초록 ▼

An animal feeder includes a hopper (20) that stores a quantity of pelletized material and is partially closed at the bottom by a restricting plate (40) that has an orifice (38) extending therethrough and offset from the center of the hopper (20). The orifice (38) extends downwardly and rearwardly in

An animal feeder includes a hopper (20) that stores a quantity of pelletized material and is partially closed at the bottom by a restricting plate (40) that has an orifice (38) extending therethrough and offset from the center of the hopper (20). The orifice (38) extends downwardly and rearwardly into an agitation chamber (32). A rotor (34) having paddles (41), (42) and (43) disposed radially outward thereof, is disposed in the bottom of the agitation chamber (32) for rotation about the central axis thereof. An outlet port (46) allows exit of agitated pelletized material from the agitation chamber for dispensing into an eating bowl (16). The paddles (41)-(43) are shaped such that particles of pelletized matter that may be trapped between the lateral edge of the outlet port (46) and the edge of one of the paddles (41)-(43) are forced upwardly and outwardly from the paddle. This results in the pelletized matter either exiting the outlet port (46) or falling back into the agitation chamber (32). The rotor is manually rotated by a shaft (36) or by an electric motor (74) that is geared down for slow rotation thereof. A photocell (82) senses whether the eating bowl (16) is empty and a photocell (86) senses the presence of daylight to determine the relative time of day. An electronic module (78) operates the electric motor (74) as a function of the photocells (82) and (86).

대표청구항 ▼

A pellitized matter dispenser, comprising: a hopper for storing the pellitized matter; an agitation chamber mounted below said hopper and having upwardly and outwardly tapered sides in an inverted frusto-conical shape, said agitation chamber having a quadrilateral outlet port disposed through the up

A pellitized matter dispenser, comprising: a hopper for storing the pellitized matter; an agitation chamber mounted below said hopper and having upwardly and outwardly tapered sides in an inverted frusto-conical shape, said agitation chamber having a quadrilateral outlet port disposed through the upwardly tapered side thereof to allow passage of agitated pellitized matter; an agitation assembly disposed on the bottom of said agitation chamber and having: a rotating base rotatably mounted in the bottom of said agitation chamber and parallel therewith, and a plurality of paddles disposed on the surface of said rotating base and radially oriented to the outer periphery thereof and perpendicular to the surface thereof, said paddles having two flat surfaces directed perpendicular to either direction of rotation of said rotating base; each of said paddles having a radial edge thereof tapered inwardly and upwardly from the bottom of said chamber such that a V configuration is formed with the outward tapered walls of said chamber beneath the bottom edge of said outlet port, said radial edge urging the pellitized matter in said agitation chamber upward along the upwardly tapered walls of said chamber during rotation of said agitation assembly to exit said outlet port, the movement of the pellitized matter along the tapered walls in response to said radial edge moving through the agitation chamber allowing a substantial quantity of pellitized matter to be dispensed for each passage of one of said paddles proximate said outlet port; means for rotating said agitation assembly at a low revolution rate; and means for restricting flow of pellitized matter from said hopper to said agitation chamber when said agitation assembly is not rotating, said means for restricting allowing flow of particulate matter when said agitation assembly is rotating such that the amount of pellitized matter dispensed through said outlet port is replenished in said agitation chamber.