EARLY-RISING DOOR 155 



Unfortunately, most of us humans have not the same point of 

 view as poultry. We do not struggle and trample one another to 

 get outdoors at four o'clock in the morning. Just about that 

 hour we would be willing to struggle against getting up, and the 

 chances are we would put up a pretty lively struggle against it. 



Automatic Device. — Yet the fowls should be at liberty. If you 

 leave a door open all night, though it may be but a hen door, you 

 take the chance of having the house entered and robbed — not 

 robbed of a single fowl, perhaps, but of a dozen, or maybe the 

 entire flock will be killed, just for the sake of killing. 



The remedy is to install or equip the house with an automatic 

 device that will permit the fowls to liberate themselves at dawn, 

 in other words, to construct a self-opening door. I have called it 

 the early-rising door. 



Chickens are creatures of habit. If they are accustomed to 

 drinking at a particular spot, there they will look for water, even 

 to the point of going through the motions of taking a drink. If 

 they are in the habit of leaving a house or coop at a certain door, 

 there they will congregate for admittance. It is due to this char- 

 acteristic that it is so easy for the poultryman to contrive some- 

 thing; for he has but to utilize the hen's weight to 'release a catch 

 ■ — and presto! the door is open. 



A swinging door or a sliding door can be operated, whichever 

 is the most convenient ; in most cases the latter is the easiest to 

 build. In either case the mechanism should be completely located 

 on the inside, so that the door cannot be accidentally released by 

 the raider. Above everything else, keep the device as simple as 

 possible, for the fewer the parts the less likely they are to get out 

 of order. The wear and tear is heavy, more especially in the ac- 

 cumulation of dirt, consequently it must be cleaned easily, and 

 without danger of throwing the appliance out of adjustment. 



In the drawing shown in Fig. 109 there is shown a simple device 

 for releasing a catch, which is applied to both a swinging and a 

 vertically sliding door. It involves the simplest kind of a principle. 

 The platform, or trigger board "A," is hinged to the threshold or 

 wall of the house, and supported in a horizontal position by means 



