MILKING MACHINE

1. The cow’s teats are attached to the teat cups. Each teat cup contains a
rubber or silicone liner inside a plastic or stainless-steel shell. The liners are
the only parts of the machine that touch the cow. They form a seal between
the teat and the short milk tube, used to transport the milk. All of the liners
are worked by a pulsator valve, which in turn is connected to a vacuum
pump. The area between the liner and the shell is the pulsation chamber.
2. The pulsator pulls a vacuum on the pulsation chamber, causing the liner to
open up.
3. A constant vacuum is maintained on the short milk tube. As the liner
opens due to the equalization of the vacuum pressure between the short milk
tube and the pulsation chamber, the teat is exposed to the vacuum of the short
milk tube, causing milk to flow.
4. The pulsator then releases the vacuum and exposes the liner to air again.
Because now the air pressure in the pulsation chamber is greater than that in
the short milk tube, the liner collapses and tightens on the teat in a massaging
motion. This maintains proper blood circulation in the teat.
5. The pulsator operates at a rate of about 60 cycles per minute.
6. The short milk tubes attached to the teat cups meet at the part of the
machine known as the claw. Milk from all four teats mixes at this point.
7. The vacuum in the long milk tube pulls the milk in a column through the
line.
8. As the milk flows through the long milk tube, it enters a receiving jar.
Any trapped air pockets in the milk column are released at this point. Milk
from other cows attached to other milking units is mixed in.
9. As the receiving jar fills up, a pump kicks on and pushes the milk into the
bulk tank, where it is refrigerated.
10. When the cow’s udder empties, the milking machine automatically shuts
off. Various types of meters are used to detect the decrease in milk flow.
11. The teat cups automatically detach from the cow.
12. The cow’s teats are dipped in iodine to reduce the risk of infection caused
by contaminated milk flowing back into the teats when the pulsator lets air
into the teat cup.
13. The machine is cleaned to prepare it for another use.