Patent ID: 7007632

Claim:
A milking parlor for milking a plurality of mammals, comprising a plurality of stalls having respective shoulder bars guidingly locating the shoulders of the mammal in a milking position, said bars having respective resilient bumpers engaging said shoulders in deformable cushioning relation, wherein a respective said stall aligns a respective said mammal along a respective longitudinal axis from head to rump of the mammal and parallel to the backbone of the mammal and bisecting the shoulders of the mammal on laterally opposite sides of said axis, said bumpers flexing laterally outwardly away from said axis and also permitting continued longitudinal movement of the mammal along said axis during said lateral outward flexing, to accommodate different size mammals including mammals of differing longitudinal length, wherein each said bumper has a first sidewall having an outer arcuate surface engaging and mounted to a respective said bar, and an inner surface opposite to said outer surface, and a second sidewall extending in an arc from said first sidewall in a loop and returning to said first sidewall to define a hollow interior, said second sidewall having an outer surface engaging said shoulder of said mammal, and an inner surface opposite to said outer surface of said second sidewall and facing said inner surface of said first sidewall across said hollow interior, such that engagement of said shoulder of said mammal with said outer surface of said second sidewall deforms said second sidewall and pushes said second sidewall into said hollow interior such that said inner surface of said second sidewall moves toward said inner surface of said first sidewall.