My 21-month old son loves to sing the song "Cows" from Sandra Boynton's Philadelphia Chickens album. Okay, so he doesn't know all the words. But he certainly knows the one-word chorus, "Cows". And over the last couple weeks, that word has become consistently more loud, pounding, deafening, pervasive, annoying..., to the point where I can't tell if it is on the CD player or just in my head. Over. And over. And over...
So when Landon IP's Blaise Mouttet [cow-] tipped me off to this week's patent, I knew it had to be written up.
Such remarkable cows...
U.S. Patent No. 7,559,289 Method of and an installation for milking an animal having at least two teats Assignee: Lely Enterprises AG 1. A method of milking an animal having at least two teats, the method comprising: a stimulation phase in which at least one of the teats of the animal is stimulated; and a milking phase in which the animal is milked; wherein the method comprises: applying a stimulation phase and a milking phase to one of the teats of the animal, and applying substantially only a milking phase to at least one of the other teats of the animal. |
Commentary: Where to start?
- First, although I did once milk a cow on an elementary school field trip to a farm, it's not an area where I'd consider myself an expert. Still, I think that the milking of animals is a skill/art that's been around since a few thousand years prior to the current Information Age. But apparently it was only with this invention that this more efficient method of milking was discovered.
- No figures? There's a system claim (8) that includes as an element a "stimulation device" and a "control arrangement." Figures here must not be "necessary for the understanding of the subject matter sought to be patented" per 35 USC 113.
- This was a national phase of a PCT application, originally filed in the Netherlands. That accounts for the strange form (the "wherein the method comprises" was originally "characterised by")
- Bilski. Is the animal, or the teat, the "apparatus" here? Is it a "particular" animal? Or is there a "transformation" taking place when extracting milk from an animal? Note that the other independent method claim (15), begins "In a robotic milking station, a method of milking..." But claim 1 is entirely manual.
- First action allowance.
- "At least two teats". I understand the need for this language in the claim (to differentiate the actions being performed on the different teats). But in the title? Know any animals with only one teat?
5vxcemgbrn
Recent Comments