Animal husbandry – Feeding device – Dish or bowl type
Patent
1998-12-04
1999-10-19
Price, Thomas
Animal husbandry
Feeding device
Dish or bowl type
43112, A01K 700
Patent
active
059670843
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to apparatus capable of controlling the movement of mollusca including snails and slugs and other plant eating species which possess abdominal locomotor appendages. For the sake of simplicity, these will hereinafter be referred to as snails or slugs. More especially, but not exclusively, the invention relates to apparatus for denying snails and slugs access to protected crops and plants. The invention also has application to apparatus for confining snails (particularly edible snails) within a predetermined area.
It is of course well known that plants and vegetation can be devastated by snails and slugs. Slugs and snails also leave unsightly trails on garden paths or terraces as they move across the same. They are, therefore, generally deemed to be a nuisance to gardeners. Many well documented devices and traps are employed by gardeners to protect their plants and vegetables from these pests. These devices include poisonous pellets which not only destroy slugs which consume the same but also birds and domestic and wild animals which consume either the pellets or slugs contaminated thereby. Other known devices include traps comprising beakers filled with beer which are set in the ground to which slugs are attracted and into which they fall. All of these known devices are intended to destroy, often painfully, snails and slugs which come in contact with them.
It has also been proposed to deploy electrically powered conductor-carrying strips around a protected area. Thus, U.S. Pat. No. 4,747,229 discloses a strip which comprises an elongate base of dielectric insulating material on which are mounted a plurality of conductor wires connected to the terminals of a 9 volt battery. Such strips are intended to destroy pests which come into contact with them and are effective for only limited periods of time. This is because the slime trail left by slugs and snails in time provides a bridge between the conductors thereby causing the battery to drain. This bridging effect is enhanced by the presence of water, dirt and other debris. Also, snails and slugs destroyed by the electrical current themselves provide bridges causing electrical current to flow when not required and also bridges for snails and slugs seeking to enter the protected area at a laser time.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,827,874 is directed to an electrified feeding dish which includes a pair of strip conductors positioned around the dish circumference and connected to a battery contained within the dish. The same problems discussed above regarding bridging these conductors would occur with the dish of U.S. Pat. No. 4,827,874.
AT-B-392721 discloses a device which comprises an electrically conductive carrier which supports an electrically conductive strip spaced from the carrier by a plastic tape, washers and plastic rivets.
CH-A-256787 discloses a similar device which includes an upstanding non-conductive carrier being two parallel elongate electrical conductors spaced one above the other.
The present invention sets out to provide apparatus for controlling movement of snails and slugs which overcomes, or at least alleviates, the problems discussed above and which harms neither snails or slugs which come into contact with it or birds and wild or domestic animals which may also come into contact with the apparatus or consume snails or slugs whose movements have been restricted by the apparatus.
According to the present invention in one aspect, there is provided apparatus for controlling the movement of snails or slugs which comprises a non-conductive carrier formed with an outwardly projecting step, a first elongate conductor mounted on the carrier with its uppermost longitudinal edge generally level with the lower margin of the step, a second elongate conductor mounted on the carrier with its lowermost longitudinal edge either adjacent the lower edge of the step or overlapping that edge, and a low voltage source whose terminals are connected one to each elongate conductor, the spacing between the two conductors being between 0.5 mm and 5 mm and
REFERENCES:
patent: 4098018 (1978-07-01), Bartelme
patent: 4165577 (1979-08-01), Shanahan
patent: 4186512 (1980-02-01), Berg
patent: 4392721 (1983-07-01), Plobst
patent: 4471561 (1984-09-01), Lapierre
patent: 4747229 (1988-05-01), Chambers
patent: 4756116 (1988-07-01), Cutter
patent: 4827874 (1989-05-01), Mahan
Hernicht Edwin C.
Jones Trevor J.
Klemantaski Sidney
Price Thomas
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