Patent ID: 8070724

Claim:
An apparatus ( 1 ) for extracting milk from a breast, comprising: means ( 2 , 3 ) for receiving at least a portion of a breast and its nipple; a container ( 5 ) for collecting the milk, operatively connected to said means for receiving at least partially a breast and its nipple; a pump unit ( 100 ) operatively connected to said means ( 2 , 3 ) for receiving at least partially a breast and its nipple, said pump unit ( 100 ) being operated manually to generate at least an aspiration able to cause a suction on the breast by imposing a predetermined degree of vacuum within said means for receiving the breast and the nipple, said manually operated pump unit ( 100 ) comprising means for regulating the degree of vacuum that is generated, wherein said pump unit comprises: a chamber ( 101 ) operatively communicating with said means ( 2 , 3 ) for receiving at least partially a breast and its nipple; a piston ( 102 ) housed internally to said chamber ( 101 ) and movable at least between a resting position and an operative position of aspiration; a linkage ( 103 ) pivotally engaged with its fulcrum on a support structure and having a first portion ( 103 a ) removably connected to a stem ( 102 b ) of the piston and a second portion ( 103 b ) which can be gripped by a user, so that to an alternating rotation of the linkage ( 103 ) around an axis passing through the fulcrum ( 107 ) corresponds an alternating motion of the piston ( 102 ) within the chamber ( 101 ), characterized in that said means for regulating the degree of vacuum are defined by a pair of housings ( 105 , 106 ) obtained on said first portion ( 103 a ) of the linkage ( 103 ) and able selectively to house an abutment element ( 104 ) integral with a stem ( 102 b ) of the piston ( 102 ), said housings being shaped and/or positioned in such a way as to engage said abutment element at different angular positions assumed by the linkage during its rotation around said axis passing through the fulcrum ( 107 ).