Back to results
US 7,387,049 B1Granted
Animal water feeding bottle cap handling system
OwnerRichard P. Ver Hage, Glenn Ver Hageinventors
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An economical system and method for eliminating manual operations in smaller scale animal feeding water bottle management is provided. A hand held cap removal tool captures the perimeter of the water bottle cap for automatic capping or decapping. Provisions for suspending the tool for convenient universal motion over a work area are described. The cap removal tool accommodates straight and angled water delivery tubes and most popular water bottle cap sizes.
Claims14
A power tool for handling a bottle cap, utilized for an animal water feeding bottle, comprising:
- (a) a straight tube having an interior area;
- (b) a gripper head being affixed at a first end of said straight tube, said gripper head comprising a confluent, substantially hollow upper and lower section, said upper section having an aperture at a center area of said upper section, said aperture being connected to said first end of said straight tube, said aperture being confluent with said straight tube's interior area, said upper section extending radially outward from said center area aperture, said lower section being a gripper ring perpendicularly attached to an outer edge of said radially outwardly extending upper section at an outer edge of said gripper ring;
- (c) said gripper ring having an interior surface, said interior surface adapted to engage an exterior surface of said bottle cap to be handled by said gripper ring;
- (d) a first annular groove at said point of attachment of said gripper ring to said outer edge;
- (e) an O ring, said O ring having a slightly smaller diameter than a diameter of said bottle cap, so that when said O ring is placed within said first annular groove said O ring acts as a spacer between said gripper head upper section and said gripper ring to minimize a tendency of said gripper ring to grasp said bottle cap by said gripper head during bottle cap removal procedures;
- (f) a source of power;
- and
- (g) means for connecting a second end of said straight tube to said source of power, said source of power having means for rotating said straight tube in a first direction or in a second direction in accordance with the intentions of an operator, so that when said straight tube is connected to said power source connecting means, and when said power source connecting means is connected to said source of power, and when said gripper ring is secured over said matching bottle cap by said operator, activating said power source in a first direction by said operator secures said bottle cap to said bottle when said bottle cap is positioned on top of screw threads on said bottle, and activating said power source in a second direction by said operator removes said bottle cap from said bottle when said bottle cap is secured to said screw threads on said bottle.
5 more elements
A power tool for handling a screw cap bottle cap, utilized for an animal water feeding screw cap bottle, comprising:
- (a) a straight tube;
- (b) a gripper head being affixed at a first end of said straight tube, said gripper head comprising a confluent, substantially hollow upper and lower section, said upper section having an aperture at a center area of said upper section, said center area of said upper section being connected to said first end of said straight tube, said aperture being confluent with an interior area of said straight tube, said upper section extending radially outward from said center area, said lower section being a gripper ring perpendicularly attached at an outer edge of said radially outwardly extending upper section at an outer edge of said gripper ring;
- (c) said gripper ring having at least one set of serrations along an interior surface positioned parallel to said straight tube, said at least one set of said gripper ring serrations substantially matching bottle cap serrations on an exterior surface of a least one bottle cap to be handled by said gripper ring;
- (d) a first annular groove at said point of attachment of said gripper ring to said outer edge;
- (e) an O ring, said O ring having a slightly smaller diameter than a diameter of said bottle cap, so that when said O ring is placed within said first annular groove said O ring acts as a spacer between said gripper head upper section and said gripper ring to minimize a tendency of said gripper ring to grasp said bottle cap by said gripper head during bottle cap removal procedures;
- (f) an electric screw driver;
- and
- (g) said second end of said straight tube having a typically hexagonally shaped drive tool mating piece for connection to said electric screw driver, said electric screw driver being selected from the group consisting of battery powered or electric line cord powered, said electric screw driver having means for controlling torque over a range directed by an operator, said electric screw driver having means for rotation in a first direction or a second direction in accordance with directions from said operator, so that when said drive tool mating piece is connected to said electric drill, and when said gripper ring serrations are secured over said matching bottle cap serrations by said operator, activating said power source in a first direction by said operator secures said bottle cap to said bottle when said bottle cap is positioned on top of screw threads on said bottle, and activating said power source in a second direction by said operator removes said bottle cap from said bottle when said bottle cap is secured to said screw threads on said bottle.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.