IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF AUTOMATIC APPARATUS FOR FEEDING HORSES AND OTHER CATTLE"
Year: 1883

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Parker Milbourne, of Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF
AUTOMATIC APPARATUS FOR FEEDING HORSES AND OTHER CATTLE"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Parker Milbourne at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 4th January 1883.
JOHN PARKER MILBOURNE of Manchester in the County of Lancaster
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF AUTOMATIC APPARATUS FOR FEEDING
HORSES AND OTHER CATTLE"
This invention relates principally to the construction of apparatus which can be
charged with the food at any time and will at any future definite hour discharge
such food into the feeding trough, so that the attendants can charge the apparatus
with food for a number of horses or other cattle (say) overnight, and at any desired
time (early in the morning for instance) the said food will be automatically supplied
to the feeding troughs.
Upon the central boss or sleeve of the hour hand of a clock I fit a small cam
having a gradual rise and a sudden fall or step (ordinarily called a "snail" cam)
which cam fits tightly but is capable of being set so that the position of the fall or
step shall correspond to any particular hour at which the food may be desired to be
supplied. Against this cam bears one end of a slight lever the other end of which is
connected with a sliding rod provided with a spring. One end of the sliding rod
comes against a weight at the upper end of a lever which is held in a nearly
perpendicular position above a short stud upon which it is mounted loosely. On
the same stud is also similarly mounted a second weighted lever which is much
longer and more powerful than the first and is provided with a much heavier
weight.
This second lever is also provided with a shorter arm connected by a link to a
catch which supports a lever attached to a valve which closes a shoot between a
hopper in the loft above and the feeding trough below.
The first weighted lever is provided with a hook or link (or a short piece of

page_text: chain) connecting it to the second or powerful weighted lever, but not acting upon
the latter until the former has fallen over a certain distance from the perpendicular
position.
The action of the apparatus is as follows. Before the attendant leaves the stable
or cattle shed at night he raises the valve in the shoot, and supports the lever on
the catch. He then supplies the proper amount of food to the hopper and lifts up
the weighted levers. This is all that he is required to do, The remaining operation
is "automatic." As the hour hand of the clock turns round, the snail cam acting
against the slight lever causes it gradually to withdraw the sliding rod from the
weight of the first weighted lever, compressing the spring. When the hour hand
has arrived at the required time the end of the slight lever falls down the step of
the cam and allows the spring to strike the end of the sliding rod against the first
weighted lever throwing it out of the perpendicular position. This lever then falls
and when it has fallen a certain distance it pulls over the second or more powerful
weighted lever, which then falls with considerable force, and its shorter arm acting
by the link withdraws the catch and allows the valve to fall down and discharge
the food from the hopper into the feeding trough.
Where a number of horses or other cattle are to be fed at the same time, each
feeding trough is supplied with its separate hopper and catch and the catches are
so arranged that the falling of the second weighted lever shall withdraw all the
catches at once.
Where a large number of animals are to be fed at one time it will of course be
requisite that the length and weight of the second lever shall be increased
according to the number of catches which it has to withdraw.
It will also be evident that this apparatus although only described as applicable
to the automatic feeding of animals, may also with equal advantage be applied for
other analogous purposes where it is required to effect the automatic discharge of a
certain previously supplied amount of material at a definite time.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said John Parker Milbourne in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
4th July 1883.
JOHN PARKER MILBOURNE of Manchester in the County of Lancaster
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF AUTOMATIC APPARATUS FOR FEEDING
HORSES AND OTHER CATTLE"
This invention relates principally to the construction of apparatus which can be
charged with food at any time, and will at any future definite hour discharge such
food into the feeding trough so that the attendants can charge the apparatus with
food for a number of horses or other cattle (say) overnight, and at any desired time
(early in the morning for instance) the said food will be automatically supplied to
the feeding troughs.
Such being the nature and object of my said invention I will now proceed to
describe in detail the manner in which the same is to be or may be performed or
carried into practical effect and in order that the same may be clearly understood I
bave annexed hereunto a sheet of drawings illustrative thereof and have marked
the same with figures and letters of reference corresponding with those in the
following explanation thereof.
Fig 1. in the annexed drawing represents an elevation of one modification of my
invention shown as applied to a vertical hopper or shoot (drawn in section) which
is fixed above the feeding trough.
Upon the central boss or sleeve of the hour hand of a clock represented by the
dotted circles I fit a small cam a having a gradual riso and a sudden fall or step b
(ordinarily called a "snail" cam) which cam fits tightly but is capable of being set
so that the position of the fall or step 6 shall correspond to any particular hour at
which the food may be desired to be supplied. Against this cam a bears one end
of a slight lever c, c the other end of which is connected with a sliding rod d, d
provided with a spring e, e one end of the sliding rod d, d comes against a
weight ffat the upper end of the lever gg which is held in a nearly perpendicular
position above a short stud h, h upon which it is mounted loosely. On the same
stud h, h is also similarly mounted a second weighted lever i, i which is much
longer and more powerful than the first and is provided with a much heavier
weight. This second lever i, i is also provided with a shorter arm k, k connected
by a link wire or cord l, to a catch m, m which holds in place a lever n, n
attached to a valve o, o which closes a shoot p, p between a hopper in the loft
above and the feeding trough below. The first weighted lever g, g is provided
with a hook or link g¹, g' or a short piece of chain connecting it to the second or
powerful weighted lever i, i but not acting upon the latter until the former has
fallen over a certain distance from the perpendicular position as shown by the
dotted lines x, . The action of the apparatus is as follows.
Before the attendant leaves the stable or cattle shed at night he raises the
valve o, o in the shoot p, p and supports the same by means of the catch m m.
He then supplies the proper amount of food to the hopper and lifts up the weighted
levers g, g and i, i resting the latter against the stop ix. This is all that he is
required to do. The remaining operation is automatic. As the hour hand of the
clock turns round the snail cam a, a acting against the slight lever cc causes it
gradually to withdraw the sliding rod d, d from the weight of the first weighted
Tever
99 compressing the spring e, e. When the hour hand has arrived at the
required time the end of the slight lever c, c falls down the step 6 of the cam a, a
and allows the spring e, e to strike the end of the sliding rod d, d against the first

page_text: weighted lever g, g throwing it out of the perpendicular position. This lever then
falls and when it has fallen a certain distance it pulls over the second or more
powerful weighted lever i, i which then falls with considerable force, and its
shorter arm k, k acting by the link 2, withdraws the catch m, m and allows the
valve o, o to fall down and discharge the food from the hopper into the feeding 5
trough.
Where a number of horses or other cattle are to be fed at the same time, each
feeding trough is supplied with its separate hopper and catch, and the catches are
so arranged that the falling of the second weighted lever shall withdraw all the
catches at once. A modification of my invention is shown at Fig. 2 on the
drawings and I may here remark that as it is sometimes desirable to supply part
only of the fodder at the first, and the rest when this has been consumed (say half
an hour or more or less afterwards) I have in this Fig illustrated and described the
application of my invention to this case. The clock, the cam a, a and the slight
lever c, c are similar to those in the first described arrangement excepting that the 1
cam has a double step b. The lever c, c is attached by a wire d, à to two bell
crank levers e, e' having a spiral or other spring f, which draws the lever c, o
tightly against the cam a. A pin projecting from the lower arm of the bell crank
lever c, e has resting against it a vertical lever g, g which is inclined slightly to the
right of its fixed centre hand as soon as the tooth on the end of the lever c, c 2
escapes from the first part of the step 6 of the cam a the spring pushes the
lever g,g past its vertical centre, and it then falls into the position indicated by the
dotted line b, b.
In connection with the above is a Z-shaped lever k, k mounted upon a fixed
centro at 1, . Upon a stud m in the Z shaped lever k, k is also mounted loosely as
bell crank lever n, n the vertical arm of which is weighted; and pivotted to the
lower or horizontal arm of the Z-shaped lever k, k is a boss o through which passes
loosely the lower arm of a lever p, p mounted on a fixed centro at q, 9 and
connected at its upper end by a link r, r to a lever 8, s fixed on the hinge of the
flap t, t which closes the shoot u, u and supports the fodder above it.
Ho
In order to prevent the whole of the fodder from falling down the shoot u, u
when the flap t, t falls I arrange a sliding division t, placed above the said flap
and formed with prongs like a fork (see Fig. 2) and I cause this to be worked by
means of the cord, by a second apparatus shown on the left hand side of the
дол
clock and similar in every particular to that which releases the flap. A cord, t
attached in any convenient manner to a weight being used to withdraw the
sliding division when the second part of the step has upset this second apparatus.
The action of this modification is as follows. Before the attendant leaves the
stables, or the cattle shed at night, he first raises the vertical lever g, g into the
position shown on the drawing, and rests it against the small bell crank e, e.
then raises the weighted lever n, n up into position, bringing with it the Z-shaped
lever k, k and by means of the lover p, p closos the valve or flap t, t in the shoot u, u.
After which he places the required amount of fodder on the said valve or flap. Ho
then puts the second releasing apparatus into a similar position as shown (the
lever g', g' resting against the stop g²) this draws the sliding division t¹, t¹ into its
place by means of the bell crank lever t³, t³ and divide the fodder into two parts
and the apparatus is then ready for action. It will be observed that the weight
of the fodder cannot open the valve or flap t, t when the levers are in the position
shown because the direction of the thrust of the lower arm of the lever p, p is in a
line with the fixed centre 1, 7 of the Z-shaped lever k, k. At the appointed time
in the morning the action of the clock will have brought the first part of the step b
of the cam a opposite to the tooth or projection on the lever c, c As the tooth
escapes the first part of this step, the spring will pull down the small bell
cranks e and e' causing the former to push the vertical fever g, g past its centre,
when it falls over into the position indicated by the dotted line i, i and comes
against a finger v projecting from the end of the horizontal arm of the bell crank
lever n, n bringing the weight past the centre, when the latter immediately falls

page_text: over into the position shown by the dotted lines m', m'. The upper part of this
lever in its turn comes against a finger w projecting from the end of the curved
arm of the Z-shaped lever k, k which pulls it over with it into the entirely
reversed position shown by the dotted lines x, x carrying the lever p, p over with
it, and by means of the link r, and lever 8, 8 opening the valve or flap t, t and
allowing that part of the fodder below the division t, t' to fall down the shoot u, u
into the feeding trough. About half an hour (more or less) afterwards the tooth on
the lever c. c escapes the second part of the step on the cam a, a and by means of
the small sliding rod or wire efe upsets the second apparatus and allows the
division t', t to be withdrawn by the weighted cord or wire t, or by other
equivalent means thereby supplying the remainder of the fodder to the trough
Where a number of horses or other cattle are to be fed at the same time, each
feeding trough is supplied with its separate hopper and shoot, and the valves or
flaps of the same are all fixed on a long shaft, so that the falling over of the
weighted lever n, n shall open all the valves t, t at once.
The divisions t¹, t¹ aro
also connected to one lever so that they are all opened at once. If it be preferred
to supply all the fodder to the trough at once I only use a single step on the cam a
and a single arrangement of levers e, k, n, p, dispensing also with the division t', t¹,
and it will be evident that the releasing of the flap t, t will supply the whole of
the fodder at once.
In cases where the feeding trough is not supplied from above by a shoot, either
of these modifications (instead of opening a valve or flap) may be made to open a
hinged door, so as to give access to the fodder which has been previously placed in
the feeding trough or manger which latter in this case is enclosed instead of being
open. And it will be evident that water may also be supplied to the animals by
similar means. When a large number of animals are to be fed at one time the
strength of the apparatus will of course have to be proportioned to the amount of
work to be done. It will be seen that the principal feature of my invention is
that there is only a very slight amount of weight or friction brought to bear on
the cam on the clock; all that it has to do being merely to disturb the equilibrium
of the first lever which is comparatively light, and this lever in falling brings over
with it the principal weighted lever, which latter does all the work of unlocking
the catches or opening the doors or valves. It will also be evident that this
apparatus, although only described as applicable to the automatic feeding of
animals may also with equal advantage be applied for other analogous purposes
where it is required to effect the automatic discharge of a certain previously
supplied amount of material at a definite time.
Having now described the nature and object of my said invention together with
the manner in which the same is to be or may be performed or carried into
practical effect I wish it to be understood that I claim as my invention The
combination with a snail cam or other equivalent device attached to a clock, of
automatic light and heavy weighted levers (substantially as above described) which
upon the clock reaching a certain fixed hour will open a valve, flap, or door, and
thus supply or give access to the fodder, water, or other material (previously placed
in readiness) either part at a time or all at once.
In witness whereof I the said John Parker Milbourne have hereunto set
my hand and seal this twenty ninth day of June in the year of our
Lord one thousand eight hundred and eighty three