Animal tag
OwnerJohn James Steinfort, Neil Frederick Edneyinventors
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A tag (1) for attachment to an animal skin comprising, a body portion (2), a skin penetrating head (4) attached to the body portion, and a locking member (6) attached to the body portion at a different location to the skin penetrating head, the locking member being engageable with the skin penetrating head to secure the two from being pulled apart, wherein the construction is such that the body portion is adapted to be bent and held in a configuration of at least two loops when the skin penetrating head is initially inserted through the skin of an animal and engaged with the locking member.
Claims42
A tag for attachment to an animal skin comprising,
- a body portion,
- a skin penetrating head attached to the body portion,
- at least one opening in the body portion, and
- a locking member attached to the body portion at a different location to the skin penetrating head, the locking member being engageable with the skin penetrating head to secure the two from being pulled apart,
- wherein the construction is such that the skin penetrating head and a section of the body portion may be threaded through an opening to bring the skin penetrating head into engagement with the locking member to arrange the tag in a configuration of at least two loops, the opening serving to hold the tag in the at least two loop configuration.
A skin penetrating head comprising a central supporting portion of moulded plastics material having at least two thin flanges extending beyond the central supporting portion the at least two thin flanges having sharp edges and meeting at a sharp point forward of the supporting portion, the sharp edges of the at least two flanges each extending for a distance of at least 1 mm and having a width of at least 1 mm past the edge of the central supporting portion and a maximum thickness of 1 mm, the maximum width of the skin penetrating head being no greater than 8 mm.
An applicator for an animal tag having a skin penetrating head engageable with a locling member comprising,
- first and second body portions pivotably joined together and pivotable towards and away from each other so as to move between first and second pivot configurations,
- driver head means engageable with the skin penetrating head and movable along the first body portion between a first position in which the skin penetrating head is held spaced by a gap from the locking member and a second position in which the skin penetrating head has been pushed into locking engagement with the locking member,
- an anvil for abutting the locking member,
- drive means for driving the driver head means from the first position to the second position the drive means being energisable by pivoting the first and second body portions from the second pivot configuration to the first pivot configuration,
- locking means for locking the driver head means in the first position, and
- a trigger to release the locking means whereby to cause the driver head means to push the skin penetrating head through animal skin held in the gap and into locking engagement with the locking member.
An applicator for an animal tag having a pair of skin penetrating heads comprising a first component of the tag, the skin penetrating heads being engageable with one of a pair of corresponding locking members comprising a second component of the tag applicator comprising,
- driver head means engageable with both skin penetrating heads and movable between a first position in which the skin penetrating heads are spaced by a gap from the locking members and a second position in which each skin penetrating head has been pushed into locking engagement with the corresponding locking member,
- drive means for driving the driver head means from the first position to the second position,
- a trigger for actuating the driver head means to push both skin penetrating heads through animal skin held in the gap and into locking engagement with the corresponding locking member.
An applicator for an animal tag having a skin penetrating head engageable with a locking member comprising,
- driver head means engageable with the skin penetrating head and movable between a first position in which the skin penetrating head is held spaced by a gap from the locking member and a second position in which the skin penetrating head has been pushed into locking engagement with the locking member,
- an anvil for abutting the locking member,
- a cartridge for holding a plurality of locking members and for serially bringing the locking members into abutting registry with the anvil after each application of one of the animal tags to an animal,
- drive means for driving the driver head means from the first position to the second position,
- locking means for locking the driver head means in the first position, and
- a trigger to release the locking means whereby to cause the driver head means to push the skin penetrating head through animal skin held in the gap and into locking engagement with the locking member.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.