Abstract: This disclosure is directed to a nipple particularly adapted for feeding liquid to fowl and/or small animals, the nipple including a housing having an insert defining a passage through which liquid is adapted to pass from an upstream portion to a downstream portion thereof, a valve in the passage defined by at least one peripheral valve seat and a metallic spherical ball normally resting upon the peripheral valve seat, a stem defined by a head and a pin, the pin having a cylindrical outer surface housed within the downstream passage portion, the downstream passage portion including a frusto-conical outlet surface defined in part by an axial outermost major diameter and an axially innermost minor diameter, the insert further including an annular seat upon which the head normally rests, a flow-control surface between the annular seat and the minor diameter of the frusto-conical outlet surface, the flow-control surface defining with the pin cylindrical outer surface a generally annular flow-control channel throu

Abstract: This disclosure is directed to a watering system for fowl, such as chickens, ducks or the like, as well as other small animals, which is specifically adapted for use with cages, the system includes a plurality of pipes, each pipe having a plurality of aligned valved dispensing nozzles, and a coupling providing fluid communication between adjacent aligned pipes, each coupling having a uniplanar locating surface preferably in the form of terminal end faces of a pair of parallel disposed legs, and an adhesive or the equivalent securing each coupling to its associated pipe with a plane through the terminal faces of the legs being normal to the axes of the valved dispensing nozzles whereby when the end faces of the legs of each coupling are placed upon a reference surface, such as top horizontally disposed wires of a cage, the valved dispensing nozzles are normal to the horizontal, and thus operate in a repetitively efficient manner in the absence of malfunctioning which might otherwise occur if such nozzles were

Abstract: This disclosure is directed to a nipple particularly adapted for feeding liquid to fowl and/or small animals, the nipple including a housing in which is press-fit a relatively thick walled machined metallic insert defining a passage through which liquid is adapted to pass from an upstream portion to a downstream portion thereof, a valve in the passage defined by a pair of peripheral valve seats and a metallic spherical ball normally resting upon the peripheral valve seats, the first peripheral valve seat is upstream from the second peripheral valve seat and has a diameter less than the diameter of the spherical ball but greater than the diameter of the second peripheral valve seat, a stem defined by a head and a pin, the stem having a concave surface within which is fully seated the spherical ball, and a surface of the insert upstream from the first peripheral valve seat being operative for both centering the metallic ball relative to both the first and second peripheral valve seats and for preventing the est