Threaded gear assembly and a hand-held applicator to clean teats of a milk-producing animal

1. A hand-held applicator of a system for cleaning teats of a milk-producing animal, said hand-held applicator comprising:

a housing having an internal volume within which a plurality of brushes are positioned for engaging a teat of the milk-producing animal having been inserted in the volume for cleaning;

a gear assembly including a plurality of gears, each gear comprising:

a disk-shaped member having a first side, a second side and a perimeter;

a plurality of radiating teeth circumferentially arranged and integrated with the perimeter of the disk-shaped member, each of the plurality of gears being in drive communication with an adjacent gear;

a collar on the first side of the disk and centered thereon;

a bore hole in the collar and the bore hole includes internal threading along a surface within the collar and the bore hole does not extend through the second side of the disk-shaped member, and wherein each gear is operatively connected to a respective brush; and,

each brush comprising a shaft portion with external threading corresponding to the internal threading of a corresponding gear.

2. The hand-held applicator of claim 1 , wherein the bore hole extends through the collar and into the disk-shaped member, wherein the bore hole extends through a first side of the disk-shaped member and terminates at a depth of the disk-shaped member and does not extend through the second side of the disk-shaped member.

3. The hand-held applicator of claim 1 , wherein each gear with a brush is rotated in a respective first direction or each brush is rotated in a respective second direction for threaded engagement between a gear and corresponding brush, and wherein a respective second direction for one brush is opposite to a respective second direction of another brush.

4. The hand-held applicator of claim 2 , wherein the internal threading also extends along a surface of the boring in the disk-shaped member of the gear.

5. The hand-held applicator of claim 1 , wherein the threaded engagement between the gear and the corresponding brush is configured to maintain an alignment between a rotational axis of the gear and a central longitudinal axis of the corresponding brush.

6. The hand-held applicator of claim 1 , wherein the gear rotation in its first direction is configured to maintain the threaded engagement between the gear and the corresponding brush.

7. The hand-held applicator of claim 1 , wherein the internal threading and the external threading have a depth configured to maintain an alignment between a rotational axis of the gear and a central longitudinal axis of the corresponding brush.

8. The hand-held applicator of claim 1 , wherein the internal threading and external threading have a cross-sectional trapezoidal shape.

9. A hand-held applicator of a system for cleaning teats of a milk-producing animal, said hand-held applicator comprising:

a housing having an internal volume within which a plurality of brushes are positioned for engaging a teat of the milk-producing animal having been inserted in the volume for cleaning;

a gear assembly including a plurality of gears, each gear comprising:

a disk-shaped member having a first side, a second side and a perimeter;

a plurality of radiating teeth circumferentially arranged and integrated with the perimeter of the disk-shaped member, each of the plurality of gears being in drive communication with an adjacent gear;

a collar on the first side of the disk-shaped member and centered thereon;

a bore hole in the collar and extending there through into the disk-shaped member, wherein the bore hole extends through a first side of the disk-shaped member and terminates at a depth of the disk-shaped member and does not extend through the second side of the disk-shaped member, and the bore hole includes internal threading along a surface within the collar, and wherein each gear is operatively connected to a respective brush;

each brush comprising a shaft portion with external threading corresponding to the internal threading of a corresponding gear, and each gear is rotated in a respective first direction or each brush is rotated in a respective second direction for threaded engagement between a gear and corresponding brush, and wherein a respective second direction for one brush is opposite to a respective second direction of another brush; and,

wherein in operation of the hand-held applicator, each gear rotates in its respective first direction gear.

10. The hand-held applicator of claim 9 , wherein the internal threading also extends along a surface of the boring in the disk-shaped member of the gear.