Milking apparatus and a method for presenting a teat cup for attaching to an animal

Abstract

A rotary milking platform ( 1 ) includes a plurality of apparatus, each having a platform ( 11 ) which forms a segment of the rotary platform ( 1 ). The platforms ( 11 ) define respective animal accommodating locations ( 3 ) for animals to be milked. A communicating opening ( 20 ) in each platform ( 11 ) is closed by a pair of closure plates ( 25 ) which are pivotal upwardly into an open state for separating the hind legs of an animal. A carriage ( 14 ) which is slideably carried beneath the platform ( 11 ) of each apparatus ( 10 ) in the directions of the arrows A and B. A teat cup carrier ( 15 ) is pivotally mounted in the carriage ( 14 ) of each apparatus ( 10 ) and is pivotal from a first state with teat cups ( 16 ) in the carrier ( 15 ) in a protective state extending horizontally and a second state with the teat cups ( 16 ) in a ready state extending vertically upwardly and ready for manual placement onto the teats of an animal. The carriage ( 14 ) is urgeable into a first position with the teat cup carrier ( 15 ) in the first state and with the teat cups ( 16 ) sealably engaged in plug elements ( 45 ) which include jetters ( 47 ) for use in rinsing and washing the milking system. The carriage ( 14 ) is moveable from the first position to a second position with the teat cup carrier ( 15 ) substantially aligned with the udder of an animal so that when the teat cup carrier ( 15 ) is urged into the second state, the teat cups ( 16 ) can be manually urged upwardly by hand and attached to the teat of the animal.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . Apparatus for presenting a teat cup for attaching to a teat of an animal to be milked, the apparatus comprising a support means adapted for mounting beneath an upwardly facing major surface of a platform on which an animal stands during milking thereof, and a teat cup carrier for holding the teat cup, the teat cup carrier being mounted on the support means and being adapted for holding the teat cup beneath the animal in a ready state with the teat cup ready to be urged upwardly from the teat cup carrier for attaching to the teat of the animal. 
     
     
         2 . Apparatus as claimed in  claim 1  in which the teat cup carrier is located beneath the upwardly facing major surface of the platform, and preferably, the teat cup carrier is adapted for holding the teat cup in the ready state with at least a portion of the teat cup extending above the upwardly facing major surface of the platform. 
     
     
         3 . Apparatus as claimed in  claim 2  in which the teat cup carrier is selectively operable in a first state for holding the teat cup in a protected state, and in a second state for holding the teat cup in the ready state. 
     
     
         4 . Apparatus as claimed in  claim 3  in which the teat cup carrier is adapted for holding the teat cup in the protected state with the teat cup beneath the upwardly facing major surface of the platform, and preferably, the teat cup carrier is selectively operable in a third state with the teat cup in a flushing state for facilitating back flushing of the teat cup, and advantageously, the teat cup carrier is adapted for holding the teat cup in the flushing state beneath the upwardly facing major surface of the platform, and preferably, the teat cup carrier is adapted to hold the teat cup in the flushing state inclined downwardly towards an open mouth of the teat cup when the teat cup carrier is in the third state, and advantageously, the teat cup carrier is adapted to hold the teat cup in the protected state with the teat cup extending substantially horizontally when the teat cup carrier is in the first state, and preferably, the teat cup carrier is adapted to hold the teat cup in the ready state with the teat cup extending substantially vertically and with the open mouth of the teat cup facing generally upwardly when the teat cup carrier is in the second state, and advantageously, a first drive means is provided for operating the teat cup carrier between the first, second and third states. 
     
     
         5 . Apparatus as claimed in  claim 1  in which the apparatus comprises the platform, and preferably, the support means is mounted on and beneath the platform, and advantageously, the platform defines a centre line extending substantially in a forward/rearward direction corresponding to a forward/rearward direction of an animal standing on the platform during milking, and advantageously, a communicating opening is formed in the platform for accommodating the teat cup therethrough from the teat cup carrier in the second state, and preferably, the communicating opening is located in the platform on the centre line, and advantageously, the centre line bisects the communicating opening, and preferably, the communicating opening is provided in the platform at a location which is substantially beneath an udder of an animal standing on the platform to be milked, and advantageously, the communicating opening is substantially aligned with the udder of an animal standing on the platform to be milked, and preferably, the communicating opening defines a pair of opposite side edges extending substantially parallel to the centre line of the platform. 
     
     
         6 . Apparatus as claimed in  claim 5  in which a closure element is provided for closing the communicating opening, and preferably, a pair of closure elements is provided for closing the communicating opening, the closure elements being coupled to the platform adjacent the respective opposite side edges of the communicating opening, and advantageously, the closure elements are urgeable upwardly from a closed state closing the communicating opening to an open state providing access through the communicating opening to the teat cup, and preferably, the closure elements extend from the respective opposite side edges towards each other in the closed state and meet adjacent the centre line of the platform, and advantageously, the closure elements are hingedly coupled to the platform, and are hingeable between the closed and open states, and preferably, each closure element is spring biased from the open state to the closed state, and advantageously, a second drive means is provided for urging the closure elements from the closed state to the open state, and preferably, the closure elements form a separating means for urging the hind legs of an animal apart as the closure elements are being urged from the closed state to the open state. 
     
     
         7 . Apparatus as claimed in  claim 3  in which a closure means is provided for closing the open mouth of the teat cup when the teat cup carrier is in the first state and the teat cup is in the protected state. 
     
     
         8 . Apparatus as claimed in  claim 7  in which the closure means comprises a plug element for sealably engaging the open mouth of the teat cup, and preferably, the closure means is configured as a jetter for facilitating washing and/or rinsing of the teat cup. 
     
     
         9 . Apparatus as claimed in  claim 7  in which one of the teat cup carrier and the closure means is moveable relative to the other of the teat cup carrier and the closure means between an engaged position with the closure means engaged in the open mouth of the teat cup, and a disengaged position with the closure means disengaged from the teat cup. 
     
     
         10 . Apparatus as claimed in  claim 9  in which the teat cup carrier is moveable between the engaged position and the disengaged position. 
     
     
         11 . Apparatus as claimed in  claim 7  in which the teat cup carrier is mounted on a carriage which is mounted on the support means, the carriage being moveable relative to the support means between a first position with the teat cup carrier in the engaged position and a second position with the teat cup carrier in the disengaged position. 
     
     
         12 . Apparatus as claimed in  claim 11  in which the carriage is slideably mounted on the support means between the first and second positions, and preferably, the carriage is slideable between the first and second positions with rectilinear motion, and advantageously, the carriage is moveable in a substantially horizontal plane between the first and second positions, and preferably, the carriage is moveable in a direction substantially parallel to the centre line defined by the platform between the first and second positions, and advantageously, a third drive means is provided for urging the carriage between the first position and the second position, and preferably, the teat cup carrier is moveably mounted on the carriage and is moveable relative to the carriage between the first, second and third states, and advantageously, the teat cup carrier is pivotally mounted on the carriage, and is pivotal between the first, second and third states, and preferably, when the carriage is in the second position and the teat cup carrier is in the second state with the teat cup in the ready state, the teat cup is substantially aligned with a teat of an animal. 
     
     
         13 . Apparatus as claimed in  claim 3  in which an urging means is provided for urging the teat cup from a teat of an animal for removing the teat cup from the teat of the animal, and preferably, the urging means is adapted for returning the teat cup to the teat cup carrier when the teat cup carrier is in the second state, and preferably, the teat cup carrier is adapted to accommodate a vacuum hose therethrough extending from the teat cup, so that the vacuum hose can be pulled through the teat cup carrier when the teat cup is being urged from the teat cup carrier to an animal, and advantageously, the urging means is mounted on one of the support means and the carriage and is engageable with the vacuum hose extending from the teat cup for urging the teat cup from a teat of an animal, and preferably, the urging means is pivotally mounted on one of the support means and the carriage and is pivotal from a first state to a second state for urging the teat cup from a teat of an animal, and advantageously, the urging means is adapted so that in the second state the urging means takes up slack in the vacuum hose extending from the teat cup when the teat cup is engaged in the teat cup carrier, and preferably, a fourth drive means is provided for operating the urging means from the first state to the second state. 
     
     
         14 . Apparatus as claimed in  claim 3  in which a spray nozzle is provided for
 spraying at least one teat of an animal, and preferably, the spray nozzle is mounted on the teat cup carrier, and advantageously, the spray nozzle is adapted to direct a spray at the teat of an animal when the teat cup carrier is in the second state. 
 
     
     
         15 . Apparatus as claimed in  claim 1  in which the platform comprises a support plate, the support plate being adapted to receive concrete to define the upwardly facing major surface of the platform, and preferably, the teat cup carrier is adapted to hold the teat cup for facilitating manual transfer of the teat cup from the teat cup carrier to the teat of the animal, and advantageously, the teat cup carrier is adapted to hold two teat cups, and preferably, the teat cup carrier is adapted to hold four teat cups, and advantageously, the teat cup carrier is adapted to hold a number of teat cups corresponding to the number of teats of the animal being milked, and preferably, one closure means is provided corresponding to each teat cup. 
     
     
         16 . A rotary milking platform comprising the apparatus as claimed in  claim 1 . 
     
     
         17 . A rotary milking platform as claimed in  claim 16  in which the rotary milking platform defines a plurality of animal accommodating locations circumferentially disposed around the rotary platform, and preferably, the animal accommodating locations are located towards a circumferential periphery of the rotary platform, and advantageously, each animal accommodating location is adapted to accommodate an animal standing thereon during milking with the rear end of the animal adjacent the circumferential periphery and the head of the animal facing inwardly towards a centre of the rotary platform, and preferably, one apparatus is provided in each animal accommodating location of the rotary platform, and advantageously, each apparatus is located beneath the rotary platform adjacent the corresponding animal accommodating location, and preferably, each apparatus is located towards the circumferential periphery of the rotary platform, and advantageously, each apparatus is located so that the teat cup carrier in the second state presents the teat cup in the ready state substantially aligned with the udder of an animal standing on the platform to be milked in the corresponding animal accommodating location. 
     
     
         18 . A rotary milking platform as claimed in  claim 17  in which the communicating opening is located in the platform in each animal accommodating location towards the circumferential periphery of the rotary platform, and preferably, the communicating opening is located in the platform in each animal accommodating location substantially aligned with the udder of an animal standing on the platform to be milked in the corresponding animal accommodating location. 
     
     
         19 . A method for presenting a teat cup for attaching to a teat of an animal to be milked, the method comprising supporting the teat cup on a teat cup carrier mounted beneath an upwardly facing major surface of a platform on which an animal stands during milking, and providing a communicating opening in the platform, so that the teat cup can be urged through the communicating opening from the teat cup carrier for attaching to the teat of the animal to be milked. 
     
     
         20 . A rotary milking platform defining a plurality of animal accommodating locations circumferentially disposed around the platform, apparatus for presenting a teat cup for attaching to a teat of an animal to be milked being located beneath the platform adjacent each animal accommodating location, each apparatus comprising a teat cup carrier for holding a teat cup, the teat cup carrier being mounted on the support means and being adapted for holding the teat cup beneath the animal in a ready state with the teat cup ready to be urged upwardly from the teat cup carrier for attaching to the teat of the animal.