The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 08, 1994
Filed:
Apr. 08, 1993
Gary C Steingraber, Madison, WI (US);
Paul D Thompson, Madison, WI (US);
Terrence J Mullen, Sun Prairie, WI (US);
DEC International, Inc., Madison, WI (US);
Abstract
A top unloading milking claw (10) includes a high-impact transparent plastic lower bowl (12) and a stainless steel upper top (14). The claw has a plurality of deflectors (50, 52, 54, 56) on the inner surface (48) of the lower bowl (12) and spaced radially outwardly of the vertical riser outlet tube (28) by an annular gap (58) therebetween. The deflectors (50, 52, 54, 56) reduce tangential velocity of milk flow along the inner surface (48) of the bowl (12) by intercepting such tangential milk flow and redirecting the intercepted milk flow inwardly and downwardly along the inner surface (48) toward the bottom of the bowl (12) to fill the space (38) between the lower end (36) of the outlet tube (28) and the bottom of the bowl (12), to maximize the air pressure differential across the surface of the milk, between the ambient air pressure within the claw and the vacuum within the outlet tube, to maximize milk flow capacity of the claw ( 10). An acceleration surface (94) having a bell-shaped curve extends from the bottom of the bowl (12) upwardly into the outlet tube (28) and provides uniform acceleration of the milk as it enters the outlet tube (28), to minimize shear stress and energy loss as the milk is directed to flow upwardly through the outlet tube (28).