Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 20th June, 1896
Complete Specification Left, 22nd Mar., 1897-Accepted, 8th May, 1897
I, WILLIAM BRENTON, of Polbathic, St. Germans, in the County of Cornwall,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
My invention relates to apparatus for maintaining a continuous supply of grain
in poultry feeding troughs.
My improved apparatus comprises a hopper of approximately V-shape in section
and of any desired length, the lower part of the said hopper being open and placed
above the trough at such a distance therefrom that openings are left between the
lower edges of the sides of the hopper and the trough through which the grain
can pass.
In practice I find it advantageous to make the trough double and to arrange that
the grain shall flow into the two sides of the same but, if desired, the hopper can be
arranged in conjunction with a single trough only.
In order to regulate, the feed I arrange sliding doors for adjusting the size of the
slits or openings through which the grain passes, the said doors being operated by
means of screws or other suitable means from the upper side of the hopper. The
hopper is closed at the top by means of a cover.
The heads of the regulating screws. may have holes formed in them or be
otherwise so arranged that they can be fixed together with the cover by means of
a rod to which.a. padlock or the like may be connected.
It will be understood that when the regulating slide or slides is or are properly
adjusted, the supply of grain; from the hopper will correspond with the rate at
which the food is consumed.,
When my apparatus is used for feeding chickens only I sometimes place a screen
over the troughs to prevent the large poultry from feeding on chicken food.
Dated this 20th day of June 1896
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicant
I, WILLIAM BRENTON, of Polbathic, St. Germans, in the County of Cornwall,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:-
My invention relates to apparatus for maintaining a continuous supply of grain
in poultry feeding troughs.
My improved apparatus comprises a hopper of approximately V-shape in section
and of any desired length, the lower part of the said hopper being open and placed
above the feeding trough at such a distance therefrom that slits or openings are

page_text: left between the lower edges of the sides of the hopper and the trough through
which the grain can pass.
In order to regulate the feed I arrange sliding doors for adjusting the size of the
slits or openings through which the grain passes, the said doors being operated by
means of screws or other suitable means from the upper side of the hopper. The
hopper is closed at the top by means of a cover.
The heads of the regulating screws may have holes formed in them or be
otherwise so arranged that they can be fixed together with the cover by means of a
rod to which a padlock or the like may be connected.
When my apparatus is used for feeding chickens only I sometimes place a screen
over the troughs to prevent the large poultry from feeding on the chickens' food.
To enable my invention to be fully understood I will describe the same by
reference to the accompanying drawing, in which :--
Figure 1 is a perspective view of my improved poultry feeder; and,
Figure 2 is a transverse section of the same:
Figure 3 is a. view similar to Figure 1 but shewing the application of a screen
over one trough; and,
Figure 4 is a sectional end elevation of this arrangement.
a is a double trough which as shewn is mounted upon suitable feet or supports
and is the hopper or box into which the grain is placed and from which it
gravitates into the troughs through openings d, d formed between the said troughs
and the lower edges of the sides of the hopper. The said box at the top is closed
by a lid c¹..
e, e are the sliding doors which are arranged to regulate the size of the
openings d, d the said doors being operated by means of screws f, f which engage
with nuts 9, 9 on the said sliding doors and at their upper ends carry thumb
heads h, by means of which the screws are rotated. It will be obvious that, the
screw rods, J, being held against longitudinal movement, the rotation of the said
rods in one or the other direction will cause the raising or lowering of the sliding
doors to regulate the size of the slits or openings through which the grain passes.
It will be understood that with this arrangement, as long as grain is contained in
the hopper, a certain quantity will flow into the troughs and that as the grain is
removed from the trough by the fowls a further quantity of grain will flow into the
said troughs and so on, the supply of grain corresponding with the rate at which
'the food is consumed..
To prevent the sliding doors from being moved by unauthorised persons
I advantageously arrange the thumb heads h, with eyes through. which a rod i
adapted to be secured by a lock, as at ; may be passed; this rod may be arranged
to be locked by means of the lock which secures the hasp of the cover c¹ of the
hopper, as shewn in Figure 1.
W
k is the screen which I sometimes attach to the feeder for protecting chickens
whilst feeding. This screen is solid at its upper part 7 and provided with bars m, m
at its lower part, the said bars permitting of the entrance of the chickens whilst the
solid part prevents the fowls from interfering with the chickens whilst feeding.
n is an inclined plane leading up to the level of the trough.
Although in the drawings I have represented the feeder as being provided with
two troughs it is to be understood that it may be provided with one trough only.
When two troughs are used I in some cases provide a longitudinal partition so
that one kind of food will be supplied at one side of the trough and another kind
at the opposite side. This arrangement is of special advantage when the feeder is
adapted at one side for feeding chickens.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. A poultry feeder, wherein a hopper is arranged in conjunction with a trough
into which the food gravitates from the hopper through a slot in the bottom of the

page_text: latter in such a manner that when a certain quantity of food has passed from the
hopper into the trough the flow will cease until such time as the quantity of food
in the trough is reduced, substantially as described.
2. In a poultry feeding apparatus wherein a trough and a hopper are arranged
in such relation to each other that the grain from the hopper flows into the trough
through a slit or opening at the lower edge of the said hopper, a sliding door for
controlling the size of the slit through which the food passes, substantially as.
described.
3. The combination with a poultry feeder of the kind herein before described of
a chicken screen, substantially as set forth.
4. The manufacture and use of poultry feeders constructed substantially as-
bereinbefore described and illustrated in the accompanying drawing.
Dated this 20th day of March 1897
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicant..