Patent ID: 6910443

Claim:
An automatic feeding device for feeding animals, preferably pigs, comprising a funnel-shaped feed hopper having a lower outlet connected to a dispensing unit to be actuated by noses of the animals when eating feed from a feed plate below the dispensing unit, the device comprising a disc-shaped element disposed transversely of the outlet of the hopper and having an area substantially corresponding to an area of the outlet, wherein the dispensing unit further comprises a tubular duct with an upper end having an area larger than the area of the outlet of the hopper, and a slot provided between a rim of the disc-shaped element disposed at the upper end of the duct, and an inner wall of the duct, the dispensing unit being displaceable vertically as it is mounted at a lower end of a control rod which extends through an interior of the hopper and which is fastened to the hopper and to the dispensing unit, and wherein said rod is resilient and suspended further comprising mutually spaced tubular slide bushings fastened to the hopper, wherein the dispensing unit and the rod are deflectable for tipping the disc-shaped element with respect to the outlet of the hopper thereby providing for an elastic deflection of the dispensing unit by a given force in traverse direction acting on a lower end of the dispensing unit to enable feed to flow from the hopper through the dispensing unit to the feed plate.