Patent ID: 7891317

Claim:
An animal feeder for supplying a feed to an animal of choice for feeding the animal of choice in an unprotected environment such as the said feeder comprising a support frame including a base for supporting said feeder on a ground surface, said support frame extending upwardly from said base and supporting a hopper above the ground surface, said hopper having a storage reservoir for storing an associated supply of feed with a feed entry opening that is closeable to prevent exposure to the outdoors, said hopper further including a feed chute below said reservoir having an upper region sealingly joined to said reservoir and a lower region below said upper region that is sealingly joined to a generally horizontal and generally uniform feeding tube extending between a tube inner end and a tube outer end, said tube including a feeding chamber between said inner and outer ends, said outer end that is open to the outdoors forming a feeding opening such that said feeding opening is defined by an unobstructed inner perimeter edge in said outer opening which is sized to allow an associated animal's snout to enter the feeding tube and access the associated feed in the feeding chamber such that said unobstructed inner perimeter edge forming said feeding opening is formed by the complete circumference of said uniform tube, said feeding chamber being spaced from said outer end and a gravity flow of the associated feed moving said feed by gravity alone into said feeding chamber but said gravity flow ending before said outer end such that when said feed chute is substantially full of the associated feed the associated feed and said feeding chamber is spaced from said unobstructed inner perimeter edge of said feeding opening a distance generally equal to about half or more of the length of the snout of the animal of choice, said feeder further including a spill tray spaced from said gravity flow, said spill tray having an inner and an outer edge with upwardly extending edge walls including an outer upwardly extending edge wall extending from said outer edge, said spill tray being attached directly to said frame and extending outwardly from said frame such that said spill tray including said edge walls are all substantially spaced from said feeding opening allowing unrestricted access to said feeding opening by the associated animal such that the associated animal can feed from the feeding tube without interference from said spill tray.