Animal husbandry – Feeding device – Having a perch
Reexamination Certificate
2000-02-08
2001-07-03
Price, Thomas (Department: 3643)
Animal husbandry
Feeding device
Having a perch
Reexamination Certificate
active
06253707
ABSTRACT:
The present invention relates to bird feeders, and more particularly relates to improvements therein.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Selective bird feeders are well known in the art and are designed to limit the maximum size of a bird or animal which can access the seed in the feeder. The reasons for excluding certain birds may be many. Thus, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,241,525, there is provided a selective bird feeder which is specific to cardinals. As taught by this patent, a favorite seed of cardinals is the sunflower seed; this seed is also popular with both smaller and larger birds.
Some larger birds will also access the seed and many such birds including crows, grackles, bluejays and the like are considered by some people to be undesirable.
A further problem associated with bird feeders is marauders which gain access to the seeds. In particular, squirrels are well known for their ability to reach the seed in a bird feeder and to devour the same. Many approaches have been tried to discourage or prevent squirrels from reaching the bird feeder, including various types of covers and baffles on poles. These seldom work as the squirrels have shown great ingenuity in overcoming such devices.
Some of the attempted solutions to the problem are disclosed in the prior art such as exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 4,646,686 to Furlani which teaches a movable shroud. U.S. Pat. No. 3,145,690 to Bachman describes a bird feeder in which an inverted cylindrical hopper is suspended over a feeding pan; a bird perch surrounds the pan and is attached to a conical shroud. Both the perch and the shroud are supported by a compression spring whereby heavier birds or mammals on the perch cause the shroud to move downwardly.
Another shroud arrangement is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,126,870 wherein a cylindrical shroud surrounds a hopper and is mounted for rotation about a vertical axis under the bias of a weight.
While all of the above references disclose shroud type arrangements, such devices have not appeared to have received commercial acceptance in the marketplace. It might be surmised that this is due to the fact that some of the arrangements are relatively complicated and/or expensive to produce.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide an adjustably selective bird feeder having a moveable shroud to protect and isolate the access openings by which the birds can gain access to the feed in the container from unwanted intruders.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an adjustably selective bird feeder which uses an extendible member such as a spring to cause the shroud to move and protect the access openings when a predetermined weight is placed thereon.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a feed container for a bird feeder which is easy to manufacture and uses a minimum of components.
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a bird feeder which comprises a feed container having a base and an outer wall extending upwardly therefrom, at least one feed container access opening in the outer wall, a shroud extending about the feed container, at least one shroud access opening substantially aligned with the feed container access opening to thereby permit access to the feed container, hanging means connected to the feed container to permit hanging of the bird feeder, and extendible means within the feed container interconnecting the shroud and the feed container such that when a predetermined weight is placed on the shroud, the extendible means will extend and cause the shroud access opening to move out of alignment with the feed container access opening to thereby deny access to the feed container.
In a further aspect of the present invention, in a bird feeder having a feed container with a base, a side wall extending upwardly from the base and at least one access opening in the side wall to permit a bird to have access to an interior of the container, there is the improvement comprising a baffle extending inwardly of the access opening to prevent seed falling outwardly through the access opening, the baffle being formed integrally with the side wall by material removed from the side wall to form the access opening.
The bird feeder of the present invention provides an arrangement wherein the feed container is encapsulated or surrounded and completely protected by a system of interconnecting members. In a preferred embodiment, there is provided a top ring extending about an upper portion of the shroud, and a bottom ring extending about a bottom portion of the shroud, and a cover member removably secured to the upper end of the shroud. The cover, top ring, bottom ring, and shroud prevent access to any portion of the feed container at any point in time—i.e. whether the shroud is in its normal upward position or in its downward position.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4318364 (1982-03-01), Bescherer
patent: 4541362 (1985-09-01), Dehls
patent: 4646686 (1987-03-01), Furlani
patent: 5163382 (1992-11-01), Morrison
patent: 5375558 (1994-12-01), Drakos
patent: 5445109 (1995-08-01), Gray et al.
patent: 5720238 (1998-02-01), Drakos
Fincham Eric
Price Thomas
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