GB761774A - Improvements in or relating to cleaning and sterilizing of parts of milking apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

761,774. Washing teat cups. NATIONAL RESEARCH DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION. Oct. 11, 1954 [Oct. 19, 1953], No. 28780/53. Class 138(1). [Also in Group XXVIII] In a method of cleaning a milking cluster and its associated tubes, the cluster and tubes are placed in a container in such a manner that when the container is immersed in a cleaning or sterilizing liquid bath, the liquid fills the tubes and the cluster, without air pockets being formed therein. The parts of the milking apparatus to be cleaned are shown in their normal operative positions in Fig. 1, and comprise teat cups 10, 11 connected by tubes 13, 14 to a collector head 12, a tube 16 connecting the head 12 to the lid 18 of a milk receiving can and a tube 21 connecting the lid 18 with a source of vacuum. The tubes 16, 21 connect with the lid through an oblique pipe 17 and vertical pipe 20 respectively, the pipe 17 ensuring that milk will be delivered on to the can wall. In order that the lid shall make an air-tight connection with the can (not shown), it is provided with a rubber gasket ring 31 mounted on headed pins whose lengths are slightly greater than the thickness of the gasket, whereby the gasket can move away from the lid during cleaning. In order to clean the parts the tubes 16, 21 are disconnected and the milk cluster 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 is mounted in inverted position on a cross-bar 25, Fig. 2, in a cylindrical container 23 having an imperforate side wall, foraminous bottom 24 and' lifting handles 28, 29. The tubes 16, 21 are then positioned in helical formation on a wire helix 27 mounted in a space between the cylinder wall and upstanding pins 26 secured to the wall. The lids and their gaskets are then placed edgeways in the container between the cluster and the helix. On immersing the container in a tank of cleaning liquid the liquid rises through the bottom 24 and ascends up the tubes 16, 21 and teat cups, associated pipes 13, 14 and head 12 without the formation of air locks. The tank may contain a solution of caustic soda or potash with calcium sequestering agents or other additives. The teat cup includes a rubber liner and outer metal shell which latter may be slid axially along the associated tube 13 and retained in position by integral diametrically opposed projections formed on the tube, as described with reference to Figs. 3 and 4 (not shown). This axial movement is effected before cleaning in order to ensure than cleaning liquid will be able to reach the space between the liner and shell.