Patent ID: 6923142

Claim:
An animal feeder comprising: a hopper for containing a feed material to be dispensed to an animal for feeding therefrom; a receptacle for receiving the feed from the hopper from which the animal can take the feed; an opening through which the feed passes so that the amount of feed discharged from the hopper to the receptacle is controlled by a width of the opening; and an adjustment linkage for operating adjustment movement of the opening, the linkage including: a manually adjustable lever mounted for pivotal movement about a pivot axis; a link attached to the lever and to an element of the opening such that pivotal movement of the lever causes longitudinal movement of the link to effect adjustment of the opening; a plate defining a surface over which the lever moves, the surface defining an arcuate portion lying on a n arc of a circle surrounding the pivot axis of the lever; the arcuate portion of the surface being serrated to define an arcuate row of saw teeth; the lever having a lever edge which is also serrated with a row of saw teeth shaped to mesh with the saw teeth of the arcuate portion; the lever being movable from a meshing position to a non-meshing position in which the lever is free to move around the pivot axis to move the lever and the teeth thereof along the arcuate row of saw teeth to adjust the position of the link.