Animal husbandry – Milkers – With automatic control
Patent
1993-12-20
1995-07-11
Mancene, Gene
Animal husbandry
Milkers
With automatic control
A01J 5017
Patent
active
054311284
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to a device for automatic removal of a milking means from the teats of an animal after finished milking. The removal device comprises a frame, and an operating unit carried by the frame. The operating unit has a rotatable cord drum, a cord, which is windable on the cord drum and provided with a connection member at its free end for connection to the milking means to be removed, and a driving means arranged to turn the cord drum for winding up the cord, so that the milking means is pulled off the teats of the animal.
A removal device of this kind is known from DD 233 480. The known device is compact and therefore especially suited for portable milking equipments for serving tied up cows. However, it has a serious drawback, since the driving means for winding up the cord is constituted by a relatively strong spiral spring. As a consequence, the milker has to tighten the spiral spring when unwinding the cord to connect the connection member to a milking means which previously has been applied on the teats of a cow. The reason why a spiral spring has to be relatively strong is due to the fact that a modern milking means comprising teat cups, hoses and a teat cup claw, has a weight of about three kg. Therefore, the spiral spring should be able to generate a pulling power corresponding to at least five kg. The frequent tightenings of a spiral spring against the action of said pulling power, when applying the milking means on the cows to be milked, of course will be laborious for the milker.
The object of the present invention is to provide a compact low-weight device for automatic removal of a milking means, which device is easy to connect to a milking means applied on the teats of a cow.
This object is obtained by means of a device for automatic removal of a milking means form the teats of an animal after milking. Such a device includes a frame, a rotatable cord drum carried by the frame, a cord having two ends and attached to the cord drum at one end with the cord windable on the cord drum, a connection member attached to the cord at the other end, and a pneumatic motor arranged to turn the cord drum for winding up the cord on the cord drum. The connection member is adapted to connect to the milking means to be removed, and the cord pulls the milking means off the teats of the animal as the pneumatic motor is operated. As a result the cord can be easily unwound without any substantial resistance from the motor, when this is inactivated. The motor is suitably connectable to the necessary air conducting vacuum conduits for providing the pulsating pressure in the teat cups of the milking means.
Preferably, the pneumatic motor is a rotating sliding vane motor, whereby the automatic removal device can be designed particularly compact. (As an alternative the motor may comprise a number of small piston-cylinder means, for instance of the well-known arrangement which comprises four piston-cylinder means orientated in a cross and in engagement with a slide member in the centre of the cross, the slide member being connected to the cord drum for turning the latter).
With advantage, the motor is in drivable engagement with the cord drum via a reduction gearing, suitably a planetary gearing. The gear ratio of the reduction gearing should be chosen in the range of 1:3 to 1:8. The reduction gearing enables use of a cord drum with a relatively large diameter. This leads to that the required turning moment for turning the cord drum will be approximately unchanged during the entire winding of the cord, since the diameter of the formed cord coil on the large coil drum only increases insignificantly during the upwinding. Said unchanged turning moment has the consequence that the rotational speed of the rotating sliding vane motor can be kept substantially constant during the upwinding of the cord, which ensures the required output of the relatively small motor.
In this connection it should be noted that for compensating an increased turning moment for turning the cord drum, the power of the rotating
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Nilsson Rutger
Olofsson Hans
Alfa-Laval Agriculture International AB
Manahan Todd #E.
Mancene Gene
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