Patent ID: 8752504

Claim:
An apparatus, comprising: a manifold; a plurality of inlets, each inlet comprising a first end coupled to a corresponding hose that receives a flow of milk from a teat cup and a second end terminating in a chamber of the manifold, wherein each inlet receives the flow of milk from the corresponding hose; a plurality of outlets, each outlet of the plurality of outlets receives a flow of milk from a corresponding one or more of the plurality of inlets, the plurality of outlets including: one or more milk collector outlets, each milk collector outlet comprising a first end forming a collector opening in the chamber of the manifold and a second end coupled to a milk collector, wherein each milk collector outlet directs the flow of milk received from the corresponding one or more of the plurality of inlets to the milk collector; and one or more drain outlets, each drain outlet comprising a first end forming a discard opening in the chamber of the manifold and a second end coupled to a discard area, wherein each drain outlet directs the flow of milk received from the corresponding one or more of the plurality of inlets to a discard area; one or more valves each associated with one of the plurality of inlets, the one or more valves directs the flow of milk received at the associated inlet to either a corresponding one of the one or more milk collector outlets or a corresponding one of the one or more drain outlets, the one or more valves comprising: one or more shut-off valves that, when open, directs the flow of milk through the collector opening formed in the chamber to the milk collector and, when closed, prohibits the flow of milk through the collector opening formed in the chamber to the milk collector and stops application of vacuum pressure to the teat cup; and one or more drain valves that, when open, directs the flow of milk through the discard opening formed in the chamber to the discard area and, when closed, prohibits the flow of milk through the discard opening formed in the chamber to the discard area.