Secure collapse teatcup liner

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9992967-B2
Application number	US-201514967407-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 14, 2015
Priority date	Dec 14, 2015
Publication date	Jun 12, 2018
Grant date	Jun 12, 2018

Abstract

A teatcup liner includes a head defining a mouthpiece, a barrel with an upper barrel joined to a lower barrel, an outlet portion that extends downward from the lower barrel co-operates with the shell of the teat cup. In a relaxed state, the barrel has a polygonal cross-sectional shape, with the lower barrel having a flexibility for closing during the liner collapse phase of the milking operation greater than a flexibility of the upper barrel such that corner portions of the lower barrel are weaker than the corner portions of the upper barrel thereby assuring the lower barrel collapses first to create an upward wave movement of the lower barrel towards the upper barrel that securely collapses the upper barrel onto the teat to provide an enhanced teat massage and relieve congestion in the teat tissue.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A teatcup liner ( 1 ) configured to be mounted in a shell of a teatcup and to be applied to a teat of an animal, with a pulsation chamber between the liner and an inner side of the shell being connected to vacuum and atmospheric pressure, or a sub-pressure less than the milking vacuum, in a cyclic manner during a milking operation, the liner having a longitudinal shape extending along a longitudinal axis (x), the teatcup liner comprising:
a barrel ( 2 ) having a top ( 5 ) that extends downward,
wherein the barrel is comprised of i) an upper barrel ( 3 ) of a first length (L 1 ), and ii) a lower barrel ( 4 ) of a second length (L 2 ), where the first and second lengths (L 1 , L 2 ) together equal the overall length (L) of the barrel, and a top part ( 7 ) of the lower barrel is connected to a bottom part ( 6 ) of the upper barrel ( 3 ), the barrel defines an inner space ( 8 ) with an interior surface ( 9 ) within the upper barrel ( 3 ) for receiving the teat,
wherein the barrel, in the relaxed state, has transversely to the longitudinal axis (x), a polygonal cross-sectional shape comprised of corner portions ( 19 ) and side walls ( 20 ), each corner portion connecting two of said side walls, each corner portion and each side wall having an exterior surface and an opposite, inner surface, the inner surface of each corner portion being an arcuate first concave curvature open to the inner space,
wherein, for the upper barrel, each corner portion has a first flexibility for closing such that during a liner collapse phase of a milking operation the corner portions close to the inner space and the side walls collapse towards the longitudinal axis (x) into the inner space of the upper barrel,
wherein, for the lower barrel, each corner portion has a second flexibility for closing such that during the liner collapse phase of the milking operation the corner portions close to the inner space and the side walls collapse towards the longitudinal axis (x) into the inner space of the lower barrel, the second flexibility being greater than the first flexibility such that the corner portions of the lower barrel are weaker than the corner portions of the upper barrel, thereby assuring the lower barrel collapses prior to the upper barrel,
wherein, a thickness of a center part of the side walls along the upper barrel is equal to a thickness of a center part of the side walls along the lower barrel from the top part of the lower barrel to the bottom part of the lower barrel, and
wherein, a thickness of a center part of the corner portions remains constant in the upper barrel down to the bottom part of the upper barrel, and then the thickness of a center part of the corner portions decreases, from the top part of the lower barrel to the bottom part of the lower barrel with:
i) a thickness of a center part of the corner portions along the bottom part of the upper barrel being equal to the thickness of the center part of the corner portions of the top part of the lower barrel, and
ii) the thickness of the center part of the corner portions along the bottom part of the upper barrel being greater than the thickness of the center part of the corner portions along the bottom part of the lower barrel by at least 25%.

2. The teatcup liner of claim 1 , further comprising:
a head ( 10 ) defining a mouthpiece ( 11 ) through which the teat is inserted during the milking operation, the head defining an upper collar region ( 12 ) joined to a head transition portion ( 13 ) and having a head length (Lh) along the longitudinal axis (x),
wherein the barrel ( 2 ) is connected to the head ( 10 ) and the top ( 5 ) of the barrel ( 2 ) extends downward from a bottom of the head transition portion,
wherein the head length (Lh) and the first length of the upper barrel have, in the relaxed state, a combined length along the longitudinal axis (x) such that the head and the upper barrel contain all of the teat during the milking operation and that, during the milking operation, the teat does not extend into the lower barrel; and
an outlet portion ( 15 ) connected to and extending downward from a bottom part ( 16 ) of the lower barrel along the longitudinal axis (x), the outlet portion ( 15 ) including an outlet transition portion ( 17 ) that connects to the bottom part ( 16 ) of the lower barrel ( 4 ) and includes an element ( 18 ) that co-operate with the shell of the teat cup.

3. The teatcup liner of claim 1 , wherein the thickness of the center part of the corner portions along the bottom part of the upper barrel being greater than the thickness of the center part of the corner portions along the bottom part of the lower barrel by at least 60%.

4. The teatcup liner of claim 1 , wherein,
the thickness of the center part of the side walls along the upper barrel and the lower barrel is 1.75 mm+/−0.20 mm, and
the thickness of the center part of the corner portions along the upper barrel is 3 mm+/−0.15 mm.

5. The teatcup liner of claim 4 , wherein,
at the top of the upper barrel, a radius of the corner portions is 5.85 mm+/−0.30 mm,
the thickness of the center part of the side walls along the upper barrel and the lower barrel is 1.8 mm+/−0.15 mm,
the thickness of the center part of the corner portions along the lower barrel is no more than 2.3 mm+/−0.15 mm, and
at the bottom part of the lower barrel, the radius of the corner portions is 4.65 mm+/−0.30 mm.

6. The teatcup liner of claim 3 , wherein,
at the top of the upper barrel, a radius of the corner portions is 5.85 mm+/−0.30 mm,
the thickness of the center part of the side walls along the upper barrel and the lower barrel is 1.7 mm+/−0.25 mm,
the thickness of the center part of the corner portions along the lower barrel is no more than 1.74 mm+/−0.25 mm, and
at the bottom part of the lower barrel, the radius of the corner portions varies with a smallest radius of 2.49 mm+/0.20 mm at center of the inner surface.

7. The teatcup liner according to claim 1 , wherein, the polygonal cross-sectional shape defines only three corner portions, and only three side walls.

8. The teatcup liner of claim 2 in combination with the teatcup, wherein,
the teatcup comprising a shell that defines a pulsation space between an interior of the shell and an exterior of the teatcup liner, the shell having a vacuum line connection,
the teatcup liner is mounted in the shell with the shell bearing against the head and the outlet portion,
the barrel is tapered along the overall length (L) from the head to the outlet portion, and
the head and the barrel are each vent-free.

9. The teatcup liner according to claim 1 , wherein, when located within the polygonal cross-sectional shape of the upper barrel, the teat fills up the inner space during all pulsation phases (a, b, c, d) during the milking operation with the interior surface ( 25 ) sealed against the teat.

10. The teatcup liner of claim 1 , wherein, in the liner relaxed state, the upper barrel and the lower barrel, transversely to the longitudinal axis (x), have the same polygonal cross-sectional shape comprised of the corner portions and the side walls, each corner portion connecting two of said side walls, each corner portion and each side wall having an exterior surface and the opposite, inner surface, the inner surface of each corner portion being the arcuate first concave curvature open to the inner space.

11. The teatcup liner of claim 2 , wherein a combined length of the head length (Lh) and the first length of the upper barrel, in the relaxed state, is in a range from 60 to 100 mm.

12. The teatcup liner of claim 11 , wherein,
the second length (L 2 ) of the lower barrel is at least the 3

Assignees

• Delaval Holding Ab

Inventors

• Alveby Nils

Classifications

• A01J5/06

  Teat-cups with one chamber · CPC title

• A01J5/08 Primary

  Teat-cups with two chambers · CPC title

• A01J5/16 Primary

  Teat-cups with pulsating devices · CPC title