Poultry feeder with infinite adjustment

In a pan-type poultry feeding apparatus including a shallow upwardly-opening feed pan having a bottom wall, and an adjustable feed control assembly positioned above the center portion of the pan and projecting upwardly therefrom for adjustably controlling the flow of feed into said pan, the improvement wherein said adjustable feed control assembly consists solely of two tubular one-piece members, one of said members comprising a hollow feed-drop sleeve which is approximately vertically oriented, and the other of said members comprising a hollow one-piece flow-control sleeve which is also approximately vertically oriented, said flow-control sleeve having an upper portion thereof disposed in telescopic surrounding relationship to said feed-drop sleeve and being connected thereto, said flow-control sleeve projecting downwardly below said feed-drop sleeve so that the lower free end of the flow-control sleeve is positionable in close proximity to the bottom wall of said pan, each of said feed-drop and flow-control sleeves being constructed integrally in one piece of a plastic material, said feed-drop sleeve having a lower cylindrical portion which is externally threaded, said flow-control sleeve having an upper support ring which is internally threaded and is disposed in threaded engagement with the external thread on said feed-drop sleeve, the mating internal and external threads creating an interference fit therebetween for normally securely holding the flow-control sleeve in a selected elevation while enabling the flow-control sleeve to be selectively manually rotated relative to the feed-control sleeve to adjust the elevation thereof for varying the feed-discharge gap between the bottom wall of the pan and the lower free end of the flow-control sleeve, the interference fit between said internal and external threads being the sole structure for normally stationarily maintaining said flow-control sleeve in its selected adjusted position so that no additional locking devices are required, and said flow-control sleeve also including a conical skirt portion which is integrally fixed to and projects axially downwardly from said support ring and flares radially outwardly as it projects axially downwardly.

In a poultry feed-dispensing apparatus for mounting on a conveyor tube of a poultry feeding system, said feed-dispensing apparatus including a tubular feed-drop member adapted to be secured to and depend downwardly from the conveyor tube for discharging feed downwardly therethrough, a feed pan positioned below and spaced downwardly from the lower end of the feed-drop member for receiving feed therein, and a hollow feed-flow control member adjustably mounted on the feed-drop member in telescopic relationship therewith and projecting downwardly therefrom so that the lower end of the hollow control member is adjustably positionable above the bottom wall of the pan for controlling the flow of feed into the pan, the improvement wherein the feed-drop and control members having cooperating opposed threads disposed in meshing engagement for selectively adjusting the elevation of the control member in response to rotation thereof so as to vary the feed-discharge gap between the lower end of the control member and the bottom wall of the pan, the cooperating threads on the feed-drop and control members creating an interference fit therebetween for securely stationarily holding the control member in its selected adjusted position while permitting selected manual rotation of the control member for adjusting its elevation relative to the pan and hence adjusting said feed-discharge gap, and one of said feed-drop and control members having an elongated clearance groove formed therein and extending axially through the threaded portion thereof, said groove opening downwardly through the lower end of the threaded portion for free communication with the interior of the control member so that contaminants or feed which collect on the threads will be pushed into the clearance groove and then fall downwardly therethrough into the pan.