Apparatus for deterring animals from avian enclosures
AssigneeBirdQuest, LLC
InventorPatrick Thomas Marshall
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus for deterring certain kinds of animals from birdfeeders and birdhouses consists of rotating such avian enclosures at a sufficient speed to deter the undesirable animal. An electronic baffle rotates the avian enclosures at variable speeds for which fast speeds are used to deter animals and slow speeds are used for better viewing of birds. A support suspends the baffle from a tree or mounts the baffle to a pole in the ground. An electronic circuit contained within the baffle senses the animal's presence and controls the speed of a motor that rotates the avian enclosures for a predetermined period of time. Optionally, remote control circuitry may be used in manually deterring animals from the avian enclosures and for better viewing of birds.
Claims41
An apparatus for attaching to an avian enclosure comprising:
- a housing;
- a motor coupled to said housing;
- at least one animal sensing mechanism that detects an animal and determines whether the animal is of a first type or a second type;
- a controller contained within said housing and coupled to said motor, said controller in communication with said at least one animal sensing mechanism, said controller causing said motor to run at a first speed when said animal is of said first type, said controller causing said motor to run at a second speed when said animal is of said second type.
An apparatus for attaching to an avian enclosure comprising:
- a housing coupled to said avian enclosure;
- a motor arranged to rotate said avian enclosure;
- a controller contained within said housing and coupled to said motor;
- a load cell coupled to said controller, said load cell generally aligned with a sensing axis and positioned within said housing proximate to a point of flexation, wherein said controller causes said motor to rotate said avian enclosure when said load cell detects the presence of an animal, said motor rotating said avian enclosure at a first speed when said animal is of a first type, and said motor rotating said avian enclosure at a second speed when said animal is of a second type.
An avian enclosure comprising:
- an avian structure;
- a motor coupled to said avian structure;
- at least one animal sensing mechanism that detects an animal and determines whether the animal is of a first type or a second type;
- a controller contained within said avian structure and coupled to said motor, said controller in communication with said at least one animal sensing mechanism, said controller causing said motor to rotate said avian structure at a first speed when said animal is of said first type, said controller causing said motor to rotate said avian structure at a second speed when said animal is of said second type.
An avian enclosure comprising:
- an avian structure;
- a motor arranged to rotate said avian structure;
- a controller contained within said avian structure and coupled to said motor;
- a load cell coupled to said controller, said load cell generally aligned with a sensing axis and positioned within said housing proximate to a point of flexation, wherein said controller causes said motor to rotate said avian structure when said load cell detects the presence of an animal, said motor rotating said avian structure at a first speed when said animal is of a first type, and said motor rotating said avian structure at a second speed when said animal is of a second type.
A combination apparatus and avian enclosure comprising:
- the avian enclosure;
- an apparatus coupled to the avian enclosure in a manner that allows the apparatus to rotate the avian enclosure with respect to the apparatus, the apparatus comprising:
- a housing;
- a motor coupled to said housing, the motor having a shaft coupled to the avian enclosure, the rotation of the shaft causing rotation of the avian enclosure;
- at least one animal sensing mechanism that detects an animal and determines whether the animal is of a first type or a second type;
- and
- a controller contained within said housing and coupled to said motor, said controller in communication with said at least one animal sensing mechanism, said controller causing said motor to rotate said avian enclosure at a first speed when said animal is of said first type, said controller causing said motor to rotate aid avian enclosure at a second speed when said animal is of said second type.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.