Surgery – Instruments – Means for marking animals
Reexamination Certificate
1997-10-30
2001-05-15
Dawson, Glenn K. (Department: 3761)
Surgery
Instruments
Means for marking animals
C606S117000, C040S301000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06231579
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to padlock type marking seals which are used to mark any type of material capable of being pierced by the tip of the seal lock. For example, cloth, live fish, cattle (through the ear), meat and the like may be marked using this type of seal.
BACKGROUND ART
There are two principal disadvantages encountered when using the seals and applicators of the present state of the art:
Firstly, it is difficult to close the seals using mechanical applicators, due to the fact that there is normally only one pivot or fold point of the “loop” of the padlock, and the locking tip of the “loop” must enter the locking capsule in the body of the “padlock” in a substantially linear manner. The shape of the seals known in the state of the art is not very well adapted to operate in this way and there is a tendency, upon application of the seal, for it not to close properly. In addition to this, the marking operation becomes slow; and
Secondly, it is normally a needle portion of an applicator that penetrates the material to be marked, drawing the tip of the “loop” with it. This means that the applicator imposes design requirements which are difficult to comply with when aiming for simplicity of operation. As a result of this, mechanical applicators, as a rule, are not practical. In the majority of cases they can only be used for application of a single seal, not being provided with means for carrying a number of seals, so that multiple application of the seals at an accelerated rate can not be carried out.
Padlock seals for other purposes are known, such as that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,712,655 which discloses a security, tamper-proof having the general appearance of a conventional padlock. The loop or hasp of the padlock is flexible and generally hoop shaped terminating in a free end in the form of a snub nosed locking tip designed for being manually guided into a locking cavity in the body or base of the seal. Behind the locking tip of the hasp there is a protuberance or enlargement for manual gripping at the time of inserting the tip in the locking cavity.
Applicator devices are also known for the type of tie seal that is used for fixing price is tags to garments or the like. An example is to be found in FR-A-2 540 069 which discloses a pistol having jaws into which a loading mechanism inserts the locking tip at one end of the tie into an outer end of one of the jaws and the locking cavity at the other end of the tieinto an outer end of the other jaw. Rotation of the jaws about a fulcrum by means of a trigger mechanism forces the locking tip linearly into the locking cavity, a price tag or the like and a part of the garment to which it is to be fixed being interposed between the jaws.
OBJECT OF THE INVENTION
The principal objects of the present invention are to provide a padlock type marking seal which is adapted to be easily applied and also to provide a marking seal applicator that is practical, fast and, in the preferred embodiment, capable of carrying “combs” of seals that can be applied in sequence.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to a first aspect of the present invention a padlock type marking seal comprises a body defining a cavity having an internal locking formation, a preformed loop having a first end integral with the body and a second end in the form of a tip formed to cooperate with the internal locking formation of the cavity, the loop being flexible so as to permit said tip to enter the cavity and to become locked in said formation, and a marking tab integral with the body, there being a stop on the loop, adjacent to and behind said tip. The seal is characterised in that:
the tip of the loop is sharpened so as to be capable of penetrating the material to be marked, the first end of the loop is connected to the body by a region of reduced thickness to define a pivot point and the part of the loop between the first end and the sharpened tip is substantially in the form of an arc of a circle, the cavity having an axis substantially tangential to said arc when the loop is pivoted about said pivot point until its tip begins to enter said cavity.
Preferably, said arc is substantially semicircular.
In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the sharpened tip is in the form of a head connected to the rest of the loop by a neck, there being—in order to reinforce the tip and thereby prevent it from flexing as it penetrates the material to be marked—a reinforcement in the form of a connecting rib in the vicinity of the neck.
The advantage of the seal of the present invention lies in the fact that, when the sharpened tip of the seal is placed against the material to be marked, pivoting of the loop causes the tip to enter the surface of the material almost rectilinearly, penetrating and then turning inside the material, in a way similar to a curved suture needle, finally to exit from the same surface that it went into and then directly to enter the cavity of the seal to cooperate with the locking formation.
As in known seals, the locking formation is provided advantageously with one or more—normally three—internal teeth in said cavity. In this way, the reinforcement rib on the neck, between the sharpened tip and the remainder of the loop, can enter the space between two of these internal locking teeth in the cavity of the seal.
Apart from this, the stop behind the sharpened tip of the loop allows an applicator device to be used, the forward point of which does not need to effect penetration of the material to be marked, simply following the sharpened tip of the seal, which is itself used to effect penetration.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, a marking seal applicator for applying padlock type marking seals in which the tip of a preformed loop of the seal is sharpened so as to penetrate the material to be marked and, upon exiting the other side of the material, to enter into a locking cavity of the seal, said applicator including a seal application and reception station, a seal applicator device at said reception and application station for rotation about a pivot point and actuator means for inserting said tip into said locking cavity is characterised by comprising:
a feed guide defining a pathway for feeding a a series of interconnected seals towards said reception and application station, a region of the reception and application station being open to the feed guide so as to enable a marking seal to pass from the guide into a reception and application position within said reception and application station;
a movable stop, displaceable between an open position, spaced from the reception and application station, and a seal application position in which the movable stop is located in said open region to align and support that portion of the seal defining said locking cavity; and
a first actuator, associated with the feed guide, for advancing the sealsincrementally along the guide towards the reception and application station;
said actuator means comprising a second actuato, associated with said movable stop, for displacing said stop between said open and seal application positions, and a third actuator, associated with said applicator device, for imparting rotational motion thereto, between an open seal position and a closed seal position, and for returning said applicator device to said open seal position;
said actuator device including an actuator element having an inner curved surface substantially corresponding to the shape of outer surface of said preformed loop of a seal located in the reception and application station, with the sharpened tip of the loop of the seal directed away from the applicator device, the applicator device cooperating with the loop so as to move together with the applicator when it is rotated about the pivot point by said third actuator.
Preferably the first, second and third actuators comprise respective first, second and third pnuematic cylinders with return springs. The applicator may also include a cutting mechanism, adjacent the open region of the reception and application station,
Dawson Glenn K.
ELC Produtos De Seguranca Industria Comercio Ltda.
Smith , Gambrell & Russell, LLP
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