US 4,069,793 AGranted

Automatic pet feeder

OwnerSamuel Gowerinventor

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

Abstract

Pet feeding apparatus including a plurality of food-containing tubes, each of which is opened at spaced time intervals by a trap door held closed by the retractable plunger of an electrical relay connected in electrical series to an electrical timer. Upon receiving a signal from the timer, the plunger of the relay is retracted to allow the trap door to open by gravity to dispense pet food in one of the food tubes. Simultaneously, a solenoid valve is opened for a fixed time interval to drain water from a water tank to mix with the pet food and to supply drinking water for the pet.

Claims2

Dependent claims

Pet feeding apparatus comprising:

a cabinet having a top wall, a bottom wall, and a pair of side walls extending between said top and bottom walls,
a horizontal partition in said cabinet between said side walls extending generally parallel to said top and bottom walls, closer to said bottom wall than said top wall,
a dry pet food bowl and a water bowl in said cabinet beneath said horizontal partitions,
a plurality of food tubes mounted in said cabinet extending from said top wall to said horizontal partition to feed dry pet food into said dry pet food bowl positioned in said cabinet therebeneath in the space between said horizontal partition and said bottom wall,
a water tank mounted in said cabinet,
conduit means connected to said water tank extending between said tank and said horizontal partition for draining water from said water tank into both said dry pet food bowl and said water bowl positioned therebeneath in the space between said horizontal partition and said bottom wall, said conduit means including a main drain pipe and branch drain pipe connected to said main drain pipe extending above each of said bowls,
a freely pivotable door associated with each of said food tubes to prevent the dispensing of dry pet food from said tubes when closed and to permit the dispensing of dry pet food from said tubes when opened,
electrical relay means associated with each of said pivotable doors having a retractible plunger in sliding contact with the bottom of each of said doors and normally retaining each said door closed, but responsive to a periodic electrical signal for sequentially retracting said plungers to alternately disengage each of said doors, said doors thereby opening responsive to the force of gravity,
electrical timer apparatus in said cabinet for supplying said periodic sequential electrical signal to said electrical relay means, and
electrically-operated solenoid valve means in said main drain pipe responsive to the same periodic electrical signal received by said electrical means to sequentially retract each of said plungers for sequentially opening and closing each branch pipe of said conduit means for a predetermined timed interval to drain water from said tank into said dry pet food bowl and said water bowl.

7 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

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Abstract

Pet feeding apparatus comprising:

a cabinet having a top wall, a bottom wall, and a pair of side walls extending between said top and bottom walls,
a horizontal partition in said cabinet between said side walls extending generally parallel to said top and bottom walls, closer to said bottom wall than said top wall,
a dry pet food bowl and a water bowl in said cabinet beneath said horizontal partitions,
a plurality of food tubes mounted in said cabinet extending from said top wall to said horizontal partition to feed dry pet food into said dry pet food bowl positioned in said cabinet therebeneath in the space between said horizontal partition and said bottom wall,
a water tank mounted in said cabinet,
conduit means connected to said water tank extending between said tank and said horizontal partition for draining water from said water tank into both said dry pet food bowl and said water bowl positioned therebeneath in the space between said horizontal partition and said bottom wall, said conduit means including a main drain pipe and branch drain pipe connected to said main drain pipe extending above each of said bowls,
a freely pivotable door associated with each of said food tubes to prevent the dispensing of dry pet food from said tubes when closed and to permit the dispensing of dry pet food from said tubes when opened,
electrical relay means associated with each of said pivotable doors having a retractible plunger in sliding contact with the bottom of each of said doors and normally retaining each said door closed, but responsive to a periodic electrical signal for sequentially retracting said plungers to alternately disengage each of said doors, said doors thereby opening responsive to the force of gravity,
electrical timer apparatus in said cabinet for supplying said periodic sequential electrical signal to said electrical relay means, and
electrically-operated solenoid valve means in said main drain pipe responsive to the same periodic electrical signal received by said electrical means to sequentially retract each of said plungers for sequentially opening and closing each branch pipe of said conduit means for a predetermined timed interval to drain water from said tank into said dry pet food bowl and said water bowl.

7 more elements