GB2331910A - Teat feeder - Google Patents

Abstract

A warm milk dispenser for the feeding of young animals consists of an outer casing 12, a heater unit 10 on which is placed a graduated container 11. Young animals feeding at the teat 14 draw warm milk out from the base of the graduated container 11, through an outlet 17 to which is fitted a flexible tube 13, via tap 27, to the back of the teat bracket 28.

Description

2331910 WARM MILK DISPENSER The invention relates to a warm milk dispenser

for the feeding of young animals via one or more rubber teats.

Other devices for this purpose are well known such as sophisticated electricallelectronic automatic equipment which store milk powder in a hopper and as the animals empty the holding container, a set amount of hot water and milk powder are mixed and stored to a pre-determined level; these machines tend to be complicated and expensive. On the opposite side of the technological and price scale, is equipment where milk powder and water are mixed in a container by the operator at a certain temperature and ratio suitable for the animals being fed. This is then immersed into a second larger container where water is placed and heated by a thermostatically controlled electric heater element. Particularly in ambient temperatures below W'C, this type of equipment is not able to keep the milk temperature in the primary container constant, which is the requirement for certain farm animals, as too much variation from this can cause digestive upsets. Also, the absence of a liquid level sensor in the secondary heated water container, means that if the operator fails to put water into it, this container may be damaged and certainly the mix in the primary container will loose temperature very quickly and may lead to digestive upsets amongst the young animals being fed.

The present invention is an attempt to insure that the temperature of the liquid being sucked by the animal at the teat, is similar to that of the milk powderlwater mix initially put into the milk storage container, in which: Figure 1 shows a side view of the warm milk dispenser and all it's major constituents.

Figure 2 illustrates the way the plug and some electrical lead from the heater unit, leave the outer casing and how this gap is sealed. The equipment, as shown in Fig 1 consists of a heater unit 10, graduated container 11, outer casing 12 and flexible tube 13 to convey the warm liquid from the graduated container 11, to the teat 14. The heater unit 10, consists of two thin box sections of a plastic material inside of which is a variable thermostat which controls the heat generated by an electric element of flexible material. An electric cable 15, is connected to the electrical components within and the two thin box sections and the point at which the electrical cable 15 leaves the two box sections, are sealed to prevent moisture ingress. The outside appearance of the heater unit 10, is that of a thick tray which contains a knob placed in one corner of it, which is connected to the variable thermostat within the two thin box sections of plastic material. The graduated container 11 is of clear plastic material so that the condition and amount of the liquid within can be seen. There are litre graduation marks 16, on the side of the container 11, to aid accurate metering of milk powder prior to mixing with suitably heated water. On the side of this graduated container 11 and near to its base, are one or more outlets 17, to which there is fitted a tube of flexible material 13, allowing the passage of liquid from the inside of the graduated container 11, to an exterior point, generally a teat 14, from which the young animal draws liquid. Once the heater unit 10, is connected to mains electricity, switched on and the thermostat knob rotated to a point selected by the operator, it is not long before it reaches its correct temperature. If, for example the animals require the liquid to be 350C at the teat 14, the heater unit's thermostat is set at this same temperature and the water placed in the graduated container 11, is also of a similar temperature prior to mixing it with milk powder. The same graduated container 11, is placed upon the top section of the heater unit 10. For convenience during transportation, the graduated container 11, has a handle 29 and a double sealed lidl 8, to resist leakage. The lid 18, also helps reduce heat dissipation from within the graduated container 11. Because this invention will mostly be used in buildings which are generally unheated, there is a strong possibility that ambient temperatures may fluctuate considerably thus adversely affecting the efficiency of the devise. To overcome this, the heater unit 10 and graduated container 11, are both placed inside an outer casing 12, over which is fitted a lid which acts as a seal helping create within the outer casing 12, a micro climate. The outer casing 12, is made of a clear plastic material which is of great significance as it aids the operator to view the state and quantity of liquid in the graduated container 11, without having to go right up to the invention and remove its lid 19. The outer casing 12, as shown in Fig 2, has a circular section removed from one side 20, sufficiently large to allow for the electric plug 21, and some electrical cable 15, to be placed outside, for connection to the mains power supply. The remaining electrical cable 15, inside the outer casing 12, penetrates the centre of a slightly larger circular section 22, held fast to it by a cable restrainer 23. Towards the edge of this larger circular section 22, there are small holes which coincide in number and location to the hole in the outer casing so that when fixed together with screws 24 and nuts 25, they create a seal, preventing heat from escaping from the inside of the outer casing 12. The outer casing 12 as in Fig 1, has slots on the top rim 26, allowing the flexible tube 13, from the outlet 17, of the graduated container to leave casing 12.

At the end the flexible tube 13, is a small tap 27, of plastic material and a further length of flexible tubing 13, is fixed to a teat holder 28, so that the animal in its pen sucking at the teat 14, draws the warm milk out of the graduated container 11. With the invention, two graduated containers are provided with each unit so that when one is in use, the other can be cleaned at the users convenience.

1

Claims (7)

1 A warm milk dispenser for the teat feeding of young animals, consisting of an outer casing of clear plastic material and lid, a heater unit electrically powered fitting inside the outer casing onto which is placed a graduated container of clear plastic material and tight fitting lid. From the said container, liquid is conveyed via flexible tubes to teats remote to the dispenser.

2 A heater unit as in claim 1 made of two box sections sealed together containing a heater element, variable thermostat and powered by an external electrical source.

3 A container as in claim 1 made of clear plastic material with a tight fitting lid and handle in which is placed liquid for feeding young animals; this said container having outlets fitted towards it's lower portion, out of which come flexible tubes with taps at the ends.

4 Apparatus as claimed whereby the electric plug and part of the electrical lead from the heater tray gain the exterior of the outer casing through a suitably sized hole in the said outer casing.

An electrical lead from the heater tray as in claim 4 penetrating the centre of a plate and tightly held by a cable restrainer.

6 A hole in the outer casing as in claim 4 and a plate as in claim 5 of larger diameter than the said hole, fastened to each other by means of screws and nuts, thus creating a seal.

7 Apparatus as in claim 1 and 3 allowing the tubes connected to the outlets in the lower portion of the graduated container, to gain the exterior of the outer easing by means of suitably sized slots at the top of the outer casing and kept in place by the lid.