The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1856-08-27
sfarmer. 5 Golanln.
AMACHINE FOR MILKING COWS.

John W. Kingsman, an ingenious
Farmer, of Dover, New Hampshire, has
invented a machine for milking COWS,
which he describes in a letter to the New
England Farmer, as follows:
In the first place, I take a large size
pail, either of tin or wood, and fit on it
a cover so as to make it air tight then
I construct a small pump in some form,
30 as to exhaust q part of the air from
the pail. The pump made for my expe-
riments, land which is described in the
application for a patiently is a part of
the cover to the pail, and being fiat and
thin, works rapidly and without friction,
and does not wear so as to leak. 1t is
only necessary to produce a slight vacu-
um, as a calf might make with his mouth.
I her connect four small rubber tubes,
about eighteen inches long, with the top
of the pail; and on the other end of
each of these tubes, I fix a little cup
of tin, glass or any other convenient ma
t%erial, about two inches in diameter and
three inches deep. Over the top of
each of these cups is drawn a cap of thin,
flexible rubber, having a sack or mouth
in the centre, of sufficient size to receive
the end of the cows teat, with a small
hole in the bottom for the milk to pass
through. The cap fits to the top Of the
cup, air tight, by its own contraction,
and also hangs around the end of the
teat, but by its ~fexibility permits a free
flow of the milk into the cup and
through the rubber tube into the pail.
Having got the machine in readiness,
49, - 49,
of the soft, flexible sacks or mouths,
which can be done in an instant with the
end Of the thumb; the ruber cling aroI n
the teats and holds the cups in place. l
then commence pumping slowly and east
", and the milk flows in a large steady
stream from each teat, through the tubes
into the pail. The COW, mean time, is
quietly chewing her cud, hardly know
ing that anything is going Cd; so per-
fectly is the teat sustained by the rub
Der sack, that the sunction hardly affects
it at all, and there is no pulling, or
finchipg, or squeezing in any direction.
AL the while the milk is flowing at the
rate of about two quarts per minute ;
at any rate, I have MIXED eight quarts
of milk from my COW in four minutes,
with a machine by no means perfect
because being the first and only on
ever made, and got up only to expert
nent with, it has suggested improve
ments which will be embodied hereaf-
ter; I am entirely satisfied that a child
or a women can milk with this machine
with perfect ease, faster than four milk
ers, either men or women, can milk by
hand.
But the chiefest recommendation Of
the machine still remains to be mention
ed. The common method of milking
by hand necessarily exposes the milk to
more or less dust, dripping from the
hands, and other kinds of filth, which
often spoils its taste, and always gives
one the idea thai he is swallowing a dis
agreeable amount of unmentionable ma
t~erials. Even the best and most care
full mixers connot avoid getting some
thing into the pail that should not go
there; this is proved by the universal
custom of the ~straining milk immedi-
rely after milking, in all cases, and by
whosoever it may have been MIXED.
But straining will net take out the
drippings from the hands of careless,
filthy mixers; and the result is a very
general complaint among consumers, of
the bad taste of milk, too often attribu-
ted to the adulteration or dishonesty of
milkmen.
This machine, however, entirely OBJ.
viates this unpleasant difficulty. The
milk is drawn directly from the udder
into a covered, air tight pail, where no
dust or drippings or filth can fail of
itself or be thrown by carelesssness.-
The Irish girls cannot dip their hands
into the pail to moisten the teats, as is
their common practice, nor can the COW
step into the pail, or kich it over, SO as
to spill the milk.
In short, I think the milking ma
chine will be great labor-saving i'm
proyement for the agricultural commu-
nifty, and a genuine comfort to both the
COWS and the Immediate
efforts will be made, after obtaining a
patient, to introduce the machine to the
notice of the public, and to supply the
market demand for them. 1t is not pos
sible at present SO say at what price
they can be afforded, but probably
they will not cost far from five dollars
apiece.