Badger Northland Inc.

Gerald J Bruecker

Robert W Smith

A livestock feeding apparatus provides continuous flow of feed to an elongated bunk utilizing a traveling hopper supported for movement along rails on an elongated frame over the bunk. The hopper includes a gate extending substantially along the full length of the bottom opening of the hopper for bulk dumping of the feed when the hopper is over one of the two dumping stations adjacent the two ends. The gate is actuated during opening and closing so as to travel along a sliding path to assure efficient delivery of the feed with a clean cut-off. Preferably, the gate moves at an acute angle to the longitudinal axis of the hopper and along an arc defined by pivotal support links. Cam wheels adjacent the ends of the hopper engage ramps for opening and closing the gate as the gate moves along an arcuate path defined by the parallelogram linkage. In the preferred embodiment, the wheels drop off the top of the ramps providing sudden release for rapid and secure closing of the gate. A 20.degree. angle for the sliding path of movement of the gate is preferred and a wiper cleans the gate during opening and closing. The feed conveyor, the driving motor and sprocket and the actuating ramps are all centrally located at the mid-point of the apparatus.

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Kaukauna, WI, United States of America

Gerald J Bruecker