Patent ID: 7882803

Claim:
An improvement in an inflation for an automatic milking machine in which said inflation has (a) an elongate, hollow barrel that terminates in an open upper end and an open lower end and said barrel has a substantially uniform shape extending from said upper end to said lower end thereof, and (b) a head is formed at said upper end of said barrel, with said head having a mouthpart positioned across an otherwise open, uppermost end of said head and said mouthpart has a central opening that is adapted to accommodate a teat of an animal to be milked, said improvement comprising at least one elongate reinforcement element comprising a relatively narrow raised rib molded integrally along a surface of said barrel; each said raised rib having a top end that is located adjacent to said upper end of said barrel; and each said raised rib extending along a longitudinal length of said barrel, with a bottom end of each said rib being spaced from said upper end of said barrel by a distance of at least one-half to no more than three-fourths of said longitudinal length of said barrel.