Automatic feeder
AssigneeSeikosha Co., Ltd.
InventorsTakumi Matsuda, Keiichi Yoshizawa
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An automatic feeder for tropical fish comprises a rotatable container containing granular feed and a driving device for rotating the container only at preselected times to discharge a predetermined amount of feed from the container. A switch turns on a drive motor at the preselected times to rotate the container, and a pre-settable timer controls the actuation of the switch. The container has a rectangular shape and is divided into a feed-receiving portion and a feed-discharge portion which communicate with each other through an adjustable opening. Rotation of the container through one revolution causes a predetermined amount of feed to flow from the feed-receiving portion through the opening into the feed-discharge portion for discharge from the container.
Claims29
An automatic feeder for tropical fishes or the like having a feed container for receiving granular feed and a driving device for rotating said container in order to discharge a certain amount of feed from said container, the combination comprising:
- said driving device comprising a device casing, a driving motor disposed in said casing, a rotational shaft driven by said motor and outwardly and horizontally projecting out a rear portion of said casing, and a timer mechanism disposed in said casing and for controlling actuations of said motor at pre-set times,
- said timer mechanism including setting means located at a front portion of said casing for presetting desired times to discharge feed from said container,
- said container having a rectangular shape having a discharge port which is opened in a portion of one side wall of said container, a partition wall which inwardly extends from the edge of said discharge port and which functions to partition said container into a receiving part for receiving said granular feed and a discharge path, said receiving part and said discharge path communicating with each other through a communicating hole formed in the end portion of said partition wall, and an adjusting member for adjusting the size of said communicating hole, the member slidably contacting said partition wall.
An automatic feeder comprising:
- a displaceable container for receiving animal feed and having discharging means for discharging the animal feed;
- driving means operative when activated for displacing the container to effect the discharge of a predetermined amount of animal feed by the discharging means;
- and
- means for activating the driving means only at desired preset times, the means for activating comprising switching means for switching the driving means between activated and non-activated states, movable contacting means for contacting the switching means, engaging means for engaging the contacting means at the preset times thereby enabling the contacting means to contact the switching means at the preset times, and rotating means for rotating the engaging means to engage the contacting means at the preset times.
A dispenser for dispensing a flowable material at preselected times, comprising:
- a container for containing a flowable material during use of the dispenser and having discharging means for discharging a predetermined amount of the material from the container;
- means mounting the container to undergo a cycle of motion during which the discharging means discharges the predetermined amount of material from the container;
- driving means operative when actuated for driving the container through one cycle of motion, the driving means including a drive motor having a normally off state and being operative when switched to an on state to effect driving of the container through one cycle of motion;
- and
- actuating means for actuating the driving means only at preselected times, the actuating means including switching means for switching the drive motor to the on state at the preselected times, a timekeeping movement for keeping time and providing a rotary output as a function of time, and means driven by the rotary output for actuating the switching means.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.