US1424218A - Shipping coop - Google Patents

Description

C. T. SHERMAN, SR-

SHIPPING COOP.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 16, 1921.

Patented Aug. 1, 1922,

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To all whom it may concern:

lBe it knownthat I, CHARLES T. SHERMAN, Sr a citizen of the United States, residing" at Goldvein, in the county of Fauquier and State of Virginia, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Shipping Coops, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The object of this invention is to produce a coop for shipping live poultry,'in which are embodied great simplicity and economy of construction, and great strength and light weight, the first to efl'ect low cost in quantity production, and the last to stand the rough handling incident to transportation and reduction in freight charges or costs. I'

The invention consists of a coop having top and bottom frames made up of longitudinal side bars, preferably of square crosssection, similar end bars, and vertical dowels or spindles socketed in the bars, the side bars and end bars being butt-jointed, without mortising, miter-ing or other cutting, and the joints secured by nails or equivalent fasteners driven through them and through the corner dowels and the dowels next-thereto; the top being, in one form of my invention, formed by intermediate longitudinal bars mortised in the end bars and secured therein by nails or equivalent fasteners, and crossdowels passing through the intermediate bars and socketed in the side bars; a door of novel construction being hin edly mounted in the top and adapted to e locked in place; the bottom being solid and of any approved construction, as I will proceed now to explain and finally claim.

Inthe accompanying drawings illustrating the invention in the several figures of which like parts are similarly designated, 'Fi re 1 is a perspective view of a coop speciall ydesigned for transporting chickens. Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation, on a larger scale, of one corner of the coop showing the fastening feature. Fig. 3 is a top plan view, on a larger scale than that of Fig. 1, showing the details of the door. Fig. 4 is an end elevation of a coop for larger fowls, such as turkeys.

The top and bottom frames comprise the longitudinal side bars 1, preferably made of uniform s uare cross-section throughout, and the end ars 2, of similar form, buttjointed at their meeting ends 3, that is to say, at the corners of the frames, and se- S pecification of Letters Patent. Patgnteqfi 1, 1922,

' Application filed September 16, 1921. Serial No. 501,114. r

cured by long nails or other suitable fas the coop, and the nails 4 used to secure the side and end bars are driven through these bars and also through those portions of the corner dowels and the dowels next adjacent thereto which are-in the sockets, as shown in Fig. 2, so as not only to fasten together said bars but also to firmly and securely unite them with the dowels and thus connect the top and bottom frames.

The corners or angles of such coops are most exposed to damage in use, but as in my construction there is no mortising, mitering or other cutting away of the meeting ends of the side and end bars and consequent reducing' ofthe strength, the coops produced in accordance with my invention by buttjointing these bars/without cutting, present a maximum of strength at these vulnerable points; and in addition myconstruction edects an economy of material, but particularly an economy in labor costs. Where hard wood, such as hickory is used in the construction of coops, these advantages are of great importance.

The top frame may have the intermediate bars 7 and 8 running lengthwise thereof, with their ends connected with the end bars .by mortise and tenon joints 9 and nails 10.

Transverse dowels or spindles 11 have their ends secured in sockets '12 (see the broken out part in the upper side bar, Fig. 1) in the adjacent sides of the side bars, and these dowels extend through holes 13 (see the broken out part in bar 7, Fig. 1) in the intermediate bars to the side bars, exce ting at a central point where the door 14 1s located, and where, by the omission of the dowels between the intermediate bars 7 and 8 a .door 0 ening is provided in the top. The short dbwels just described preferably are held in place by nails 10 driven through or. into the side bars and dowels. preferably is solid, and has a transverse hole The door 15 in one end through which one of the cross dowels 11 passes and serves as a hinge pintle for the door, as shown more in detail inFig. 3. The dowel 11 which forms the hinge intle for the door may also be secured in both the side bars and the intermediate bars by nails 10 and 10. The opposite end of the door is cut away, as at 16 so as to rest upon one of the cross dowels 11 at that end and be flush with the top of the coop; and at this end the door is proa vided with a socket 17 (see Fig. 3) which is engaged by the projecting end 18 of one of the cross dowels 11, and the door is pressed into en agement with this projecting end by a cor ed spring 19 mounted upon the hinge pintle dowel atone side and between the door and the next adj acentjintermediate bar 8, and acting laterally upon the door. The door is of sufliciently' less width than the space between the intermediate bars 7 and 8 to' admit of enough sidewise move 'inent, against the pressure of the spring, to

clear the end 18 and thus be released for opening and closing purposes.

The door 14 may have a hole 20 in it to receive a wire seal 21 for sealing the entrance to the coop and preventing unauthorized opening of the door g rAny other door looking means may bevtised.

The bottom ofthe, coop may be of any desired construction? I have shown it as com osed of boards 22 attached to the bottom rame.

Coops for larger fowls, such as turkeys, are made higher than those for chickens and the like, and in order to strengthen such v higher coops, they may be provided with side bars 23 and end bars 24, as shown in Fig. 4:, connected to one another and to the corner and next adjacent dowels by nails or equivalent fasteners-25 as in the case of the top and bottom frames first described. In this-type of coops the side bars and the end bars will have through holes 26 for the passa e of the dowels. i

have already referred to the corner construction as presenting great strength, and

i now add that thisstrength may be augmented by positively fastening the end dowels in the top frame, as by nails 27 driven through the side bars 1 and the ends of the dowels socketed therein. By this construcas herein claimed.

2 tion the rigidity and stiffness of the corners their constituent bars and the dowels being connected by nails or other fasteners driven through one set of bars into the other set and simultaneously through the corner dowels and the dowels next adjacent thereto.

2. A shipping coop, having top and bottom frames composed of side and end bars butt-jointed, and connecting dowels socketed in said bars at the corners of-the frames and along the sides and ends, the frames and their constituent bars and the dowels being connected by nails or other fasteners driven through one set of bars into the other set and simultaneously throu h the corner dowels and the dowels next a jacent thereto, and an intermediate framie arranged between the top and bottom frames and composed of side and end bars connected to one another and to the corner and next adjacent dowels by fasteners driven through them, the side and end dowels passing through the side and end bars of said intermediate frame and socketed in the side and end bars of the top and bottom frames as described.

3. A shipping coop, composed of top and bottom frames and connecting side and end dowels, the top frame having intermediate longitudinal bars and dowels extending from side to side through such intermediate bars saving for a substantially central door open ing, a pivoted door arranged in said opening and having one of the through dowels as its pintle, a spring interposed onsaid pintle between the side edge of the door and the next adjacent intermediate bar and serving to force the door toward the other intermediate bar, a dowel projecting into the door opening near its end opposite the pintle and adapted to engage a hole in the side of the door to hold the door closed, said door having a cut-away portion at its free end adapted to rest upon a cross dowel to support the closed door flush with the top.

1. A shipping coop, composed of top and bottom frames and connecting side and end dowels, the top frame having intermediate longitudinal bars and dowels extending from side to side through suchintermediate bars saving for a substantially central door opening, a pivoted door arranged in said opening and having one of the through dowels as its pintle, a spring interposed on said pintle be tween the side edge of the door and the next adjacent intermediate bar and serving to force the door toward the other intermediate bar, a dowel projecting into the door opening near its end opposite the pintle and adapted to engage a hole in the side of the door to hold the door closed, said door having a cut-away port-ion at its free ndadapted to rest upon a cross dowel to support the closed door flush with the top, and means for locking the door in closed position to prevent unauthorized access to the contents of the "coop, 4

weenie 5. A. shipping coop, having a top frame to leave a door opening, a door hingedly mounted upon one of the cross dowels, the 15 dowels adjacent to this opening being nailed to the side bars and the door pivoting dowel being likewise secured and also nailed to the intermediate bars;

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set 20 my hand this 13th day of August A. D. 1921.

1 CHARLES 'll. SHERMAN, SR.

Witnesses:

W. D. REAMY, M. S CHANDLER,

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