Hoof trimming stall
View Patent ↗A hoof trimming stall has a front gate having two pivotally mounted spaced-apart doors for swinging inwardly and outwardly. The doors are movable between a catching position in which the doors point inwardly for receiving a head of the animal entering the stall, a closed position for holding the animal in the stall with the neck of the animal caught in a gap between the doors, and an open position in which the doors point outwardly for permitting the animal to exit. A door lock/release mechanism has a slider arm movable forward and backward, a hydraulic cylinder for moving the slider arm forward and backward, a rear catcher mounted on the slider arm for preventing the doors from moving from the closed position to the catching position, a front catcher mounted on the slider arm for preventing the doors from being opened by the animal when the doors are in the closed position, and a release mechanism for permitting the doors to move from the open position to the catching position. An automatic reset mechanism automatically resets the doors and door/lock release mechanism. The reset mechanism has a sensor for signaling the hydraulic cylinder to move the slider arm backwards when the doors are in the open position and a spring for biasing the doors from the open position to the catching position.
1. A hoof trimming stall comprising:
a frame having a rear portion through which a four-legged hoofed animal may enter the stall and a front portion through which the animal may exit the stall;
a front gate on the front portion of frame, the front gate having two pivotally mounted spaced-apart doors for swinging inwardly into the stall and outwardly away from the stall, the doors movable between
a catching position in which the doors point inwardly for receiving a head and neck of the animal entering the stall in a gap between the spaced-apart doors,
a closed position for holding the animal in the stall with the neck of the animal caught in the gap between the doors, and
an open position in which the doors point outwardly for permitting the animal to exit the stall;
a door lock/release mechanism having
a slider arm movable forward and backward with respect to the frame,
actuating means connected to the frame for moving the slider arm forward and backward,
a rear catcher mounted on the slider arm for preventing the doors from moving from the closed position to the catching position,
a front catcher mounted on the slider arm for preventing the doors from being opened by the animal when the doors are in the closed position, and
a release mechanism for permitting the doors to move from the open position to the catching position; and,
an automatic reset mechanism for automatically resetting the doors and door/lock release mechanism, the reset mechanism having
a sensor for signaling the actuating means to move the slider arm backwards when the doors are in the open position to thereby reset the door lock/release mechanism, and
a biasing means connected to the doors and the frame for biasing the doors from the open position to the catching position to thereby reset the doors.
2. The stall of claim 1 , wherein the rear catcher is pivotally mounted on the slider arm and the release mechanism comprises a lift plate connected to the rear catcher for engagement with the front catcher.
3. The stall of claim 2 , wherein the front catcher is pivotally mounted on the slider arm and the release element comprises a push plate connected to the front catcher for engaging the lift plate to release the rear catcher as the doors move from the open position to the catching position.
4. The stall of claim 3 , wherein the doors comprise rollers mounted thereon to engage the rear catcher to permit movement of the doors without binding when the doors move from the catching position to the closed position.
5. The stall of claim 1 , wherein the doors have a half-release position between the closed position and the open position.
6. The stall of claim 5 , further comprising a controller for permitting selective activation of the actuating means for moving the slider arm and doors forward from the closed position to the half-release position, and the sensor signals the actuating means to move the slider arm backwards only after the doors are pushed past the half-release position.
7. The stall of claim 6 further comprising a floor and a floor lift for lifting the floor to raise the stall.
8. The stall of claim 7 further comprising a size-adjustable animal lift for supporting the animal in the stall.
9. The stall of claim 8 , wherein the floor lift and the animal lift are separately controllable by separate worker/slave hydraulic cylinders.
10. The stall of claim 8 further comprising a rear swing arm for blocking the rear portion of the frame to help prevent the animal from backing out of the stall.
11. The stall of claim 1 further comprising wheels connected to the frame and a removable hitch to permit towing of the stall.
12. The stall of claim 11 , wherein the wheels are mounted on an axle and the axle may be raised and lowered.
13. The stall of claim 1 , wherein the actuating means is a hydraulic cylinder.
14. The stall of claim 1 , wherein the biasing means comprises a spring.
15. The stall of claim 1 , further comprising two front feet trimming platforms for supporting both front legs of the animal and a rear leg support for supporting one of the rear legs of the animal.