IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF PORTABLE HOUSES FOR POULTRY, GAME, DOGS, OR OTHER ANIMALS, AND OF COOPS
Year: 1875

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Alfred Edward Peirce at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
2nd April 1875.
I, ALFRED EDWARD PEIRCE, of 465, Oxford Street, in the County of
Middlesex, Agricultural and Horticultural Engincer, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF
PORTABLE HOUSES FOR POULTRY, GAME, DOGS, OR OTHER ANIMALS, AND OF COOPS,"
to be as follows:―
The chief objects of my Invention are to construct at a small cost houses
for poultry, game, dogs, or other animals, which can be easily folded up
into a compact form for transport or warehousing, which can be easily
cleaned out without requiring a person to enter them, and in which the
nests when the houses are used for birds can be got at from the outside,
also to construct coops for rearing poultry or game, which can in like
manner be folded into a compact form.
The manner in which I construct the houses for poultry or game is as
follows: I make the two sides separately from cach other and of any
desired configuration, but by preference of longitudinal boards fastened

page_text: together by screws or otherwise, so as to give the house a polygonal
form when seen in end view. Each of the two sides has at each of its
ends a board or end piece, one edge of which corresponds with tho
sectional configuration of the side of the house, to which it fits while the
other or inner edge is straight. The two sides of the house thus
constructed I unite together at the top by hinges which allow them
either to be brought together until the edges of the end boards of onc
side meet those of the other side, or to be separated so that their lower
edges are, say, about 4 feet more or less apart, there being then a
triangular opening of this width at the base, the apex being where the
two sides of the house meet. At the rear end of the house, I fit to one
of the sides by hinges a triangular door to fit this triangular opening,
this door being capable of folding inwards. At the front end I fit a
similar triangular door, which however extends only down to the level
of the floor of the house. The said floor is loose and rests upon ledges
or supports placed about 18 inches more or less from the ground, so
that the fowls have a covered "run" beneath the house. A portion of
one of the sides of the house above the level of the floor is made to open
downwards like a flap, so that not only can dirt, be scraped off the said
floor and through this opening (the nests being first removed) without
requiring the attendant to go inside, but the floor can if necessary be
lifted out.
Another object of having part of the side of the house made to open
in this manner is that the nests which are placed just inside this part
can be inspected and eggs removed without going inside; by first
opening the flap a little gently and shutting it again if a hen should be
on one of the nests the hen is not disturbed, it is important that this flap
should open downwards because then opening it to a very slight extent
will allow a person to sec if a hen is on nest. The nests are made
removable and by preference in the form of one long box divided
transversely into nests, thus when the house has to be cleaned they can
be all removed at once through the opened flap. There is a hole at the
front or other convenient part of the house for the hens to get in and
out, and there are one or more longitudinal roosting bars or perches,
which are supported in apertures in the end doors. A wirework "run"
of any ordinary construction may be fitted to the house.
In order to fold up the house for transport or warehousing the wire
run when one is used is removed, the roosting bars are next released,

page_text: then the end doors are moved inwards so as to lic against the inside of
the side or sides of the house, and finally, the two sides are brought
together on their hinges until their end boards meet, the width of the
whole being now not more than say two ſcet.
I construct houses for dogs or other animals in the same manner as I
have described for poultry houses with such obvious modifications as are
necessary in each particular case.
I also construct coops for rearing poultry or game in the same manner
as the poultry houses, so that they can be folded into a compact form
for transport or otherwise, that is to say, I make the two sides of the
coop separately, and provide them with end boards as before described;
I then unite them together at the top by hinges; I provide triangular
doors at the front and back to fill up the triangular spaces which exist
when the two sides are opened out, these doors being fitted on hinges on
which they can be folded inwards against the sides of the coop. In
addition to these doors I fit at the front and also at the back if required
a triangular frame of laths or bars, through which the chickens can go in
and out, this frame being also capable of folding inwards against the side
of the coop.
The door at the back is by preference fitted so that it will open
only sufficient to allow the hen to pass through when she wishes, a
sitting hen will thus be less likely to be disturbed than if the door was
fully opened.