of Food to Animals at Fixed Hours.
Year: 1886

page_text: of Food to Animals at Fixed Hours.
I BENJAMIN JOSEPH BARNARD MILLS of the firm of Harris and Mills of
23 Southampton Buildings in the County of Middlesex Patent Agent, do hereby
declare the nature of the said invention, communicated to me from abroad by Louis
Deguenant of Paris in the Republic of France Mechanician and Lock Maker, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
The invention relates to a new system of box and apparatus capable of
automatically distributing at previously determined hours of the day or night, the
various aliments which serve for the ordinary nourishment of animals, horses and
farm animals.
The new system has for its object to avoid all work of surveillance and
distribution of the food of animals and further it prevents all danger of fraud or
of unfaithfulness in this distribution.
The box and apparatus, being portable, a traveller can place it in his carriage
charge it at his will, place it in the rack of the stable so that at the required hour
the food can fall into the manger placed below.
:
This box can be made of any desired form, it is formed with one, two or more
compartments each furnished with an opening, which is closed by a trap door or
valve worked by rods and levers or other means which are operated by a
clockwork movement giving motion to a cam of suitable form upon which the
above named levers rest in such manner as to open one trap door or slide first and
then another at determined intervals of time especially in case the box supplies
automatically both solid food and drink.
I have represented in the accompanying drawing a specimen of box constructed
according to the invention having two compartments and permitting the distribution
of water and corn to horses.
In the drawings similar letters of reference indicate like parts.
;
Figure 1. is a front view of the box for the automatic distribution of the

page_text: Figure 2 is a vertical cross section of the same drawn on the axis of the opening
for the distribution of water, showing the arrangement of the interior receiver.
Figure 3 is a vertical cross section drawn on the axis of the opening for the
distribution of corn, showing the form of the interior metal receiver.
Figure 4 is an elevation showing the box as seen from the interior with the
whole of the mechanical parts whereby the opening and closing of the valves is
effected.
Figures 5 and 6 are views of details of the arrangement employed for adapting
upon the receiver the conduit which conducts the water from the said receiver into
the manger.
Figures 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 are details of the cam and of the clock movement
which operates it.
The specimen of box A represented has a prismatic form whose base is of form
such as to adapt itself readily to the racks of stables. This box A is provided with
a cover a with hinges and a suitable lock c. Upon the cover a is fixed a handle d
to enable it to be carried easily.
The interior of this box is preferably of metal, the exterior can be of wood.
Between the most inclined exterior sido e and the interior side of metal e¹ is, a
space which serves to receive the various parts operating the valves or dampers for
opening and closing the outlet orifices for the aliments. Upon the face e and at
the exterior is placed at fan ordinary clock dial which can be fixed and removed
easily for this purpose it slides by its lateral edges in a frame f; a plain slide 2
serves to mask the dial f. This clock dial f carries the entire clock movement,
which I will describe further on, as also the cam which gives motion to the
levers g, gl which raise and lower the valves h, h¹, which slide along the side e in
suitable guides k, k¹.
Upon a plate mounted on the side e is fixed to the clock movement which gives
motion to the cam m; this cam has the form of a cylindrical disc from which
a quadrant has been removed; it moves around an axis o by the intervention of
a toothed wheel p upon which it is fixed by means of two pins q. Upon the
periphery of this cam m move two levers g¹ of different lengths which oscillate
around a single axis a fixed to the plate 1, these levers are furnished with a slot at
their ends opposite to those which touch the cam m and springs v vl act to raise
them in these slots move buttons r¹ fixed to the connecting rods t t¹ which carry
at their opposite ends the valves or dampers h h' which open and close the outlet
orifices for the water and corn. The connecting rods t and t¹ are slotted in a part
of their length, and buttons or studs ¹ fixed on the side e of the box A enter
such slots and guide the connecting rods t t in their up and down motion.
20
The outlet tube u¹ for the corn is rectangular; it may be of metal and is fixed
on the side e by means of screws. Upon one part of its length it is covered by a
prolongation of the metallic interior of the receiver and it is upon this prolongation
that the lower end of the valve or damper h¹ abuts.
The outlet tube u for the water is cylindrical and of metal or other material, it
is also fixed upon the side e. Within this tube u is arranged an india rubber tube
the flange of which is tightly pressed in the interior against the metallic side of
the receiver by means of a ring piece fixed upon this side by screws or by a clamp
as represented by Figures 5 and 6 or by other means.
The clock movement which gives motion to the cam m is represented in
Figures 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 and it acts in the following manner.
The toothed wheel p receives its motion from a pinion p¹, which is mounted
upon the same intermediate axis as the toothed wheel p² which receives its motion
from the shaft of the clock movement, properly called, by the intervention of the
pinion p³ placed in front of the plate and behind the toothed wheel p, but this
pinion p is only connected with the shaft x (see Figure 10) by means of the
click y which takes into the teeth of a ratchet wheel mounted upon the shaft x.
The click y is fixed upon the exterior side of a sleeve y' which is in a single
piece with the pinion p³. This arrangement permits of removing the cam m and

page_text: the train of gearing placed immediately behind, without stopping the ordinary
clock movement B which is represented at Figure 8 with two going barrels. Other
clock movements even with a single going barrel could be used for the same
purpose. The entire of the train of gearing p. pl. p. p³. and the cam m being
mounted upon the shaft x of the clock movement, the cam turns and holds the
valves or dampers closed notwithstanding the action of the springs vv but when
the points of the levers come against that part of the disc where a portion thereof
has been removed the springs act to raise the valves or dampers the levers having
different lengths the action of the springs is produced successively and it will be
understood that the opening of the valves or dampers will be successively produced,
and at the end of a time more or less long, according to the excess of length given
to the one lever over the other. There can be thus given first the corn, then the
water or reciprocally or first the water and then the corn, then again water. The
cam can also be so arranged that the outlets can be more or less widely opened.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:-
1. The arrangement of a portable box capable of automatically distributing food
to animals at a given hour, comprising one or several compartments each of which
is furnished with outlets which are closed by valves, dampers, or other analogous
closing apparatus, which are worked by a cam or equivalent means put in motion
by a suitable clock movement substantially as herein shown and described.
2. The combination of a clock movement with a cam of particular form for tho
purpose of raising and lowering equal or unequal levers at a given time for working
valves or dampers which successively open a passage to the various foods of animals
substantially as herein shown and described.
3. The arrangement of a portable box such as herein described for enclosing the
food of animals and automatically distributing it at a given hour, with rectangular
outlet closed by a valve or damper worked by a guided connecting rod and by
slotted levers and with cylindrical outlet also closed by a valve or damper which
presses the two sides of an india rubber tube to choke it and stop the flow of the
liquid substantially as herein shown and described.
4. In a system of portable box for the automatic distribution of food to animals
the combination of a clock movement with a train of gearing and a cam, by means
of a cannon upon which is fixed a click which engages in the teeth of a ratchet
wheel keyed upon the shaft of the said movement in order thus to enable the
cam m to be displaced without stopping the motion of the clockwork substantially
as herein shown and described.