A method for the separable joining and fastening of two circularly cylindrical pipe ends (2, 2A) with the same outside and inside diameters, in mutual non-rotatable extension of each other with coinciding central axes (3) is provided in which the pipe ends (2, 2A) are brought axially against each other and fastened radially, wherein a toothing (7) in the axial direction at one pipe end (2) engages with a corresponding toothing (7) in the axial direction at the other pipe end (2A) in a last section of the axial assembly for joining two pipe ends. Similarly, a system is provided with a joint sleeve and corresponding detent for keeping the pipe ends joined.

A wild game feeder for safely feeding game that uses an inverted cone-shaped device to disperse the feed once the feed is expelled through the dispenser hole, that can be suspended from any structure.

Features are described for a pellet dispenser. The pellet dispenser be implemented as a complex molded unit to fit within the home cage of laboratory animals (e.g., hanging from a wall of the cage or inside a food hopper of the cage). The pellet dispenser may be contained within the cage or otherwise attached to the cage so as not to take up additional floor space in the cage which should be allocated for the small laboratory animal The pellets may be gravity or screw drive fed towards an ejector port. At prescribed times during the day, a prescribed number of pellets may be ejected into the animal cage. Additional components of the pellet dispenser include an ejector (e.g., a linear actuator) and pellet hopper.

A proximity detector includes a sensor providing a proximity reading. The proximity detector is capable of comparing the reading to a rising threshold level and a falling threshold level, wherein the falling threshold level is less than the rising threshold level. The proximity detector continuously stores a minimum reading value for the proximity reading. The proximity detector will report the presence of granular material only if the proximity reading remains less than the falling threshold level and within an epsilon value of the minimum reading value for a predetermined period of time.

A horizontal feed storage system may comprise an elongated feed container having a length and a width, wherein the length is at least ten times greater than the width. The elongated feed container may have a fill opening through which the feed is deposited into the elongated feed container and a feed removal opening through which feed is removed from the elongated feed container. The elongated feed container may be movable. The elongated feed container may include multiple conveyance mechanisms disposed within the elongated feed container. The multiple conveyance mechanisms may include a first conveyance mechanism and a second conveyance mechanism, wherein the first conveyance mechanism may displace feed by moving the feed in a first direction away from the fill opening, and/or the second conveyance mechanism may displace feed by moving the feed in a second direction toward the feed removal opening.

An animal interaction device is provided that includes a food access component which allows and disallows access to at least a portion of the food. In various embodiments, the allowing and disallowing of access to at least a portion of the food is dependent upon the animal's condition. A method is also provided such that the device above is provided to an animal, one or more indicators are optionally activated, the animal's first condition is sensed via one or more sensors, and based upon the animal's condition, the previously protected food is made accessible, and subsequently the protected food is made available again based upon the animal's second condition. A system is also provided for automatically interacting with an animal including at least one animal interaction device each of which comprises an initial interaction algorithm to automatically interact with the animal. Other aspects of the invention are provided.

A method and apparatus for rapidly depositing feed for a large number of animals. The rapid feed dispenser can include a motorized vehicle having a bulk feed bin that can contain hundreds or thousands of pounds of feed, one or more augers that pre-load a feeding dose into a holding area, and a fast-acting valve that quickly dumps the feeding dose as a user drives past a feeding station. While driving from one feeding station to the next, the next feeding dose can be pre-loaded so that by the time the vehicle arrives at the next feeding station, the feeding dose will be loaded and ready to be quickly dumped.

An extruder screw-handling device for handling a screw of a food or land-or-sea-animal-feed extruder, the device being suitable for fully extracting an extruder screw from an extruder barrel, wherein the device has a horizontally arranged top section, a locking screw assembly and a guiding element. The present invention is furthermore related to a method of extracting an extruder screw from a food or land-or-sea-animal-feed extruder using the device.

A weigh hopper assembly including a plurality of adjacently aligned weigh hoppers connected via a frame, and longitudinal conveyor mechanism extending along a top portion of the weigh hopper assembly. Each weigh hopper has independent load cells in order to individually weigh the material discharged into the weigh hopper. The conveyor mechanism includes a plurality of gates along a bottom surface of the conveyor mechanism, each gate being aligned with a corresponding weigh hopper of the plurality of weigh hoppers. The conveyor mechanism is in turn connected to a plurality of product bins. A top portion of the conveyor mechanism is in communication with a plurality of product bins via a series of inlet chutes and gates. The weigh hoppers are aligned adjacent to each other and spaced so that each weigh hopper aligns with the transport vehicle.

Discloses is a feeder device for attracting game comprising a cuboid-shaped box comprising four vertical walls joined at the edges of a base member. Further, the feeder device includes a vertical partition wall within the cuboid-shaped box separating a feed bin unit and a reservoir unit. Further, the feeder device includes a first upper hatch for the feed bin unit and a second upper hatch for the reservoir unit. Further, the feeder device includes a motor housing comprising a motor to power an auger installed within the feed bin unit. Further, the feeder device includes a feeder attached to an outer wall of the feed bin unit, wherein the feeder receives the feed pellets from the feed bin unit through the auger. Further, the feeder device includes a trough attached to an outer wall of the reservoir unit, wherein the trough receives water from the reservoir unit.