon rims  18  of the plant pot  13  to securely retain both the sugared solution and overflow contaminates from external invasion. Internally, the simulated pot  13  includes a socketed post  15  for posting waste return column  17  which in turn serves as waste conduit for overflow trap  9 . 
     Pumping means  7  for pumping feed F to the feeding cup  5  may be any type of pump (e.g. mechanical, electrical, hydraulic, etc.) capable of pumping fluid feed F from the reservoir  3  to the feeding cup  5 . A reed pump or bulb primer such as commonly used for the priming of small internal combustion motors and outboards or a manual hand pump equipped with a ball and check valve as commonly used to pump liquid soaps, hand lotions, etc., from an enclosed container are cost effective and may be effectively utilized for this purpose. Similarly, a rubber bulb hand pump fitted with a check valve or alternatively, a power operated mechanical pump equipped with a sensing means to regulate the flow of sugared solution to the feeding cup  5  may also be utilized for this purpose. If desired, electronic pumps fitted with pumping sensors such as a light sensor, time delayed feed cup capacity sensors to detect feed levels etc. may likewise be used to trigger the supply pumped feed F to the feed cup  5 . 
     In the feeder shown in FIGS. 1-4, plastic conduits  11 B &amp;  11 A positioned before and after pump  7  are used to conduct the pumped fluid F to the funneled shaped feeding cup  5  from feed reservoir  3 . It will be observed from FIG. 2 that the feed conduit  11 A is housed within the return trap conduit  17  and is attached to the feed end of the funnel shaped sugared water solution feeding cup  5 . The funnel shaped feeding cup  5  is jacketed by a funnel shaped trap jacket  15 A (which is an over-all part of trap  9 ) and may seated by two or more ribs  19  (two shown and two occluded from view) adapted to separate the funnel shaped jacket  15 A from the feeding cup  5  so as to permit the overflow of contaminates from the feeding cup  5  to the waste return trap conduit  17 . A closing lid  23  (e.g. snap-on, threaded, etc.) having a periphery flanged lip  25  secures onto a lipped rim  26  of jacket  15 A to provide a closed feeding system with feeding access porting through the feeding holes  27  of lid  23 . The lid  23  includes a lid handle  24  for easy access and removal. Feeding lid  23  also may be designed to simply screw or twist on or off the jacketed trap  15 A or snap-on. As illustrated in FIGS. 1-4, feeder  1  may be appropriately decorated with flower shaped pedals  29  to provide a decorative flower configuration. If desired, a feeding post  22  for posting the bird may be optionally included. The exploded cross-sectional view of the funnel jacket  15 A and feeder cup  5  of FIG. 4 with lid  23  removed shows in greater detail the feeding cup  5  with feed conduit  11  surrounded by funnel shaped trap jacket  15 A and trap return column  17  of overflow trap  9 . Funnel shaped trap jacket  15  includes an apertured base  15 B which allows overflow contaminates to flow into return trap conduit  17 . 
     The overflow trap  9  features of feeder  1  may be better understood by referring in particular to FIGS. 2,  4  &amp;  6 . As may be observed from FIGS. 2 &amp; 4, the funnel shaped feeding cup  5  is concentrically housed within funnel shaped jacket  15 A with the feeding cup brim  5 B being positioned below feeding lid  23  so as to permit an overflowing of contaminated feed X onto jacket  15 A by the pumping of excess feed F into feed cup  5 . As may be further visualized from FIGS. 2 &amp; 4, the overflowing feed F gravitationally overflows onto funnel shaped jacket  15 A which then funnels the overflow contaminates X into return trap conduit  17  which in turn leads onto trap ports  31  porting onto contaminant trap tank  33 . When it is desired to either remove and clean the overflow (rap tank  33  or add fresh feed reservoir  3 , the pump  7  may be separated from the conduit  11 B and waste return column  17  from post jacket  1 S allowing for the removal of covering lid  13 , thus providing access to both contaminant trap tank  33  and the food reservoir  3 . 
     With particular reference, the FIG. 6 cross-sectional view shows a feeder  1  which differs in appearance but functions in the similar manner to feeder  1  of FIGS. 1-4. Excess feed (F) is pumped with pump  7  from mesh feed reservoir  3  through feed conduit  11   a  causing feeding cup  5  to overflow, spilling excess feed onto angled trap jacket  15 A which guides the spilled and usually contaminated feed onto trap column  17  which is supported by waste column support  17 A. The trapped contaminates of spilled feed Is piped from trap column  17  through contaminate discharge pipe p  32  which discharges the contaminated feed into waste discharge tank  33 . 
     The feeder  1  as depicted in FIGS. 5 &amp; 6 basically embodies the same overflow features of the feeder  1  shown in FIGS. 1-4. The feeder  1  similarly includes what is shown as a supportive base  13 B depicted as a flat base (as opposed to the plant pot  13  support base of FIGS. 1-4) which serves as a base  13 B for feeder  1 . Similar to the FIGS. 1-4 feeder  1 , the feeding cup  5  is housed within overflow trap  9  as shown in FIGS. 1-4. 
     The base  13 B supports the waste contaminant tank  33 , the cot reservoir  3  and trap return column  17  which serves as a mount for the feeding cup  5  and collector for overflow trap  9 . With particular reference to FIG. 6, it will be observed that the feeding cup  5  is also housed within the contaminate overflow trap  9  is bordered at the initial waste collecting site by an angular pipe tube  15 A such as a pipe fitting equipped with a lid  23  having a lip  25  and a feeding orifice  27  positioned so as to provide access to the feeding cup  5  by the feeding bird. Similar to the overflow tributes of the FIGS. 1-4 feeder, the feeding cup  5  is housed within the waste return column  17  with a feeding brim  5 B positioned so as to allow the overflow feed to flow into trap collector  15 A of the overflow trap housing  9 . Trap column  17  serves dually to house the feed conduit  11   a  and as the waste return. As may be further observed, the waste return column  17  includes a coupling stop barrier  17 B which collects the overflow contaminates for transfer onto waste conduit  32  to waste tank  33 . 
     The illustrated pump  7  of FIGS. 5-6 may be of the type commonly utilized to dispense in common household soaps and hand lotions wherein the user simply manually pumps by hand the fluid feed F from the feed reservoir  3  through the feed conduits  11 A &amp;  11 B onto feed cup  5 . Base  13 B is grooved or bored so as to receive waste column support  17 A coupled onto waste column return  17  with coupling stop barrier  17 B. The feed reservoir  3  and the contaminant trap tank  33  are equipped with lids  37  &amp;  39  to seal tanks  3  &amp;  33  from infestation by insects which respectively mate onto the pump conduit  11 B and feed reservoir  3  and the waste return conduit  32  to waste tank  33 . In the same fashion as FIGS. 1-4, pumping pump  7  provides excess fluid to the feeding cup  5  causing the feeding cup liquids to overflow therefrom and return through the trap system  9  of the invention to contaminant tank  33 . 
     The feeders  1  of FIGS. 1-6 may be constructed of commonly available materials. Commonly available pipe fittings may be utilized to create the feed reservoir  3  and the holding tank trap  9  for the FIGS. 5 and 6 feeder. Accordingly, commonly available plastic conduits, pumps etc. may be readily adapted to the feeder  1  construction.