Young livestock confined to gated pens typically obtain drinking water from animal waterers. The height of the animal waterer must be periodically adjusted to accommodate for the growing size of the animals. Conventional animal waterers include a metal pipe, with the top end of the pipe being attached to a water supply and the bottom end of the pipe terminating in a nipple. The nippled end is shaped to fit into the animals' mouths. The pipe is usually attached to the gate by a metal bracket. The metal bracket includes a spring located between two tabs, with each tab having an oval shaped opening for the pipe to pass through. The spring forces the tabs apart and into a position angled with respect to the pipe, resulting in a frictional engagement of the pipe and the tabs. As the tabs are squeezed together, the spring compresses and the tabs become substantially perpendicular to the pipe, allowing the pipe to move vertically through the oval shaped openings and to adjust for the appropriate height of animals. Releasing the tabs results again in frictional engagement of the pipe at the newly adjusted height.
One problem that arises with existing animal waterers is that metal corrodes. Corrosion necessitates frequent replacement of parts and of the entire assembly. Also, corrosion of both the pipe and the bracket makes moving the pipe vertically within the tabs difficult. Another problem with conventional animal waterers is that a certain force must be exerted to compress the spring. An even greater amount of force is required to compress the spring when the spring and the tabs corrode. Additionally, existing animal waterers are costly because these assemblies include many parts that require labor intensive assembly.