Abstract: An apparatus for milking animals which includes one or more milking compartments where the animal is milked, and a milking robot for automatically connecting and disconnecting teat cups to animals being milked in said milking compartments. The milking robot includes a carrier for each teat cup and has a piston and cylinder member that is interconnected to the teat cup by a cord, the cord being played out from the carrier when a teat cup to which it is connected is connected to the animal's teat. The teat cup is pulled back onto a site therefor on the carrier by the piston and cylinder member when the teat cup is disconnected from the animal's teat. A sensor is provided for sensing when a teat cup is not properly pulled back and properly seated at its site therefor.

Abstract: An apparatus and method for automatically milking animals utilizing a milking compartment and milking robot is presented. The milking robot has a plurality of carriers or robot arms which carry at least one teat cup, each at the end thereof. The teat cups are connected to the carriers via a flexible connecting element, such as a flexible cable or cord, and a piston/cylinder arrangement which is preferably pneumatic. By connecting the teat cups to their carries in this manner, the carriers may be withdrawn from the teat cups, after the teat cups have been connected to the teats of an animal, so that the teat cups are unfixed in relation to the carriers. Thus, an animal being milked has greater freedom of movement within the milking compartment. The teat cups are returned to the carriers, after milking, to be substantially rigidly secured thereto. The milking robot is further capable of pivoting from and to the inside the milking compartment.

Abstract: An implement for automatically milking animals, such as cows, comprising a robotic mechanism, two computers each having a display screen and keyboard, the implement having a plurality of exchangeable parts provided with signally means to transmit information when an exchangeable part is malfunctioning, the signalling means also identifying the malfunctioning part on one of the display screens of a computer. An emergency electrical battery is provided at an individual parlor containing the implement for providing electrical power in the event of failure of the main power, a computer being provided for closing down non-vital functions in the event of such power failure or of malfunctioning of the parts or parts concerned.

Abstract: An implement for automatically milking animals, such as cows, comprising a robotic mechanism, two computers each having a display screen and keyboard, the implement having a plurality of exchangeable parts provided with signalling means to transmit information when an exchangeable part is malfunctioning, the signalling means also identifying the malfunctioning part on one of the display screens of a computer. An emergency electrical battery is provided at an individual parlor containing the implement for providing electrical power in the event of failure of the main power, a computer provided for closing down non-vital functions in the event of such power failure or of malfunctioning of the part or parts concerned.

Abstract: A construction for automatically milking animals, such as cows, comprising a milking parlor with a milking robot and a covered area where the animals can move freely about. The construction further includes a system of one-way portals, e.g., doors and gates, which open in one direction to define a path from the milking parlor through the covered area and finally back to the milking parlor. The covered area may also be adjacent to an enclosed pasture divided into a plurality of enclosed regions connected to the covered area and to each other by one-way portals, thus defining a path leading from the milking parlor through the enclosed area through each region of the pasture back to the covered area and to the milking parlor. The milking parlor includes two adjacently arranged milking compartments.

Abstract: Apparatus and method for cleaning the teats of milk-producing animals, such as cows, wherein a computer controls a rotatable apparatus which has mounted thereon four cleaning brushes for receiving the teats of the farm animal, cleaning them with a liquid cleansing agent applied to the brushes, and drying same in one part of the operation, and for installing the teat cups on the teats of the animal by rotation of the apparatus in another part of the operation so that the teats are first cleaned, then dried and next the teat cups are applied thereto for milking. The four brushes rotate about parallel horizontal axis and the two outboard brushes have about twice the diameter as the two inboard brushes which are received between pairs of teats. The cleansing agent is discharged generally perpendicular to and above the axis of rotation of the brushes so that it is received approximately tangentially by the brushes.

Abstract: A device for maintaining dairy animals and surface areas where they may be confined in a clean condition, and providing a station for feeding, milking and elimination of wastes which is movable as a unit. The station has a waste disposal at the rear and a feeder forward. An electronic system causes an animal to enter the station prior to waste elimination. A sensor determines the presence of animal waste. An electronic system that remotely guides the animal, comprises a radio transmitter at the station, a radio receiver mounted on the animal to guide the animal by shock or sounds to the station and/or sounds produced at the station attract the animal. A sensor on the animal's tail that signals the onset of elimination or presence of waste, may be coupled to the station's electronic system, or to a speaker near the animal's ear for producing unpleasant sounds to discourage elimination outside the station. Electronic systems are used to reward the animal after its elimination in the station.

Abstract: A mowing machine that extends laterally from a tractor and is an assembly of carrier parts, supporting and spacer housings, normally held together by two tensile bars. In the principal embodiment, the first tensile bar is received through the carrier parts at about the same level as the mower's drive shaft where the front of the supporting housing curves to form its bottom. The second tensile bar is similarly situated at the rear of the supporting housing about three or four times farther, however, from the drive shaft. In another embodiment, the first tensile bar is seated in a continuous internal groove and the second tensile bar in a second continuous internal groove, both grooves conforming to the bars' curvature as seen in cross-section. External outwardly facing grooves in another embodiment are defined by supporting and spacer housings. In an embodiment having only one tensile bar, the groove extends from the bottom to the housings' center.

Abstract: A compact electronic calculator comprising a screen, electronic circuits, a microphone, voice recognition circuits which are exchangeable depending upon the context of the verbal data to be received by the calculator and the language in which the data is provided. The calculator is thus responsive to numerals and symbols spoken in a selected language or languages and this is transformed through the circuitry of the calculator to be seen on an elongated display unit. A calculator is also responsive to action words such as "multiply", "divide", "add" and "subtract", so that the calculator carries out these functions on the displayed numerals and symbols. The calculator does not have a keyboard and is of a small size, approximately ten centimeters in length, one centimeter in width and one-half centimeter in depth. It can be incorporated in a pen form or, in a smaller version, incorporated into a wristband or the like.

Abstract: A spreader comprises four spreader members which, in operation, all spread material over substantially the same sector at the same time. The two central spreader members are lower than the two outer spreader members to avoid collisions between particles ejected from the different members. The hopper has four discharge funnels, each provided with a discharge outlet, the aperture size of which is controlled by a doser member. All of the doser members are rigidly connected together so that they move in unison and open each outlet opening initially in its central part considered in a direction transverse to the spreader's usual direction of travel. The hopper is very large, having a width of between two hundred sixty and three hundred centimeters.

Abstract: A mowing machine that extends laterally from a tractor and is an assembly of carrier parts, supporting and spacer housings, held together by one or two tensile bars. If there is only one tensile bar, it is received through the carrier parts at about the same level as the mower's drive sahft where the front of the supporting housing curves to form its bottom, such curve conforming to the radius of the tensile bar and defining a continuous internal groove therefor that conforms to the bar's curvature as seen in cross-section. If there are two tensile bars, the other is similarly situated in a continuous internal groove at the rear of the supporting housing about three to four times farther, however, from the drive shaft. External outwardly facing grooves in another embodiment are defined by supporting and spacer housings. For only one tensile bar, the groove extends from the bottom to the housings' center.

Abstract: A baler comprises two winding spaces disposed side-by-side. In use, a pick-up device picks up crop from a swath and feeds it to one of the spaces. A pivotable wall portion comprising powered rollers initiates winding of a bale and pivots upwardly about an axis as the bale grows. Other powered rollers surrounding the winding space assist in the formation of the bale. When the bale is complete, it is bound with twine, a door is raised by a ram and the bale is discharged. As soon as winding of a bale in one of the spaces is complete, the pick-up device in whole or part is shifted relatively laterally with respect to the winding spaces so that crop is then fed to the other winding space while the completed bale is bound and discharged.

Abstract: A tractor having a high power-to-weight ratio (power 100 kw, weight 3500 kg) is obtained by using light-weight components (e.g., made from synthetic resin) for the cab, and by making the wheels smaller than is usual, i.e., with a diameter of 1.3 meters, and from aluminum or other light-weight material. Tractor is improved by providing an implement or implements which, in operation, are driven form power take-off shafts and act to propel the tractor.

Abstract: A frame beam supports a plurality of plow bodies, the front plow body of which has a one-piece moldboard and is pivotable about an upwardly extending axis. Part of the moldboards of each of the following plow bodies is pivotable about an upwardly extending axis relative to the remainder of each such moldboard. Adjustment is made through rod systems from a common rod which is displaceable mechanically by a screwthreaded spindle or hydraulically by a piston and cylinder assembly. The latter adjustment is effected automatically in response to the tractive force required to drive the plow through the soil.

Abstract: A soil tilling machine comprising subsoil tilling members, known as subsoilers, which are drivable via a tractor's PTO around inclined upwardly directed axes. The subsoilers are each primarily constituted by a fowardly and downwardly inclined extending shaft. In front of the tilling members, coulter discs are arranged which cut trenches through which the subsoilers' shafts can move so that the subsoil is intensively worked and broken up while the surface of the soil is hardly disturbed. A roller wheel which controls the depth of the subsoilers is disposed to their rear. The subsoilers are supported by a frame which is hingedly attached to a frame portion having a rectangular trestle for coupling to a tractor's three-point hitch via a spring-loaded parallelogram arrangement which assists in permitting the subsoilers to lift automatically if they encounter obstructions.

Abstract: Agricultural implements are adapted to be concurrently mounted to a three point lifting device of a tractor. Each implement is provided with three connecting elements, each with forked ends. The forked ends of one of the implements have tines separated a greater distance than the tines of the corresponding forks of another agricultural implement, so that the forked ends of one of the implements straddle the corresponding forked ends of another implement. In this way, the implements can be concurrently mounted on the lifting arms of the three point device.

Abstract: An agricultural spreader comprises distribution members (11, 12) which rotate to eject material such as fertilizer. The spreader can tilt to one side or the other so as to reduce the spreading distance on one side. This facility enables the spreader to be driven on a field along the same tracks as other agricultural machinery while avoiding waste of material at the edges of fields. Other embodiments utilize braking members which are movable into the path of ejected material to reduce its kinetic energy and consequently its spreading distance.

Abstract: A tractor for agricultural purposes, especially for seedbed preparation comprises an engine with a power of at least 30 kilowatt. Further the tractor has a frame (1), at least two power driven wheels (35,40), at least one lifting device (21), and at least one power take-off shaft (55). The weight of the tractor is about 40 kilograms per kilowatt engine power, the engine power is directly transferable to the power take-off shaft of the tractor and the lifting device of the tractor at its coupling points (44, 48) has a lifting power of at least 1000 kilograms.

Abstract: A computer which is portable and transportable by a person and which can be used on a table, can also be coupled with a support affording the possibility to use the computer in further operating conditions, particularly for use in vehicles. The support comprises a securing means affixed in the cab of a vehicle as well as a height adjustment arrangement for adjusting the computer's height in the cab when attached to the support. Also the support includes pivots so the computer is adapted to be pivoted about an upward axis and also a horizontal axis. The support in one embodiment comprises at least two hinges which can be locked by a single clamping means.

Abstract: A baler has winding elements for forming a bale of crop. A formed bale is bound with binding material such as twine or wire from a binding mechanism. When a bale is fully formed, a cable is pulled by the operator of the tractor towing the baler which actuates the binding mechanism and simultaneously operates a change-speed gear to increase the speed of the winding elements. The bale thus rotates faster during binding than it does while it is being formed. This reduces time required for binding. When the bale has been bound, it is discharged through a door which pivots upwards for this purpose. Pivoting of the door pulls a further cable which returns the change-speed gear to the lower speed position and actuates the binding mechanism so that the next bale can be formed. The bale chamber is substantially cylindrical with rotatable elements around the interior of its curved sides.