FEED LIFT

Abstract

A feed lift for pet food includes a platform that is configured to receive feeding bowls and can be moved in the vertical direction. A drive moves the platform along two stationary guide elements that extend vertically upward from a base. Drive forces are introduced to the platform by a toothed belt at lateral edges of the platform. The toothed belt is driven by a central motor and avoids misalignments of the platform, tilting, and uneven running. The toothed belt allows precise control of the platform and the location of the motor in the base improves stability of the feed lift.

Claims

1.-12. (canceled)

13. A feed lift for pet food, comprising: a base; a platform that is movable in a vertical direction relative to the base and is configured to receive pet feeding vessels; a linear guide having two stationary guide elements extending vertically upward from the base and respective movable guide elements movable along the two stationary guide elements, the movable guide elements being fastened laterally to the platform; a drive for moving the platform, the drive having a belt mechanism with a circulating toothed belt, a motor, and a drive pinion driven by the motor, the motor and the drive pinion being arranged in the base; and deflectors for the circulating toothed belt arranged in the base and upper sides of the two stationary guide elements, wherein the circulating toothed belt circulates in runs with opposite running directions along each of the two stationary guide elements, and wherein the platform is fastened to two of the runs of the circulating toothed belt moving in the same direction along the two stationary guide elements.

14. The feed lift of claim 13, wherein the two stationary guide elements include two stationary guide shafts extending vertically upward from the base and the movable guide elements include sliding bearings movable along the two stationary guide shafts.

15. The feed lift of claim 14, wherein the slide bearings are fastened in respective apertures arranged laterally on the platform.

16. The feed lift of claim 15, wherein the apertures are arranged in annular receiving portions of the platform, the annular receiving portions are connected to a remaining portion of the platform via a web.

17. The feed lift of claim 16, wherein the remaining portion of the platform forms an annular gap partly surrounding each of the annular receiving portions, and a sleeve having a longitudinal slot configured to allow passage of the web extends through the annular gap and extends over a length of each of the stationary guide shafts.

18. The feed lift of claim 16, wherein the platform is fastened to each of the two of runs by clamping the each of the two runs between one of the sliding bearings and one of the annular receiving portions.

19. The feed lift of claim 13, wherein the toothed belt has a clamping device configured to maintain the necessary tension in response to lengthening of the toothed belt.

20. The feed lift of claim 13, wherein the platform includes at least one receptacle for form-fitting fixing of a vessel of the pet feeding vessels.

21. The feed lift of claim 13, wherein the drive has a safety shutdown configured to interrupt movement of the platform in response to defined load conditions.

22. The feed lift of claim 13, wherein the drive includes a motor controller that controls acceleration phases.

23. The feed lift of claim 13, wherein the base includes contacts that, when a drinking vessel inserted into the platform is placed on the contacts, activate a circulating pump for water located in the drinking vessel.

24. The feed lift of claim 13, further comprising a central support and an upper frame part fastened to the central support, the upper frame part supporting upper ends of the stationary guide elements.

Description

[0037] In the figures:

[0038] FIG. 1 shows a perspective overall view of a feed lift according to the invention,

[0039] FIG. 2 shows a perspective overall view of the feed lift according to FIG. 1 from the underside with the base opened to illustrate the drive concept,

[0040] FIG. 3 shows a detailed illustration of a deflection means on a top part,

[0041] FIG. 4a shows a detailed illustration of the left-hand lateral edge of a vertically movable platform of the feed lift, and

[0042] FIG. 4b shows a detailed illustration of the right-hand lateral edge of a vertically movable platform of the feed lift.

[0043] The feed lift 1 for pets comprises a base 2 for receiving a drive for a movable platform 4. The platform 4 has a plurality of openings 4.1 for receiving vessels 4.2 in a form-fitting manner. The vessels 4.2 are used, for example, to hold water or feed for pets.

[0044] From the base 2, two sleeves 5.1, 5.2 extend upward at the sides, in which the elements of a linear guide 6, which is designed substantially as an elongate, in particular oval, plate, for the platform 4 that is movable in the vertical direction are arranged.

[0045] In addition, the feed lift 1 has a central support 7 fastened to a rear portion 2.1 of the base 2 between the sleeves 5.1, 5.2 and to which an upper frame part 8 is fastened. The base 2, the central support 7 and the frame part 8 together form the frame of the feed lift 1 for the stationary guide elements 6.1, 6.2, extending upward in the vertical direction within the sleeves 5.1, 5.2, of the linear guide 6 (cf. FIGS. 4a), 4b) with the sleeves 5.1), 5.2) not shown).

[0046] The linear guide 6 additionally has two movable guide elements 6.3, 6.4, wherein the movable guide element 6.3 is movable along the guide element 6.1 fixed to the frame and arranged on the left, and the movable guide element 6.4 is movable along the guide element 6.2 fixed to the frame and arranged on the right.

[0047] In the exemplary embodiment illustrated, the linear guide 6 is designed as a sliding guide, in which the guide elements 6.1, 6.2 fixed to the frame are designed as guide shafts or guide rods, and the movable guide elements are each designed as sliding bearings or sliding bushes.

[0048] The sliding bearing 6.3 is fastened with an oversize fit in an aperture 4.3 arranged laterally on the left-hand side of the platform 4 (cf. FIG. 4a)), while the sliding bearing 6.4 is fastened with an oversize fit in an aperture 4.4 arranged laterally on the right-hand side of the platform 4. In addition, it can be seen from FIGS. 4a), 4b) that each aperture 4.3, 4.4 is a constituent part of an annular receiving portion 4.5, 4.6 of the platform 4. The two annular receiving portions 4.5, 4.6 are each connected to the remaining part 4.9 of the platform 4 via a web 4.7, 4.8, forming an annular gap 4.10, 4.11 partly surrounding the receiving portion 4.5, 4.6. The sleeve 5.1, not illustrated in FIG. 4a), is provided with a longitudinal slot 5.3 configured for a passage of the web 4.7, and the sleeve 5.2 is provided with a longitudinal slot 5.4 configured for a passage of the web 4.8 (cf. FIG. 2), the two longitudinal slots 5.3, 5.4 extending over the length of the stationary guide elements 6.1, 6.2.

[0049] The drive, which can in particular be seen from FIG. 2, comprises a belt mechanism with a circulating toothed belt 3.1 and a drive pinion 3.3 driven by a motor 3.2. The motor 3.2 and the drive pinion 3.3 are accommodated in the base 2 designed as a housing. Two deflection means 3.4 are arranged in the reinforced left-hand lateral edge region 2.2 of the base 2, and two deflection means 3.5 are arranged in the reinforced right-hand lateral edge region 2.3 of the base 2. The four deflection means 3.4, 3.5 are all designed as deflection rollers rotatable about a shaft. They are arranged in the lateral edge regions 2.2, 2.3 of the base 2 in such a way that the toothed belt 3.1 circulates along the two stationary guide elements 6.1, 6.2, in each case in runs 3.8, 3.9 having an opposed running direction (cf. FIGS. 4a, 4b). The deflection means 3.4 are arranged on the base 2 in the region of the anchoring point of the left-hand stationary guide element 6.1, and the deflection means 3.5 are arranged on the base 2 in the region of the anchoring point of right-hand stationary guide element 6.2. The circulating toothed belt 3.1 passes into the sleeve 5.1 and out of the sleeve 5.1 in the interior of the base 2 formed as a housing through openings, not illustrated, in the left-hand lateral edge region 2.2 of the base 2. The circulating toothed belt 3.1 passes into the sleeve 5.2 and out of the sleeve 5.2 in the interior of the base 2 formed as a housing through openings, not illustrated, in the right-hand lateral edge region 2.3 of the base 2.

[0050] Further deflection means 3.6 are arranged on the upper side of each of the two stationary guide elements 6.1, 6.2 (cf. FIG. 3) in order to deflect the toothed belt 3.1 from one running direction into the opposite running direction, in each case at the upper end of the guide element 6.1, 6.2. The deflection means 3.6 are designed as deflection rollers. The deflection rollers are each mounted in a top part 9, illustrated in FIG. 3, that can be placed in a form-fitting manner on the stationary guide element 6.1, 6.2 and the surrounding sleeve 5.1, 5.2. The deflection rollers 3.6 are rotatably mounted in the top part 9. The distance between the two deflection rollers 3.6 is chosen in such a way that the runs 3.8, 3.9 running in opposite directions via passages in the top part 9 circulate at a distance from the stationary guide element 6.1, 6.2 (cf. FIG. 4a), 4b)). The two top parts 9 are connected to each other by the frame part 8 on the top parts.

[0051] The platform 4 is fastened to the runs 3.8 of the toothed belt 3.1 moving in the same direction along the two stationary guide elements 6.1, 6.2. The nature and manner of the fastening can be seen at best from FIGS. 4a, 4b. The fastening to the runs 3.8 of the circulating toothed belt 3.1 moving in the same direction is carried out without additional fastening means by clamping the run 3.8 between the sliding bearing 6.3 and the passage 4.3 on the left-hand side of the platform 4, and by clamping the run 3.8 between the sliding bearing 6.4 and the passage 4.4 on the right-hand side of the platform 4. In the exemplary embodiment illustrated, the two ends of the circulating toothed belt 3.1 are not welded to each other at the contact point. For this reason, on the right-hand side of the platform 4, the overlapping ends of the toothed belt 3.1 are connected to each other by clamping between the sliding bearing 6.4 and the aperture 4.4 and, at the same time, are fixed to the platform 4. It can also be seen that the toothing systems engage in each other at the two ends.

[0052] By activating the electric motor 3.2 in one or the other direction of rotation, the platform 4 can be moved in the direction of the double arrow in FIG. 1, uniformly and without misalignments or tilting, with the aid of the linear guide 6 and the drive concept described. At the same time, the stability of the feed lift 1 is improved by arranging the essential drive components in the base 2.

LIST OF DESIGNATIONS

[0053] 1 Feed lift [0054] 2 Base [0055] 2.1 Rear portion [0056] 2.2 Lateral edge region [0057] 2.3 Lateral edge region [0058] 3.1 Toothed belt [0059] 3.2 Motor [0060] 3.3 Drive pinion [0061] 3.4 Deflection means (base) [0062] 3.5 Deflection means (base) [0063] 3.6 Deflection means top part [0064] 3.8 Run [0065] 3.9 Run [0066] 4 Platform [0067] 4.1 Openings [0068] 4.2 Vessels [0069] 4.3 Aperture [0070] 4.4 Aperture [0071] 4.5 Receiving portion [0072] 4.6 Receiving portion [0073] 4.7 Web [0074] 4.8 Web [0075] 4.9 Remaining part of the platform [0076] 4.10 Annular gap [0077] 4.11 Annular gap [0078] 5.1 Sleeve [0079] 5.2 Sleeve [0080] 5.3 Longitudinal slot [0081] 5.4 Longitudinal slot [0082] 6 Linear guide [0083] 6.1 Stationary guide element [0084] 6.2 Stationary guide element [0085] 6.3 Movable guide element [0086] 6.4 Movable guide element [0087] 7 Central support [0088] 8 Frame part [0089] 9 Top part