Patent GB-628761-A (GB)
Title: Improved milking machine rinser
Filed: 1947-02-03
Abstract: 628,761. Cleaning milking machines. AKTIEBOLAGET MANUS. Feb. 3, 1947, No. 3213. Convention date, Feb. 5, 1946. [Classes 138(i)] [Also in Group XXVIII] Apparatus for cleaning milking machines comprises the combination with a washing- fluid circulating system of one or more carriers for the machine parts to be cleaned each carrier consisting of a set of spray tubes 14 each adapted to receive one of a cluster of teat cups and having at its free end a nozzle adapted to engage the outlet end of the teat cup so as to admit fluid into the tubing connected to the cup. Each carrier comprises four vertical spray tubes 14 connected to a spider which is rotatably mounted on a fluid supply pipe 13. The four teat cups of one cluster are supported by the spray tubes of one carrier, and their connecting pipes 40 and manifold pipe 41 are clipped to the carrier, which also supports the cover 42 of the milk container of the machine and the tubing 43 leading from the manifold 41 to the container. Each carrier is rotated by a water turbine comprising jets 19 on the supply pipe 13 acting on blades 18, or it may be driven from a separate source of power. The supply pipe also has a number of upstanding spray tubes 21 which clean the outside of the teat cups as they rotate. Cleaning fluids of different kinds are contained in separate tanks 1-4 which are connected through a four-way cock 9 and a pump 11 to the supply pipe 13. The carriers are contained in a casing having an inclined bottom 22 which returns cleaning fluid to a drain 23 having two alternative outlets both controlled by a flap valve 31. One outlet 30 goes to waste, and the other 24 is connected through a four-way cock 25 to the tanks 1-4. The two cocks 9, 25 are connected to a motor-driven control shaft 33 and the same motor drives a sleeve 100 coaxial with the control shaft 33. The sleeve 100 carries a cam 32 which is connected by linkage to the flap-valve 31 and a second cam 34 which operates a stop valve 35 in the outlet of the pump 11 so as 'to cause the cleaning fluid to pulsate and give a better cleaning action. Operation.-At the start, the control shaft 33 operates the cocks 9, 25 to connect the cold-water tank 1 to the pump 11 and the drain 23 and cam 32 positions the flap valve 31 so as to open pipe 24 and close the waste pipe 30. The water is then circulated by the pump through the carriers, the tubes 14 and 21 spraying the inside and outside of the teat cups and water from the nozzle 20 passing through the tubes 40, manifold 41 and tubing 43. The water then flows back to the drain and so to the tank 1. Near the end of the cold water period, the flap valve 31 is changed over by the cam 32 so as to cause the remainder of the cold water to pass to the waste pipe 30. The control shaft 33 then rotates the cocks 9, 25 to connect the tank 2, which contains hot cleaning fluid, to the pump and drain, the flap valve 31 is changed over, and the sequence is repeated. Tanks 3 and 4, which contain rinsing hot water and disinfectant respectively, are then connected in turn. In a modification, (Fig. 2, not shown), the cock 25 is omitted, and the return pipes to the tanks 1-4 lead from the drain 23, each being provided with a flap valve controlled by a cam on the control shaft 33. The tanks 1-4 may be hingedly mounted about their lower front edges in an enclosing housing, and the carriers may be mounted in a casing with individual doors to protect the milking machine parts against dust. In order to avoid the use of the pump 11, the tank 1-4 may be disposed above the level of the spray tubes so that the flow to the distributing pipe 13 may be under gravity.