Abstract:
In a feed supply system in which feed from a hopper is directed into down spouts by means of augers, agitators, gravity feed or the like, the down spouts terminating at a feed trough, a sensor capable of sensing a build up of feed is disposed at the end of the down spout and supplies a signal to terminate dispensing when excess feed is sensed.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates in general to feed dispensing of the type adapted to feed animals such as poultry confined in cages or the like, and more particularly, to an improved feed dispensing system which is capable of regulating the amount of feed supplied to a feed trough. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 4,030,452, granted to Keen and Siciliano, discloses a feed dispensing hopper which is adapted for travel above a battery of poultry cages arranged in tiers for dispensing feed thereto through individual funnels or down spouts directed to troughs in front of the cages at a location where the trough is available to the chicken. An auger assembly for use in such a dispensing hopper is described in U.S. application Ser. No. 777,743 filed Mar. 14, 1977. The system is further described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,019,461 issued Apr. 26, 1977. In that system, the feed hopper is disposed above a plurality of augers mounted on a common shaft. The augers route the feed from the hopper into individual down spouts which terminate above feed troughs disposed in front of the poultry. The system is adapted to continuously supply feed to the troughs as the hopper is moved over the length of the battery of cages in one direction. Thus, this system is one in which all troughs and all areas of each trough are supplied with a predetermined amount of feed. 
     Due to many variables, such as different ages or breeding of stock, and variation in temperature of air velocities within a cage house, uneven consumption of feed will sometimes occur and cause portions of the feed trough to retain feed between feeding schedules. During a subsequent feeding, the supply of additional feed thereto will cause areas of feed to accumulate, this, of course, can result in feed waste or over feeding. The invention disclosed herein has been found to regulate the feed supply and eliminate waste and overfeeding. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Briefly stated, in a feed supply system of the general nature described above a regulatory means is provided to govern the quantity of feed being supplied. In this system, feed from a hopper is directed into down spouts which terminate at a feed trough. Regulation is accomplished by providing a sensor capable of sensing a build up of feed in the trough and by providing means responsive to the feed sensor for terminating dispensing when excess feed in the trough is sensed. In the illustrated embodiment, control of dispensing is accomplished by solenoid operated clutches associated with the augers, the clutches being responsive to the sensor at the trough to alternately connect or disconnect the auger as required. Each down spout and thus each feed trough is provided with a separate auger which can be controlled in this manner. Thus, an oversupply of feed never takes place and feed usage is minimized. In accordance with the illustrated embodiment, the feed sensor is disposed ahead of the down spout in the direction of feeding and a feed stirring and smoothing means is disposed behind the down spout; both the sensor and the stirring and smoothing means being attached to the end of the down spout. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a feed system illustrating the feed sensing system of the present invention; 
     FIG. 2 is a perspective view, partially exploded and cut away, showing the respective feed sensors and feed spreaders for each of the three feed troughs in a battery of cages; 
     FIG. 3 is a plan view, partially in cross section and partially in schematic form, illustrating the operation of the auger clutches; 
     FIG. 4 is a view similar to that of FIG. 3 showing the feed trough and the manner in which the augers act to supply feed to the down spouts; 
     FIG. 5 is an elevation view, partially in cross section, depicting the end of a down spout and the feed sensor; and 
     FIG. 6 is a front elevation view of the arrangement of FIG. 5 illustrating the feed sensor and the stirring and smoothing action in the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     FIG. 1 depicts a cage system or egg laying battery of a type commonly in use at poultry farms. The battery indicated generally as 11 includes three tiers of cages 13. Each tier is individually divided into individual cages so that individual chickens 15, for example, can be placed in each cage, there being a door, having the upper portion 17 associated with each individual cage in the cage tiers 13. The cages are constructed so that eggs layed by the chickens 15 roll onto a conveyor belt 19 and are conveyed away. Disposed in front of each tier of cages 13 is a feed trough 21. 
     It is conventional practice to feed the chickens at fixed periods. The tiers of cages 13 each extend over a long distance which in some cases may reach 600 feet or more. In order to supply feed to the troughs, a feed system including a hopper 23 having extending therefrom down spouts 25, 27 and 29 is provided. The down spout 25 terminates at the lowermost feed trough 21, the down spout 27 at the middle feed trough 21 and the down spout 29 at the uppermost feed trough 21. Feed is driven from the hopper 23 into the down spouts by means of an auger assembly which is described in greater detail below. The portion of the system thus far described corresponds to those of the aforementioned patents and applications. 
     In accordance with the present invention, there is attached to the end of each down spout 25, 27 and 29, a feed sensing assembly indicated generally as 31. This assembly includes two arms 33 and 35 extending from opposite sides of the down spout in the direction of the feed troughs 21. On the end of the arm 35, is a stirring and smoothing means in the form of a wire 45. On the end of the arm 33, is a feed sensor 37. As will be seen in more detail below, the sensor 37 includes a microswitch and thus, there is an electrical line 39 leading therefrom. 
     This construction is shown in more detail in FIG. 2. Extending downwardly from the hopper 23 are the down spouts 25, 27 and 29. As indicated, feed sensing assembly 31 includes a member 41 which forms the arms 33 and 35. On the end of the arm 35 is a guide 43 and depending downward therefrom, a wire 45 forming an open loop with a V-shaped bottom matching the contour of the feed trough 21 of FIG. 1. The wire is retained within a bracket 47 attached to the guide 43 via a slot. The slot permits upward and downward movement of the V-shaped loop 45 thus preventing the loop from becoming entangled with the trough joints. The V-shaped loop 45 functions to keep the feed stirred and eliminate crusting or moldy feed to accumulate. Also, at the same time the loop 45 serves to smooth the feed to a certain degree. Guide 43 and the forward guide 43a serve to keep the feed sensing assembly aligned within the trough during travel. 
     On the other end of the member 41, i.e, on the arm 33, is a microswitch assembly 49 which includes a cover 51, a microswitch and a flexible sensing member 53 depending downward from the microswitch and adapted to close the microswitch when pushed in the direction of arrow 55. The member 41 contains a pair of holes 57 which permit attaching it to the hopper assembly 23 by means of an angle bracket 59. The lower members designated 41a attach to the ends of the respective down spouts 25 and 27 by means of brackets 61. The exact manner of attachment is described more fully in connection with FIGS. 5 and 6. 
     FIG. 3 illustrates the manner in which the feed into the down spouts 25, 27 and 29 is controlled by means of the sensing members 53. As illustrated in FIG. 3, each sensing member 53 is supported for rotation so that when a force in the direction of arrow 55 is applied to its end, it will close a microswitch 63. Each microswitch controls a solenoid 65a, 65b and 65c. In accordance with the present invention, rather than using augers which are constantly driven during feeding, each of the augers is coupled to a driving shaft by means of a clutch. FIG. 3 is a plan view looking down from the hopper onto the auger mechanism which is indicated generally as 67. FIG. 4, which is a cross sectional view through FIG. 3, also shows the hopper 63 and the down spouts 25, 27 and 29. Feed 69 is fed to augers 71, 73 and 75 from above. If the auger is rotating, it drives the feed into its respective down spout. Thus, the auger 71 is shown as operating and driving feed into the down spout 25. Drive means 77 such as an electric motor is used to drive a shaft 79. The shaft 79 passes through each of the augers 71, 73 and 75 and is journaled in the hopper casing 23, the shaft 79 extending therefrom on the right hand end. Also mounted to the shaft are clutch members 83 which are driven with the shaft 79 by means of pins 85 inserted through the shaft 79. Upon rotation, pin 85 rotates and engages clutch surface 81 and causes the clutch to rotate along with shaft 79. In FIGS. 3 and 4, the clutches 83 for augers 73 and 75 are shown in their retracted position so that shaft 79 is not coupled to them. The clutches 83 contain on their ends two opposed projections 87 adapted to engage slots 89 on the ends of the augers 71, 73 and 75. See the clutch for auger 71 which is drawn in the operational position with projections 87 engaging the auger slots 89. The clutches 83 are coupled to the solenoids by means of linkages 90. These linkages include an arm 91 which is attached to a plate 93 by means of a pivot assembly 95. The arm 91 has a tip 97 at one end thereof which engages the annular slot 99 in the clutch 83. The other end of arm 91 is pinned to the solenoid rod 101 by means of a pin 103. The two solenoids 65b and 65c are shown in their retracted, actuated position. The solenoid rods 101 are normally held in an unactuated position by means of springs 105 disposed between the arms 91 and the plate 93 which tend to rotate the arms 91 in a clockwise direction to retract the solenoid rods 101 to cause the clutches 83 to engage and the augers 71, 73 and 75 to supply feed. If one of the switches such as the two switches 63 associated with solenoids 65b and 65c are operated, the solenoids operate to draw rod 101 in, acting against the spring force of the spring 105, to disengage its associated clutch 83. 
     FIGS. 5 and 6 show respectively a cross sectional side elevation view and a cross sectional front elevation view of the end of a feed spout 25, for example, showing the attachment of the feed sensing assembly 31 thereon. As illustrated, the bracket 61 on the end of the spout 25 is used as a means of attaching the member 41a thereto. This is accomplished with the conventional nut and bolt arrangement 107. Also shown on this figure again is the guide 43 at the end of the arm portion 35 and the wire loop 45. The microswitch 63 is illustrated in dotted lines within the cover 51 with the sensing member 53 extending therefrom. As illustrated, the bracket 61 is slotted thereby permitting adjustment of the member 41 so that the wire member 45 and the sensor 53 can be properly positioned. 
     In operation, the feed assembly 11 which is supported for movement along the length of the battery in the manner described in the aforementioned patents and applications, is moved in a direction away from the viewer as seen in FIG. 1. During this movement, a certain amount of stirring and smoothing of any remaining feed will take place by means of the wire loop 45 (see FIG. 6). Once at the far end of the battery, the feeding operation is commenced. When there is insufficient feed in the troughs, sensor 53 is pushed to close the microswitch 63, as the system 11 moves in the direction of arrow 109 shown on FIG. 6, i.e., in a direction towards the observer as seen from FIG. 1. Microswitches 63 remain open and springs 105 bias the respective clutches 83 to the engaging position so that augers 71, 73 and 75 are feeding feed to their respective troughs 21. If sensor 53 encounters a predetermined amount of feed such as the pile of feed 69 shown in FIG. 6, the switch will be closed operating the respective solenoid 65 to disengage the associated clutch 83 to stop the auger associated therewith from turning and thus stop supplying feed to that particular trough. 
     When the auger rotation stops, there remains feed in the down spout. By positioning the sensors to lead the down spout, this remaining feed is deposited ahead of the accumulated feed. Thus, the forward positioning of the sensor accounts for the lag within the feeding system. The auger will remain disengaged as long as the sensor 53 is running through feed finding resistance. It should be noted, that the height of the sensor 53 above the bottom of the feed trough 21 is adjusted so as to provide the desired level of feed therein. The wire member 45 following behind the down spout 25, stirs and smoothes out the feed thus tending to equalize the amount of feed whether it be feed remaining or feed just deposited from the down spout 25 and indicated by the arrows 111. Thus, by the time the system 11 reaches the end of the battery, moving in the direction of arrow 109, a constant level of feed which is sufficient for a feeding of the poultry in the cages, remains in the troughs 21 without accumulation of feed. Accordingly, the minimum required amount of feed is always supplied to each of the troughs and excess or accumulated feed is eliminated. 
     Although the above description is directed to a preferred embodiment of the invention, it is noted that other variations and modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art and, therefore, may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.