US35259A - Improvement in combined rack and trough for feeding stock - Google Patents

Description

.A. RALSTON.

Combined Rack and Trough for Feeding Stock. Nu-35,259. Patented May13,'1862.

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ANDREIV RALSTON, OF \VEST MIDDLETOXVN, PENN SYLVANIAQ IMPROVEMENT IN COMBINED RACK AND THOUGH FOR FEEDING STOCK.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 35,259, dated May 13, 1862.

T0 at whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ANDREW R'ALS'lO N, of WV est Middletown, in thc countypf lVashington and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a Combined Rack and Trough for Feeding Sheep and other Stock; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact descriptionthereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, like letters in the several figures indicating the same parts, and in which drawing.

Figure 1.is a perspective view of my improved rack and trough with its stock-protector adjusted thereto; Fig. 2, a plan View of same with the protector removed; Fig. 3, a transverse section of Fig. 1, with the rack and protector thrown back for the insertion of hay, cornstalks, or like fodder within the trough; and Fig. 4, a perspective view of the convertible protector removed from the rack and in position as used for the purposes of a shed or outhouse for sheep during stormy or inclement weather.

- The nature of my invention consists in so constructing a feed -trough for stock, particularly sheep, that they may be allowed to 'range themselves around it while feeding thereout, and yet not be permitted to interfere with each other. or jump into the trough, while the food, if of coarse fodder, is properly retained in the trough by the superincumbent rack, and the sheep while being fed are protect-ed from the weather, a portion of said feed-trough being capable of removal and separately used as a shed or outhouse for their protection.

' My improved feed-trough consists, principally, of a trough, A, a rack, H, and a convertible protector, L; and to enable others skilled in the arts to make and use my invention, Iwill proceed to describe its construction and operation.

To make a feed-trough, say, sixteen feet in length, I take three cross-pieces, a a C6, one and one-half inch thick, two and one-half inches deep, and-two feet in length, placed parallel with each other, and at equal distances apart, as indicated in the drawings.

On these cross-pieces I nail a bottom board, 6, which should be ten inches wide, so that the ends of the cross-pieces will extend out an equal distance on each side of the bottom board, as clearly shown in Fig. 1. Close to each edge of the bottom board I nail uprights 0 of inchstuff, wide enough to fill out to the ends of the cross-pieces, as shown. Theseuprights are intended to support the side boards, (I, and should be so shaped as to throw the side board at a sufficient angle to make the trough two feet wide at the top, the side boards being ten inches wide. i The end boards, 8, should stand at about the same angle as the side boards, so that the trough may be easily cleaned out by sweeping from end to end with a broom or wisp of hay.

The rack part II should be made similar to a common ladder, and consists of side pieces, f, two and one-half inches wide, with rungs g two feet long and seven inches apart,-the

to allow uprights c c to be mortised into them, and to support partition-boards h andh, as shown, inorder to prevent sheep from getting into the trough or jumping over. These partition -boards h and It should be about two feet high. The rack should be so hinged to the trough, as clearly shown in Figs. 2 and 3, that when shut down there will be at least half an inch of space, as at 'i, between the trough and rack, in order that hay or other rough feed may not bind the joints of the hinges e" and hinder the' rack from shutting down. For this purpose blocks is are secured ontop of the side pieces, 01, near their ends, as shown in Fig. 1, and upon which blocks the pieces f rest when the rack is in the position shown in last-named figure.

L, Fig. 4-, designates the separate use. of a convertible protector, it being detached from the rack and trough and utilized to screen stock, more especially sheep, during rainy and inclement weather. For this purpose, after being removed from the rack, the tenon ends of its uprights are firmly thrust into the ground, thus leaving the rack and trough in the condition as shown in Fig. 2. This pro brace and fit upon the longitudinal partitionboard It, as shown. These roof-supports Z are secured to uprights c 0, having their lower ends tenoned, as clearly shown in Fig. 3, and passing through mortises in the crosspieces or rungs g, and therein may be secured by wedges, as indicated, openings, as at 171, beii'ig' made in the tcnons for the insertion of the wedges m. To the ends of the supports Z, as at F, longitudinal strips 71 are secured, and over which a water-proof covering, q, is stretched and permanently fastened, as illustrated in the figures.

It will thus be seen that when my improved feed-trough is in the condition as in part shown in Fig. 1 sheep maybe fed and at the same time protected from the weather, and that when desired the protector may be removed and used separately, as indicated in Fig. 4:.

For inserting coarse feed, as hay or cornstalks, in the trough A, the rack may he thrown back, as in Fig. 3; but for ground or crushed feed this is not necessary. Vhen coarse feed is placed in the trough, the rack may be turned down upon. it, and secured in such position by a hook and staple, as shown, the cross-pieces g and g in such case pressing upon the fodder and properly holding it in position to be fed to the sheep from between said cross-pieces, and so preserve the fodder from being too readily withdrawn from i the trough and wasted. The spaces between these cross-pieces are arranged so that but one animal will feed therein at one time, and the covering (1 extending over the animal while feeding, and thus affording a protection from foul weather, disposes him to quietly occupy but one position at the trough,

so that the feed is economized by falling back into the trough instead of the surplus taken in the months of the animals being wasted by their usual constant change of position while in the act of feeding.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

1. S0 combining a rack and trough that the superincumbent pressure of the rack shall hold coarse fodder in place in the trough, in the manner and for the purpose substantially as set forth.

2. A removable protector, L, adapted to be used upon the rack and trough or separate therefrom, in the manner and for the purpose substantially as set forth.

In combination with the rack H, having partitions h h, the removable weather-protector L, substantially in the manner and for the purpose set forth.

ANDREV I RALSTON.

\Vitnesses:

EDWIN S. JACOB, D. C. LAWRENCE.

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