Short milk tube vent plug for a dairy animal milker unit
AssigneeGEA Farm Technologies GmbH
InventorNathan V. Hedlund
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An air vent plug assembly and milker unit short milk tube having an air vent plug assembly to improve milk flow characteristics through the short milk tube. The short milk tube includes a wall with an upstream end and a downstream end and defining a milk passage bore extending between the upstream end and the downstream end. The wall defines a vent plug mounting hole. A vent plug extends through the vent plug mounting hole and includes a cap, a shaft joined to the cap, and a barbed end joined to the shaft, the vent plug defining a vent passage to at least partially vent the milk passage bore. A flow dimple is defined in the barbed end and disposed in the milk passage bore.
Claims22
A short milk tube comprising:
- a wall with an upstream end and a downstream end and defining a milk passage bore extending between the upstream end and the downstream end, and the wall defines a vent plug mounting hole;
- a vent plug extending through the vent plug mounting hole and including a cap, a shaft joined to the cap, and a barbed end joined to the shaft, and defining a vent passage to at least partially vent the milk passage bore;
- and
- a flow dimple defined in the barbed end and disposed adjacent to the vent passage in the milk passage bore, the flow dimple providing no fluid conduction path between the barbed end and the cap, wherein the flow dimple is an oval-shaped recess with rounded shoulders.
A vent plug for a short milk tube barrel having a wall with an upstream end and a downstream end and defining a milk passage bore, and the wall defines a vent plug mounting hole into the milk passage bore, the vent plug comprising:
- a cap, a shaft joined to the cap, and a barbed end joined to the shaft, and defining a vent passage to at least partially vent the milk passage bore and a flow dimple defined by the barbed end and disposed to be positioned in the milk passage bore, wherein the flow dimple is an oval-shaped recess with rounded shoulders, and wherein the flow dimple is disposed adjacent to the vent passage and provides no fluid conduction path between the barbed end and the cap.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.