Ground-supported poultry drinking fountain

A poultry drinking fountain comprising:

• a generally bell-shaped member with a generally annular trough portion at the lower end thereof, and a hollow interior,
• a ground-engaging support member adapted to have sufficient mass to support said bell-shaped member in an upright position so that poultry may drink out of said trough portion without tip-over, said support member disposed within the hollow interior of said bell-shaped member, and having generally the same diameter as said bell-shaped member interior,
• a valve member for supplying water from a source to said trough portion, said valve member normally spring-biased into a closed flow-preventing position, but movable against the spring bias into an open flow-allowing position,
• a valve support member for said valve for mounting said valve member in a generally vertically-extending position,
• connection means extending from said support member through said bell-shaped member to said valve support member for rigidly attaching said support member to said valve support member, said connecting means including adjustment means for providing adjustment of the vertical spacing of said valve support member, and thus said generally annular trough, from the bottom of said support member, so that the fountain is adjustable to provide said trough portion at the optimum height for poultry from birth to maturity,
• said connection means including a single rod concentric with said support member and said bell-shaped member;
• and said adjustment means comprising a plurality of openings formed at vertically spaced points along said rod, an opening formed in said valve support member adapted to cooperate with said openings in said rod, one-at-a-time, and releasable means passing through said valve support member opening and one of said openings in said rod for affixing said valve support member and said rod together,
• an abutment surface on said bell-shaped member for operatively engaging said valve member to move it against its spring-bias from the closed to the open position, and
• spring means for suspending said bell-shaped member from said valve support member independent of said connection means so that said annular trough will reciprocate vertically under the influence of said spring means with varying amounts of water disposed in said trough, causing said valve member to open to allow flow of water into said trough when the amount of water in said trough is small enough so that said abutment member moves under the influence of said spring means into operative contact with said valve member.