초록 ▼

A liquid nectar hummingbird feeder has a reusable base with a feeding basin that receives a disposable cartridge containing a pre-filled volume of liquid nectar. The cartridge has a single bottleneck opening at a lower end which is initially sealed by a breakable seal in the form of a film layer of

A liquid nectar hummingbird feeder has a reusable base with a feeding basin that receives a disposable cartridge containing a pre-filled volume of liquid nectar. The cartridge has a single bottleneck opening at a lower end which is initially sealed by a breakable seal in the form of a film layer of foil, coated paper stock, plastic or the like. The base includes a cartridge mounting and opening structure adapted to secure and open the cartridge bottleneck opening by rupturing the film layer seal to allow liquid nectar to flow from the cartridge into the feeding basin.

대표청구항 ▼

1. A liquid hummingbird feeder, comprising: a reusable base including a substantially enclosed receptacle with a reservoir for containing hummingbird liquid nectar, said receptacle having a bottom part and a top side with an upper surface;a collar extending downwardly from said base top side in a ge

1. A liquid hummingbird feeder, comprising: a reusable base including a substantially enclosed receptacle with a reservoir for containing hummingbird liquid nectar, said receptacle having a bottom part and a top side with an upper surface;a collar extending downwardly from said base top side in a generally vertical direction into said reservoir;at least one feeding port formed as an opening in said upper surface of said receptacle, said opening being readily accessible to and sized for a hummingbird's beak to allow a hummingbird to access liquid nectar contained in said reservoir through said receptacle upper surface when said feeder is in use;a hummingbird liquid nectar cartridge removably coupled to said base, a lower part of said cartridge being received within said collar to secure the cartridge to the base, said cartridge containing an amount of liquid nectar sealed therein by a breakable seal that covers an opening in said cartridge lower part; andsaid bottom part of said base including an upwardly projecting prong in generally axial alignment with said collar, said prong piercing said breakable seal when said cartridge is mounted in said base collar to allow liquid nectar to flow through the opening in the cartridge into the receptacle after the seal is broken. 2. The liquid hummingfeeder of claim 1, wherein said breakable seal is a film layer of foil, coated paper stock or plastic. 3. The liquid hummingfeeder of claim 1, wherein said cartridge has a bottleneck with external threads and said collar has internal threads to engage said bottleneck and secure said cartridge to said base. 4. The liquid hummingfeeder of claim 1, wherein said cartridge has a bottleneck that engages said collar with a snap or press fit. 5. A liquid hummingbird feeder, comprising: a disposable hummingbird nectar cartridge having a single opening in the form of a bottleneck and containing an amount of liquid nectar sealed therein by a breakable seal that covers said bottleneck opening; anda reusable base including a substantially enclosed feeding basin for containing hummingbird liquid nectar, said base feeding basin having a connecting element to which the bottleneck of the cartridge is removably coupled to secure the cartridge to the base with the base being positioned beneath said cartridge in use, an upper surface of said feeding basin including at least one hummingbird feeding port, said feeding port being readily accessible to and sized for a hummingbird's beak to allow a hummingbird to access liquid nectar through said feeding port in the upper surface of the feeding basin when said feeder is assembled with said cartridge secured to said base for use;said base connecting element extending in a generally vertical direction and having an interior surface configured to mate which mates with an exterior surface of said cartridge bottleneck, said base further including a prong projecting upwardly in said feeding basin in generally axial alignment with said connecting element, said prong configured to pierce said breakable seal to open said bottleneck opening when said cartridge bottleneck is mounted in said connecting element. 6. The liquid hummingfeeder of claim 5, wherein said breakable seal is a film layer of foil, coated paper stock, or plastic. 7. The liquid hummingfeeder of claim 5, wherein said connecting element is a collar that extends downwardly from an top side of said base and into said feeding basin, said bottleneck threadedly engaged with said collar when said cartridge is secured to said base. 8. The liquid hummingfeeder of claim 5, wherein said connecting element is a collar that extends downwardly from an top side of said base and into said feeding basin, said bottleneck engaging said collar with a snap or press fit when said cartridge is secured to said base. 9. A liquid hummingbird feeder base for use with disposable pre-filled liquid nectar cartridges, comprising: a receptacle for distributing liquid nectar to hummingbirds, said receptacle having an upper surface with a central opening configured to receive a pre-filled liquid nectar cartridge, said upper surface also including at least one hummingbird feeding port formed therein, said feeding port being smaller than and spaced from said receptacle central opening, said feeding port being readily accessible to and sized for a hummingbird's beak to allow hummingbirds to access hummingbird liquid nectar contained in said receptacle;said receptacle containing an opening element positioned below said central opening and configured to break a seal on said cartridge; andsaid receptacle including a collar that extends in a generally vertical direction and surrounds said opening element in generally axial alignment therewith, said collar configured to receive a mounting portion of a pre-filled nectar cartridge and to bring said cartridge into contact with said opening element to open the cartridge and allow liquid nectar to flow into the receptacle. 10. The liquid hummingbird feeder base as set forth in claim 9, wherein said collar has internal threads to engage the mounting portion of a pre-filled nectar cartridge. 11. The liquid hummingbird feeder base as set forth in claim 9, wherein said collar has a smooth internal surface to engage the mounting portion of a pre-filled nectar cartridge with a snap or press fit. 12. The liquid hummingbird feeder base as set forth in claim 9, wherein said opening element includes an upwardly projecting prong with a pointed tip, said prong including vertical or helical grooves on a side surface thereof to facilitate nectar flow once the cartridge has been opened. 13. A method of filling a liquid hummingbird feeder base having a basin for distributing liquid nectar to hummingbirds and a cartridge mounting and opening structure, comprising the steps of: providing a pre-filled liquid nectar cartridge that has a bottleneck with an opening sealed by a film layer;providing a reusable base including the cartridge mounting and opening structure and a substantially enclosed receptacle for containing hummingbird liquid nectar, said receptacle having an upper surface with a central opening configured to receive the pre-filled liquid nectar cartridge, said upper surface also having at least one feeding port in said upper surface of said receptacle and spaced from said central opening, said feeding port being readily accessible to and sized for a hummingbird's beak to allow a hummingbird to access liquid nectar through said receptacle upper surface when said feeder is in use;inserting the bottleneck of the cartridge into the cartridge mounting and opening structure of the feeder base until said film layer is broken thereby and liquid nectar from said cartridge flows into said basin through said bottleneck opening. 14. The method as set forth in claim 13, wherein said cartridge mounting and opening structure includes an internally threaded collar in said base and said bottleneck has external threads, said step of inserting including screwing said bottleneck into said internally threaded collar. 15. The method as set forth in claim 14, wherein said cartridge mounting and opening structure includes an upwardly projecting prong with a pointed tip, said step of inserting including screwing said bottleneck into said collar until said prong pierces said film layer. 16. The method as set forth in claim 13, wherein said cartridge mounting and opening structure includes a collar, said step of inserting including pushing said bottleneck into said collar for engagement therein by a press or snap fit. 17. The method as set forth in claim 13, wherein said cartridge mounting and opening structure includes a collar and an upwardly projecting prong with a pointed tip, said step of inserting including pushing said bottleneck into said collar until said prong pierces said film layer.