Animal husbandry – Milkers – With signals – indicators – registers – and timers
Patent
1997-05-27
1998-08-11
Swiatek, Robert P.
Animal husbandry
Milkers
With signals, indicators, registers, and timers
119520, A01J 5017, A01J 702
Patent
active
057912831
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a milking plant comprising a stall adapted to house one animal at a time for milking of the animal, and a device for automatic milking of the animal in the stall.
2. Description of the Prior Art
EP-B1-452 381 discloses such a milking plant intended for automatic milking of loose housed cows at optional points of time. Since the known milking plant is relatively expensive it is important that it is efficiently utilized.
A problem of the known milking plant, however, is that it has to be regularly closed for necessary cleaning and service of said automatic milking device. Furthermore, directly after milking of an ill or medically treated cow, the known plant has to be closed for an extra cleaning of the automatic milking device, in order to avoid contamination of the milk extracted from the next cows which are milked. Since a cleaning interval can last for about 45 minutes the known milking plant is therefore not satisfactorily utilized.
The object of the present invention is to provide a milking plant of the kind described above, which can be utilized more efficiently as compared with the known milking plant.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This object is obtained by a milking plant of the kind initially stated, which is characterized in that said automatic milking device comprises a first milking unit with teatcups and a second milking unit with teatcups, and an attachment means adapted to attach the teatcups of either the first or the second milking unit to the animal's teats. As a result one milking unit can be used for milking of animals, while the other milking unit is subjected to some suitable treatment, such as service or cleaning. Consequently the utilization efficiency of the milking plant according to the invention is substantially improved, as compared with the known milking plant.
Cleaning means may suitably be adapted to clean milk passages in one of the milking units, while the teatcups of the other milking unit are available for said attachment means. Said cleaning means may comprise a cleaning device adapted to be connected to the teatcups of one of said milking units. As an alternative, said cleaning means may comprise two cleaning devices adapted to be connected to the teatcups of the first milking unit and the second milking unit, respectively, when required. Hereby, any one of the cleaning devices can be subjected to necessary service, while the other is used for cleaning of any one of the milking units, which contributes to the improvement of the utilization efficiency of the milking plant.
According to a preferred embodiment of the plant of the invention, a displacement means is adapted to displace the teatcups of the first milking unit and the second milking unit, respectively, between a milking position, in which the teatcups are available for said attachment means, and a stand-by position, in which the teatcups are not available for the attachment means. As an alternative the two teatcup clusters of the milking units may be placed in two different milking positions, respectively, and the attachment means be adapted to bring teatcups from and leave them in said two milking positions.
The displacement means may be adapted to simultaneously displace the teatcups of the first milking unit and the second milking unit such that the teatcups of the first milking unit are displaced from their stand-by position to their milking position, while the teatcups of the second milking unit are displaced from their milking position to their stand-by position, and vice versa. For example, the milking position and the stand-by position, respectively, for the teatcups of the first milking unit may be the same as the milking position and the stand-by position, respectively, for the teatcups of the second milking unit. In this case the displacement means may comprise a holding means which carries the teatcups of both the first and second milking units, the holding means being rotatable about a (suitably vertical) shaft f
REFERENCES:
patent: 2512094 (1950-06-01), Duncan
patent: 2910965 (1959-11-01), Cann, Sr.
patent: 3385265 (1968-05-01), Schrader
patent: 4034713 (1977-07-01), Umbaugh
patent: 4572105 (1986-02-01), Chowdhury et al.
patent: 5167201 (1992-12-01), Peles
patent: 5697324 (1997-12-01), van der Lely
patent: 5713301 (1998-02-01), van der Lely
Alfa Laval Agri AB
Swiatek Robert P.
LandOfFree
Milking plant does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Milking plant, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Milking plant will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-379125