Patent ID: 6110141
Filing Date: 2000-08-29
Classification: A61M

Abstract:
A breast pump for pumping milk from a woman's breast, comprising:a breast hood for applying onto said woman's breast;a suction chamber communicating with said breast hood;suction pump means communicating with said suction chamber;milk collecting means for receiving milk pumped from said woman's breast;a check valve between said suction chamber and said milk collecting means; andoverflow protection means communicating with said suction chamber and said suction pump means, protecting said suction pump means from being flooded by said milk;wherein said overflow protection means comprises:wall means forming a valve housing being elongated along a longitudinal axis and having two opposing end walls, a first one of which includes an entrance opening nearer to said suction chamber and, thus, defining a direction of entrance flow, a second one of said end walls defining an outlet opening nearer to said suction pump,an elongated valve body movable within said valve housing along said longitudinal axis, said elongated valve body having a predetermined volume and being provided with an impact surface opposite said entrance opening and extending substantially transversely to said direction of entrance flow so as to be impacted by milk on the way to flood said suction pump, and a shutter surface in a region of said outlet opening in order to be able to obturate the latter, andelongated by-passing means extending from a region of said entrance opening to said outlet opening and communicating with both said entrance opening and said outlet opening, thus by-passing said valve body as long as the latter is not impacted by milk and does not obturate said outlet opening.