A Newly-invented Milking Machine.

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, Issue III, 8 July 1890, Page 3

A Newly- invented Milking Machine.

can; and close beneath this glass lid, when the cow is being mi; keel, can be seen little jets of milk playing into the can. By a simple contriv ?nce the vacuum is kept uniform ; and by the same means it can be increased or eased. From this short description it will be seen that the apparat-jg is simple and easy of manipulation. Twenty cows or one may be milked at the same time, in fact a whole byreful could be milked at once, provided there was a can for each cow and there wfre as many connections with the overhead pipe as animals in the byre. But the principal item of expense lies in the can and its accessories; aad being meant for a labour-saving appliance, a limited number of cans would require to be used, in order to save hands and avoid the necessity of having to clean a large number of tubes and cans. . Two active girls, with a boy to pump, cou d easily manage to keep 10 cans going ; and in this way a large number of cows cou } d be over* taken in a short ' time.

A correspondent in the Scotsman, s aks that an experiment of very great interest to dairy farmers is at present being quietly worked out in the neighbourhood of Kilmarnock, at the farnvsteadiug of Halning Mains, one of the Duke of Portland's farms, which is in the occupation of Mr David Shaw. 'I he experiment is worth regard to the feasibility of mi king cows otherwise than by hand. Ihe matter is, indeed, now well past the initial stage of experiment ; and it is almost an assrr^d fact that thp thing is quite practicable. Mr "William Murchland, a sanitary engineer, well known in and around Kiimarnock, some time ago took up the idea of produciug a milking machine, and he it is who in this case is bringincr the affair so near to completion. The idea is no new on©, and numerous patents for milking machines have in time pas>t been secured in Britain and America, but none, to far as we can learn, has come to anything. But success looks yery likely in Mr Murchland's ' case. Of machinery, m its popular Bense. there is litt c or none about the apparatus, unless it be the workby a boy of an ay -pump. Ihe principle of the affair is simplicity itself, being neither more or less than the application of suction to the cow's teats. By means of the air-pump the inventor produceß a vacuum iv the apparatus he applies to the udder of the animal, and immediately it is applied the milk begins to flow, and continues to do so steadily until the supply is exhau>ted, apparently with ease and comfort to the animal. A one -inch iron pipe, suspended from the roof, is carried right round the byre, which contains fifty cows, about in Hue, with the shoulders of the animals, and 5£ feet or so high. Between each pair of cows there depends from the ppe a short connection fitted with a stop-cock. To this connection cun be fitted at wi 1 the end of a rubber tube, communicating in similar manner with the special milk can, iv its turn rendered airtight, and having four other small connections opposite to the one in connexion with tlie tube. To these four connections are attached four short lengths of elastic tubing — two of them a little longer than the others in order to reach to the hind teats. To the free end ol each of the short pieces of tubing is attached a cone shaped piece of tinned copper, something like an enlarged tobaceo f pipe, carrying at its small end a stopcock. A broad band or sling, with several links of chain at each end, is placed over the cow's back The pail or can has a hook or catch at each side, and by these it is attached to th* lwks on the band, and thence it bangs under the nnimal, e'ear of the ground. Placed thus, the long tube connects it with the overhead pipe. The stop cock is opened, and a vacuum is produced in the pail. One of the c«nes at the end of a short tube is moistened and fitted on a teat, the stop-cock opened, and the vacuum is in touch with the ndder; and so with the other three cores; and the four teats each deliver a stream of milk. The milkcan is a>'out 18iuhigh and about 15in diameter. The top is conical, finishing in a mouth about three inches across This opening is closed and rendered air-tight by means of a thick flat l^kss lid laid on a deep elastic band, place by a projecting ledge inside the^neck of the