Security apparatus for electronic article surveillance tag

Details Security apparatus for electronic article surveillance tag Security apparatus for electronic article surveillance tag

2001-04-25

2003-03-18

Lee, Benjamin C. (Department: 2632)

Communications: electrical

Condition responsive indicating system

Specific condition

C340S571000, C340S572800

Reexamination Certificate

active

06535130

ABSTRACT:

CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
Not Applicable
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT
Not Applicable
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to electronic article surveillance (EAS) tags, and more particularly, to an EAS tag with improved anti-defeat mechanisms.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electronic article surveillance systems are well known in the art and are used for inventory control and to prevent theft and similar unauthorized removal of articles from a controlled area. Typically, in such systems a system transmitter and a system receiver are used to establish a surveillance zone, which must be traversed by any articles being removed from the controlled area. An EAS tag is affixed to each article and includes a marker or sensor adapted to interact with a signal being transmitted by the system transmitter into the surveillance zone. This interaction causes a further signal to be established in the surveillance zone which further signal is received by the system receiver. Accordingly, upon movement of a tagged article through the surveillance zone, a signal will be received by the system receiver, identifying the unauthorized presence of the tagged article in the zone.
Certain types of EAS tags are deactivatable, are disposable, and may be permanently affixed to articles. Other types of EAS tags have been designed to be reusable and, thus, include releasable attachment devices for affixing the tags to the articles. Such attachment devices are further designed to be releasable by authorized personnel only so that unauthorized removal of a tag from its article is avoided. To this end, many attachment devices are made releasable only through the use of an associated special tool or detaching mechanism.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,426,419, entitled Security Tag Having Arcuate Channel and Detacher Apparatus for Same, (the '419 patent) the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses an EAS tag that has a relatively hard tag body, which is adapted to be releasable from an article in an easy and simple manner by insertion of the arcuate probe of an associated detacher device into an arcuate channel of the tag to release a spring clamp mechanism. The spring clamp mechanism is a releasable locking mechanism that prevents removal of a tack assembly that is adapted for insertion through an article, which is captured when inserted into an opening in a portion of the tag body.
FIGS. 1-7
show various views of an EAS tag
1
in accordance with the principles of the invention disclosed in the '419 patent, a portion of the description of which follows herein. As shown in
FIG. 1
, the tag
1
includes an upper housing
2
having side walls
2
A,
2
B,
2
C and
2
D which are joined by a top wall
2
E. The tag
1
also includes a lower housing
3
having side walls
3
A,
3
B,
3
C and
3
D which are joined by a bottom wall
3
E. The upper and lower housings
2
and
3
are joined or mated along corresponding or associated side wall pairs (
2
A,
3
A), (
2
B,
3
B), (
2
C,
3
C) and (
2
D,
3
D) to form a closed tag body
1
A.
The housings
2
and
3
are preferably made of a hard or rigid material. A usable rigid or hard material might be a hard plastic such as, for example, an injection molded ABS plastic. If a plastic is used, the mating side walls of the housings can be joined by an ultrasonic weld
1
B or like joining mechanism.
The tag
1
further includes a tack assembly
4
shown as having an enlarged tack head
4
A and an elongated tack body
4
B provided with slots or grooves
4
C and a pointed forward end
4
D (see,
FIGS. 1
,
2
and
6
A). The tack assembly
4
is used to attach the tag body
1
A to an article
51
, which is to be protected by the EAS tag
1
.
In order to sense the tag
1
and, therefore, detect the presence of the tag and the attached article
51
, the inner surfaces
2
F and
3
F of the walls
2
E and
3
E of the housings
2
and
3
are provided with frame members
2
G and
3
G which together define an interior cavity
1
C for receiving an EAS sensor
5
(see,
FIGS. 2
,
3
and
4
A). The EAS sensor
5
can be any sensor that generates detectable EAS signals, and may be an acoustically or mechanically resonant magnetic sensor such as, but not limited to, that disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,510,489 and 4,510,490. Possible other magnetic EAS sensors usable for the sensor
5
might be, but not limited to, those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,686,516 and 4,797,658 and possible RF EAS sensors might be, but not limited to, those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,429,302 and 4,356,477.
As above-noted, the article
51
is joined to the tag body
1
A by the tack assembly
4
. This is accomplished by inserting the tack body
4
B into an opening
2
H in the wall
2
E of the upper housing
2
. When the tack body
4
B is fully inserted, the pointed end
4
D of the tack is received in an upstanding cavity or collar
3
H extending from the inner surface
3
F of the lower housing wall
3
E. The tack head
4
A, in turn, seats in a recessed area
21
in the upper surface
2
J of the wall
2
E. The article
51
is thus held between the tack head
4
A and the latter wall.
Member
6
to be discussed in greater detail below is provided within the tag body
1
A for releasably preventing the tack body from being withdrawn from the tag body. The tack assembly
4
B and the article
51
thus become releasably locked to the EAS tag by the member
6
.
The EAS tag
1
is further adapted so that access to the member
6
for releasing same is made difficult for other than authorized personnel. To this end, the tag body
1
A is configured so that access to the member
6
is through an arcuate channel
7
(see
FIGS. 1
,
3
,
4
A,
4
B,
6
A and
6
B) defined by one or more inner walls and by parts of the side walls and upper and lower walls of the tag body
1
A. With this configuration, a special arcuate probe
8
is needed to reach and release the member
6
and, thus, detach the tack assembly
4
and the article from the tag body
1
A.
As shown, the arcuate channel
7
is defined by a curved inner wall
7
A. This wall extends upward from the inner surface
3
F of the bottom housing
3
to abut the inner surface
2
F of the upper housing
2
. The wall
7
A is further spaced from the side wall
3
D of the bottom housing
3
and its outward end
7
A′ terminates at an inward curved part
3
A′ of the side wall
3
A. The inward curved part
3
A′ of the wall
3
A results in a space or slot
9
A between the side walls
3
A and
3
D of the lower housing
3
.
The slot
9
A cooperates with a similar slot
9
B between the sides wall
2
A and
2
D of the upper housing
2
to define a second opening
9
for providing entry or access into the outward end
7
′ of the channel
7
. At this entry point, the side wall
2
A also curves inwardly at a part
2
A′, the latter part
2
A′ mating with the curved side wall part
3
A′ of the side wall
3
of the lower housing
3
.
The channel
7
is further defined by a second curved wall
7
B (see,
FIGS. 4A and 7
) extending downwardly from the inner surface
2
F of the upper housing
2
. The wall
7
B is situated outward of the inner end
7
A″ of the curved wall
7
A and extends beyond this end to the frame member
2
G.
The presence of the wall
7
B changes or alters the configuration of the channel
7
at its inner end
7
″ which end lies adjacent the member
6
(see, FIG.
6
B). This change or alteration in configuration defines a keyway for the channel
7
which must be accommodated by the probe
8
to pass through the channel and gain access to the member
6
.
The wall
7
B changes the channel cross section from substantially rectangular to substantially L-shaped. This is illustrated in the cross section of
FIG. 7
which has been taken along the line B—B in
FIG. 1
so that the cross section of the channel end
7
″ is made visible.
FIGS. 6A and 6B
are enlarged views of the section of the lower housing
3

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