Animal husbandry – Aquatic animal culturing – Fish culturing
Patent
1992-08-13
1994-03-15
Mancene, Gene
Animal husbandry
Aquatic animal culturing
Fish culturing
A01K 6300
Patent
active
052938395
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The invention concerns a device that is a cultivation tank for aquatic organisms.
Fish tanks are presently either made of plastic, steel, or concrete in a number of designs. The removal of excess feed, excrement and the like is usually done by emptying large volumes of water from the tank to allow technical staff to brush the bottom of the tank clean. If the water outlet and supply is forced to flow by means of a current, there is a better degree of self-cleaning. This however requires considerable amounts of water to be supplied.
Marine fish larva such as cod, turbot, halibut and plaice are too sensitive for such strong water current. Thus the cleaning of tanks for these species has to be done manually by technical staff vacuuming the bottom with a syphon that has a suitable nozzle fitted to the end. This operation is excessively time consuming. In cases where the water is recirculated it is disadvantageous to have a strong water current flowing through the tank.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The main objective of the present invention is to design a fish cultivation tank that is hygienic, with restricted water motion in the tank and where the required cleaning work is minimal.
This has been realized by a fish cultivation tank including a suction unit having at least one rotating suction arm located adjacent the bottom of the tank and moveable to sweep the bottom of the tank in response to a falling of the water level within the tank. This rotational movement is achieved by a combined weight and float assembly which, in response to a lower of the level of water in the tank, rotationally drives the at least one suction arm. The lowering of the level of water in the tank in turn is effected by a suctioning or siphoning of water and debris from the tank adjacent the bottom. Thus, the removal of debris occurs in conjunction with the rotation of the suction apparatus.
The invention will now be described by means of one example of a design, referring to the enclosed drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 schematically shows a first, preferred design in accordance with the present invention.
FIG. 2 schematically shows a detail of a second means of designing a water control mechanism for a device in accordance with the present invention, and
FIG. 3 schematically shows the cog in FIG. 1 in detail.
Reference is first made to FIG. 1, that shows a cultivation tank, generally indicated as 1, with a wall, or walls 2 and a bottom 3.
The bottom 3 is essentially circular, and the wall 2 is preferably cylindrical or conical. The bottom can for example be profiled in towards the center. The tank 1 can be covered by a top. The tank 1 has a supply pipe 6 for water, and an external outlet pipe 7 for water and residue.
The described fish tank 1 also has a rotating dredge unit 20 that uses suction or scraping to keep the bottom 3 clean of excess feed, excrement, dead eggs and other material lying on the bottom. The rotating suction dredge unit 20 comprises at least one suction arm, preferably two suction arms 24a, 24b. Suction arms 24a, 24b can be fitted with rubber scrapers or brushes to make the cleaning more efficient. The rotating suction dredge unit 20 is located in a recess 22 in the centre of the tank, an advantageous design would combine the recess 22 together with the outlet. At the upper end of the suction dredge unit 20, a cog 19b is located concentrically, which can be seen in greater detail in FIG. 3. The cog 19b has sloping teeth that engage in an equivalent cog 19a. Cog 19a is not rotatable in relation to the bottom 3, but can be moved vertically in relation to it. Cog 19a is connected to a weight 18 and a float 14. Cogs 19a and 19b are designed like those found in standard ballpoint pens. The triangular teeth are tapered to a point. At least one of cogs 19a, 19b has teeth with a side that is parallel to the direction of motion when there is a rising or falling movement. That is, upon downward movement of cog 19a, the teeth of this cog engage the teeth of cog 19b in a know
REFERENCES:
patent: 5178093 (1993-01-01), Reese et al.
Mancene Gene
Price Thomas
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