Animal husbandry – Feeding device – For aquatic animal; e.g. – a fish – etc.
Reexamination Certificate
2000-01-19
2001-11-13
Jordan, Charles T. (Department: 3644)
Animal husbandry
Feeding device
For aquatic animal; e.g., a fish, etc.
C119S230000, C119S263000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06314910
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is a mechanism that utilizes compressed air to feed aquarium fish.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Heretofore, devices that employed compressed air to feed aquarium fish have suffered from some shortcomings. For example, in a device described by Muller (U.S. Pat. No. 4,400,399), fish are required to enter a “feeding station” in order to feed. Since the feeding station lies within the parameters of the device, one problem with Muller's invention is that aggressive and dominant fish can prevent less aggressive fish from feeding by excluding these fish from the feeding station.
Further, with Muller's invention, there is the problem of feeding certain non-pelletized fish food such as frozen fish food. This is because frozen fish food, after assuming its thawed out (edible) state, becomes light enough that, were such food employed in Muller's device, it would readily drift out of the feeding station and into the aquarium at large at an uncontrollable rate. This would present the problem of fish not having time to consume the food before it settled to the tank's bottom becoming lost between the gravel or grains of sand.
Another air-driven feeding device, Munker (German Patent: DT 2421-626), is deficient in another way. Munker's feeding device relies on in flowing water to keep fish food dispersed and suspended inside a reservoir. Unfortunately, it is unlikely that Munker's system of using only in flowing water (and not bubbles as well) would be enough to keep many popular fish foods from “clumping together” inside the reservoir, as opposed to exiting the reservoir at a preferred, controlled rate.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, the object of the present invention is to provide a convenient means for feeding aquarium fish the types of food that do not readily float on top of an aquarium's surface water, such as commercially available frozen fish food, of which frozen brine shrimp is a good example. Such frozen fish food is commonly sold in frozen-together packets.
The usual, current method of feeding frozen fish food calls for first thawing out a chunk of frozen food in a container of water and then slowly pouring the thawed and dispersed pieces of food, along with the water, into the aquarium. Such feeding must be done at a slow enough pace so that the fish have time to eat the food before it settles to the bottom of the aquarium and becomes lost between the gravel or grains of sand. Once embedded in the gravel or sand, the food becomes difficult for the fish to reach, and therefore consume, which not only wastes food, but can also foul the aquarium water with decomposing food.
The present invention saves the aquarist both time and effort by eliminating the need for the aquarist to thaw out the frozen food in water and slowly pour it into the aquarium. Rather, the aquarist need only drop a chunk of frozen food into the feeder's reservoir and the feeder's bubbling-action takes care of the rest—both thawing out and breaking up the chunk of frozen food into individual pieces, and slowly dispersing the food into the tank at a slow enough rate so that the fish have time to eat the food before it sinks to the bottom of the tank.
Further objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a consideration of the drawings and ensuing description.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5140943 (1992-08-01), Nearhoff
patent: 5568790 (1996-10-01), Musgrave
patent: 5709319 (1998-01-01), Yao
patent: 5791285 (1998-08-01), Johnson
patent: 5957085 (1999-09-01), Youngstrom et al.
Abbott Yvonne R.
Jordan Charles T.
Quirk & Tratos
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