Article surveillance tag attach/detach mechanism

An article surveillance tag, comprising:

• a tag housing;
• a threaded barrel having threads and a pin, wherein the pin is movable between a retracted position and an extended position;
• a rotating collar rotatably positioned within the tag housing, wherein the rotating collar includes a threaded opening configured to threadingly engage with and receive therein the threaded barrel, wherein the rotating collar is configured to rotate within the tag housing in response to a rotating magnetic field;
• and
• wherein rotation of the rotating collar and interaction between the threaded barrel and the threaded opening cause the pin to move linearly in a retraction direction to the retracted position;
• and
• a spring;
• wherein the rotating collar comprises a split collar having a first collar portion that includes a first portion of the threaded opening and a second collar portion that includes a second portion of the threaded opening, wherein the first collar portion is on a first side of a plane that intersects a rotation axis of the rotating collar and the second collar portion is on a second side of the plane that intersects the rotation axis;
• wherein the threads of the threaded barrel have an asymmetric thread profile that allows the pin to move to the extended position in response to a first force applied to the threaded barrel in a direction opposite the retraction direction, and wherein the asymmetric thread profile prevents movement of the pin to the retracted position in response to a second force applied to the threaded barrel in the retraction direction;
• and
• wherein the spring has a biasing force to hold together the split collar together, wherein the first force overcomes the biasing force.

An article surveillance tag, comprising:

• a tag housing;
• a threaded barrel having threads and including a pin;
• and
• a rotating collar within the tag housing, wherein the rotating collar includes a threaded barrel receiving portion configured to threadingly engage with and receive therein the threaded barrel, wherein the rotating collar is configured to rotate within the tag housing in response to a rotating magnetic field applied by a rotating magnetic array of a detacher;
• wherein in response to a rotation of the rotating collar, the threaded barrel receiving portion is configured to interact with the threads of the threaded barrel to provide a driving force to the threaded barrel to cause the pin to move linearly in a pin retraction direction to a retracted position within the tag housing to allow the article surveillance tag to be removed from an article.