US 4,176,767 AGranted

Dog food dispenser

OwnerDarius C. Franche, IVinventor

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Abstract

A bin with a hopper bottom is provided for storing and dispensing dog food, including a sliding gate located at the bottom of the hopper for regulating flow of dog food from the bin. The gate includes a solid center section which prohibits flow of dog food from the bin when positioned across the outlet hole at the bottom of the hopper, an opening which allows dog food to flow from the bin when positioned in alignment with the outlet hole, and handle means on its forward end projecting out the front of the dog food dispenser for convenient manual operation. The sliding gate also includes unique forms of agitators connected thereto and protruding upwardly through the outlet hole and into the bin in such a way as to agitate the dog food in the vicinity of the outlet hole as the gate is slidably moved thereby breaking down bridging of the dog food particles and encouraging smooth flow of the dog food from the bin.

Claims17

Dependent claims

In apparatus for storing and dispensing dry pellet-like food particles in which a storage bin has a hopper bottom with an outlet hole at its lower extremity for allowing food particles to flow out of said bin, the improvement comprising:

a slidable gate traversing said outlet hole in said hopper bottom for regulating the flow of food particles out of the bin, said gate having an elongated generally rectangular body and provided with a handle at one end, a solid center section, and an opening at its opposite end such that sliding said gate longitudinally in one direction results in aligning said solid center section with said outlet hole for effectively closing said outlet hole to preclude flow of food particles from said bin and sliding said gate longitudinally in the opposite direction results in aligning said opening with said outlet hole to allow food particles to flow out of the bin;
an upper plate sealed against and extending both in one direction from said outlet hole and in the opposite direction from said outlet hole, said upper plate having a hole therein concentric with said outlet hole to allow food particles to flow therethrough, a lower plate in parallel spaced-apart relation to said upper plate, said lower plate also having a hole therethrough axially aligned with said outlet hole, wiper means extending downwardly from said upper plate adjacent said hole in said upper plate for wiping any food particles on the upper surface of said gate into said opening as said gate is slidably moved open or closed thereby preventing build-up of food particles between said gate and said upper plate which could otherwise inhibit free movement of said gate;
and
agitator means on said sliding gate extending upwardly through said outlet hole into said bin for agitating the food particles in the immediate vicinity of said opening as said gate is slidably moved in either direction to encourage removal of the food particles from said bin as said gate is advanced to align said opening with said hole.

1 more element

In apparatus for storing and dispensing dry pellet-like food particles in which a storage bin has an outlet hole at its lower extremity for allowing food particles to flow out of said bin, the improvement comprising:

a slot in one wall of said bin, and two slots in spaced-apart relation to each other in the wall of said bin that is diametrically opposite said one wall,
an elongated, generally rectangular gate slidably positioned in said slots and traversing the interior of said bin over said outlet hole, said gate having a handle at one end external of said bin, a solid center section of a width approximately equal to the width of said bin at the section of said bin through which said gate traverses said bin such that the lateral edges of said gate at said center section are in slidable contact with said lateral walls of said bin to seal against food particles flowing downwardly in said bin between said lateral edges of said gate and the lateral walls of said bin, and
two relatively narrow fingers extending longitudinally outward in said opposite direction from said solid center section in parallel, spaced-apart relation to each other, the space between said fingers forming an opening in said gate, said center section being slidably positioned in said slot in said one wall and said fingers being slidably received and supported in said slots in said diametrically opposite wall of said bin.

An apparatus for storing and dispensing granular material, comprising:

a storage bin having a hopper bottom with an outlet hole at the lower extremity thereof, said hopper bottom having a larger slotted guide hole in its front wall and at least one smaller slotted guide hole in its rear wall;
a gate in said hopper bottom across said outlet hole, said gate having a solid center section positioned in and slidably supported by said larger slotted hole, at least one guide finger extending rearwardly from said solid center section positioned in and slidably supported by said smaller slotted hole, and a handle portion extending forward from said solid center section for manipulation of said gate whereby slidably moving said gate rearwardly aligns said solid center section across said outlet hole to inhibit material from flowing out of said bin and slidably moving said gate forwardly aligns said finger across said outlet hole thus allowing material to freely flow downwardly past said finger and out of said bin.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.