Animal food portioning apparatus

Claim 1

APPARATUS FOR PORTIONING ANIMAL FOOD IN PREDETERMINED AMOUNTS, COMPRISING PIVOT MEANS, A BALANCE ARM MOUNTED ON SAID PIVOT MEANS, ADJUSTABLE BALANCE MEANS ON ONE SIDE OF THE PIVOT MEANS AND CONNECTED TO THE ARM FOR NORMALLY RETAINING SAID ARM IN A FIRST UNBALANCE POSITION, THE CENTRE OF GRAVITY OF SAID BALANCE MEANS BEING LOCATED ABOVE SAID PIVOT MEANS AND REMAINING AT A CONSTANT DISTANCE THEREFROM DURING BALANCING MOVEMENT OF THE ARM, A RECEPTACLE CARRIED BY THE ARM ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE PIVOT MEANS AND POSITIONED TO RECEIVE FOOD FROM A SUPPLY SOURCE, SAID RECEPTACLE MOVING THE ARM TO A SECOND UNBALANCE POSITION OPPOSITE THE FIRST UNBALANCE POSITION THE INSTANT SAID RECEPTACLE RECEIVES A PREDETERMINED WEIGHT OF FOOD, SAID BALANCE MEANS RETAINING THE ARM IN THE FIRST UNBALANCE POSITION UNTIL SAID PREDETERMINED FOOD WEIGHT IS REACHED, AND SHUT-OFF MEANS FOR THE SUPPLY SOURCE OPERATIVELY CONNECTED TO SAID ONE SIDE OF THE BALANCE ARM ADAPTED TO STOP THE FLOW OF FOOD INTO THE RECEPTACLE WHEN THE ARM SWINGS TO THE SECOND UNBALANCE POSITION, THE LOCATION OF THE CENTRE OF GRAVITY OF SAID BALANCING MEANS CAUSING THE MOVEMENT OF THE ARM TO ACCELERATE AS SAID ARM MOVES TOWARDS THE SECOND UNBALANCE POSITION, THEREBY ACCELERATING THE OPERATION OF SAID SHUT-OFF MEANS QUICKLY TO STOP SAID FLOW OF FOOD.