AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR MILKING Cows
Year: 1863

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Margaret Barland at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with her Petition, on the 25th April
1863. A communication from abroad by Thomas Barland, residing at
Eau Clair, Wisconsin, in the United States of America.
I, MARGARET BARLAND, of Mount Street, Grosvenor Square, in the County
of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR MILKING Cows," a communication to me from abroad
by Thomas Barland, resident at Eau Clair, Wisconsin, in the United States of
America, to be as follows:-
This Invention consists of certain improved apparatus by the aid of which
cows may be milked with greater rapidity and with less labour than by the
methods at present in use. I propose to construct a small tube or pipe of
metal, ivory, vulcanite, or ebonite, or other suitable substance, the diameter
being about one-eighth of an inch, and the length about two or three inches,
one end being tapered to a conical or blunt point or head, and being per-
forated with several holes of an oval, round, or other shape; one of these tubes
is to be inserted in each teat of the animal. In some cases it may be
necessary to keep the tube in position in the teat by means of an elastic band
encircling the teat and pressing it against the surface of the tube. So also
the tubes may be secured against the danger of penetrating too deeply into
the teat by means of a disc or small head plate fixed around the tubes near
their lower ends. The effect of the insertion of these tubes will be that the
milk will flow through the perforations into the tapered ends of the tubes, and

page_text: consequently will pour through them in a regular and continuous stream until
the milk is exhausted.
In order to receive and safely retain the milk as it flows from the tubes I
propose to make the animals stand transversely across a trough in which pans
or vessels may be placed. I should prefer in most cases that the top of these
vessels should be somewhat of the shape of the udder of the cow, and that
they should be fixed in a raised or elevated position, so that the udders of the
animals should partly enter therein after the insertion of the tubes, whereby
the risk of milk being wasted would be avoided; and to compel the animal to
remain in the desired position I propose to attach a series of straps or bands
to the edges of the trough in such manner that a strap may be taken up on
each side of the animal, and the two brought together and fastened over its
back by means of hooks at the ends of the straps. In some cases I should
propose to construct a continuous or a jointed tube of gutta percha or other
suitable substance, into which the milk from each vessel should flow and be
collected at one operation. The pipe should be secured in a trough or other
strong fixture, across which the animal should be made to stand as before, and
the pans or vessels should be furnished with a small pipe connecting them
with the main tube, whereby the milk would run from them, as described,
into the gutta percha pipe. These methods may of course be varied or
modified, but they embrace the main features of the Invention. Besides the
saving of time and labour the process will be more agreeable to the animals
themselves, and the milk would be collected with a greater degree of clean-
liness in the operation than is at present the case.