| 摘要 |
An animal feeder includes a hopper (20) that stores a quantity of pelletized material and is partially closed at the bottom by a restricting plate (40) that has an orifice (38) extending therethrough and offset from the center of the hopper (20). The orifice (38) extends downwardly and rearwardly into an agitation chamber (32). A rotor (34) having paddles (41), (42) and (43) disposed radially outward thereof, is disposed in the bottom of the agitation chamber (32) for rotation about the central axis thereof. An outlet port (46) allows exit of agitated pelletized material from the agitation chamber for dispensing into an eating bowl (16). The paddles (41)-(43) are shaped such that particles of pelletized matter that may be trapped between the lateral edge of the outlet port (46) and the edge of one of the paddles (41)-(43) are forced upwardly and outwardly from the paddle. This results in the pelletized matter either exiting the outlet port (46) or falling back into the agitation chamber (32). The rotor is manually rotated by a shaft (36) or by an electric motor (74) that is geared down for slow rotation thereof. A photocell (82) senses whether the eating bowl (16) is empty and a photocell (86) senses the presence of daylight to determine the relative time of day. An electronic module (78) operates the electric motor (74) as a function of the photocells (82) and (86).
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