Importance

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Abstract

The teat cup assembly includes a shell and a flexible liner, which can be made from silicone rubber, having a suction portion which fits inside the shell and a head portion having a peripheral, downwardly extending cuff which fits over the upper end of the shell. The liner cuff is clamped into sealing engagement with the shell by an annular sleeve slidably mounted on the shell for relative axial movement between a locked position and an unlocked position axially displaced from the cuff so that the liner can be installed into and removed from the shell. The sleeve includes a protective collar which overlies at least the lower portion of the cuff when the sleeve is in the locked position. The sleeve cooperates with one or more interlocking, circumferentially-extending grooves and projections on the outer surface of the shell and the inner surface of the cuff to hold the liner in place on the shell. The sleeve is releasably held in the locked position by an interlocking, circumferentially-extending projection and groove on the outer surface of the cuff and the inner surface of the sleeve.

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First Claim