Automatic animal watering device

Claim 1

In combination with a water receptacle including front and rear portions, said receptacle defining a forwardly and upwardly opening throat downwardly into which the snout or nose and mouth portions of animals may be inserted, said receptacle including a water inlet, a valve operative to control the flow of water through said inlet, a pressure member guidingly supported for generally horizontal shifting forward toward and rearward away from the forward upper marginal edge of said throat means biasing said pressure member forwardly, motion transmitting means operatively connecting said pressure member to said valve for opening and closing the latter in response to rearward and forward shifting, respectively, of said pressure member, said motion transmitting means including a longitudinally reciprocal guidingly supported rod whose forward end is connected to said pressure member, said valve including a reciprocal valve actuator guidingly supported for reciprocation along a path generally paralleling the path of reciprocation of said rod, said motiontransmitting means further including an elongated lever pivotally supported intermediate its opposite ends for oscillation about an axis disposed transverse to said path, one end of said lever being operatively associated with said actuator for reciprocation of the latter in response to oscillation of said lever, and means defining a pin and slot connection between the other end of said lever and the rear end of said rod.