WO1990006050A1

WO1990006050A1 - A seal or eartag for animals

Info

Publication number: WO1990006050A1
Application number: PCT/DK1989/000288
Authority: WO
Inventors: Henrik Jacobsen; Gunnar SØRENSEN
Original assignee: Dansk Plombefabrik A/S
Priority date: 1988-12-05
Filing date: 1989-12-05
Publication date: 1990-06-14
Also published as: AU4669489A; DK677888A; DK677888D0

Abstract

A seal or eartag (1) for instnce animals and comprising a male member (4) and a female member (5), both members being provided with an information carrier (7). The male member (4) is provided with a pin comprising a shaft, a head and an insertion member. The male member (4) and the female member (5) are made of at least two different materials. The female member (5) is provided with an inner metal ring body capable of co-operating with the pin on the male member (4). The metal ring body of the female member (5) is embedded in said female member (5) and is provided with a plurality of vaulted locking webs projecting towards the centre of the ring and engaging the head behind the insertion member of the male member (4). One or more safety wires may be embedded in the male member (4) and the female member (5) and ensure or indicate that the seal or the eartag (1) is correctly assembled. The object of the invention is to provide a seal or an eartag secured against falsification upon the mounting, and where the mounting can be controlled in such a manner that a remounting of a seal or an eartag removed from the animal is impossible.

Description

Title: A seal or eartag for animals.

Technical Field

The invention relates to a seal or eartag for animals and comprising a male member and a female member, both members being provided with an information carrier and being in¬ serted in one another when the seal or eartag is mounted, whereby _he male member comprises a pin including a shaft, a head and an insertion member, and whereby the male member and the female member are made of at least two different materials, said female member comprising an inner metal ring body capable of co-operating with the pin on the male member.

Background Art

US-PS No. 4,694,781 discloses a container for earmarking animals, and which comprises a female part with a plate ring or locking ring provided with retaining webs. The purpose of the female part is, however, not to keep the individual parts of the eartag together, and the male part is not provided with any type of holding shoulder.

EP divulgated specification No. 105,796 discloses an identification plate for animals, said plate comprising a male part and a female part made of plastics, whereby the core portion and pointed portion of the male member is made of metal.

EP divulgated specification No. 56,533 discloses an iden¬ tification mark for cattle, where a male part and a female part can be assembled without the use of actual retaining webs. The male part and the female part are made of a rela¬ tively soft plastics, and the male part comprises a pointed portion of a harder material, such as for instance plastics or metal . FR patent of addition application No. 2,510,205 discloses a device for assembling carrier members for identification plates for cattle, said device comprising a male part and a female part. The female part is provided with a plate ring inserted as a core therein. The plate ring is provided for locking purposes and does not comprise retaining webs.

DK patent application No. 4071/85 discloses an eartag comprising a male part with a shaft including a head portion and a female part provided with an opening. A shoulder encircles the opening of the female part and may abut the head portion of the male part in order to mutually lock the male part and the female part. The female part is provided with a hollow knob surrounding the opening. An inner collar is situated in the female part, said collar abutting the shoulder of the female part. The collar is deformable and made of a material of a higher softening temperature than the material of the knob. The parts are preferably made of polyurethane or a combination of plas¬ tics with metal embedded therein. The metal is, however, not shaped as wires, and no measures have been taken for reducing the cavity inside the knob. The collar is also provided with a longitudinal slot with the result that the collar tends to yield to high pulling effects.

Eartags are known where a centering member is formed by an opening through a pin, whereby the opening extends to the tip of the insertion member of the eartag. The opening fits an elongated pin on the tool to be used for mounting the eartag. The elongated pin is very vulnerable and has a tendency to be bent or break. It is therefore necessary to provide the mounting tool with extra pins so as to take into account the situation where the pins are damaged, which presents an unfortunate drawback.

Disclosure of Invention The object of the invention is to provide a seal or eartag of the above type, which cannot be falsified when mounted, and whereby the mounting can be performed in a hygienic and safe manner and be controlled in such a manner that a remounting of a seal or eartag, which has been removed from for instance another animal, is impossible.

The seal or eartag according to the invention is charac¬ terised in that the metal ring body of the female member is embedded in said female member and comprises a plurality of vaulted locking webs projecting towards the centre of the metal ring body and capable of engaging the head behind the insertion member of the male member, and that in addition to the insertion member in form of a tip the male member comprises a holding shoulder in form of a circumferential recess, a mounting flange in form of a body member, and a centering member in form of a shaft, whereby at least one through channel is provided in the mounting flange, and whereby the bottom of the holding shoulder and the centering member are preferably of a smaller circumference than the mounting flange. As a result the ring body of the female member can engage the male member and ensure a mechanically reliable connection simultaneously with the locking webs providing a suitably increased elasticity. The tip may be made of a hard mate- rial in order to facilitate the insertion and the retain¬ ing, said tip neither making the seal nor the eartag and especially not the male member unnecessarily rigid which might irritate the animal and increase the risk of said seal or eartag falling off. In addition the larger contact surface around the centering member adjacent the tip ensures a good control of the insertion member because the shaft of the centering member is situated inside the seal or eartag and not on the mounting tool. Finally it is not necessary to store spare tips for the mounting tool. The vaulted locking webs ensure an increasing retain- ing force when it is tried to separate the male member from the female member after the mounting.

An embodiment of the seal or eartag according to the invention is characterised in that one or more safety wires are embedded in the male member and/or the female member, said safety wires ensuring or marking that the seal or eartag has been corrrectly assembled. The safety wires operate as a control device, and by means of a suitable equipment, such as for instance an electronic passing control, it is possible to ensure that the safety wires are intact. The insertion of the control in the seal or eartag result in a simple and reliable mounting there¬ of, and it is very difficult to copy, i.e. falsify, each seal or eartag without involving very complicated pro- duction equipment.

Another embodiment of the seal or eartag according to the invention is characterised in that the metal ring body of the female member is embedded in said female member and comprises a plurality of vaulted locking webs project- ing towards the centre of the metal ring body and capable of engaging the head behind the insertion member of the male member, and that in addition to the insertion member in form of a tip the male member comprises a holding shoulder in form of a circumferential recess, a mounting flange in form of a body member, and a centering member in form of a shaft, whereby at least one through channel is provided in the mounting flange, and whereby the bottom of the holding shoulder and the centering member are preferably of a smaller circumference than the mounting flange. As a result the wires snap when a breaking up of the seal is attempted by cutting off the tip or by over¬ loading the metal ring.

According to yet another embodiment of the seal or eartag according to the invention the safety wires include one or more wires of for instance plastics and/or metal extend¬ ing substantially in parallel and/or being twisted together in each seal or eartag member, whereby an increased securi¬ ty is obtained against falsification. Furthermore the re-establishment and repair process is very difficult and involves increasing costs.

According to an additional embodiment of the seal or eartag according to the invention the safety wires are made of a conductive material, and at least one contact point is provided on each seal or eartag member, whereby it is possible to control whether the wires are snapped.

Moreover according to an additional embodiment of the seal or eartag according to the invention the ring body is made of metal plate and provided with a bead on the webs projecting towards the centre of said body, whereby an even stronger retaining force is obtained when the male member is forced away from the female member after said members have been assembled.

According to yet another embodiment of the seal or the eartag according to the invention the outer periphery of the metal ring body may be polygonal, preferably hexagonal or octagonal, with a plurality of openings or notches having parallel but staggered axes. In this manner the edges lock the ring body and the wires are torn when the ring body is moved.

The seal or the eartag according to the invention may furthermore be such that the remaining cavity between the insertion member and the female member is relatively small, preferably corresponding to a distance of less than 1 mm when the seal or eartag has been assembled, and that the cavity contains a systemic, dermatologic or allergy-prophy¬ lactic composition or a combination thereof, whereby the inconveniences of the animal are reduced. According to the invention it is advantageous when the the diameter of the external circumference of the metal ring body is larger than the diameter of the internal circum erence of the central opening, the latter diameter being smaller than the diameter of the external circum¬ ference of the shaft when the male member is forced away from the female member, whereby the diameter of the exter¬ nal circumference of the shaft in turn is smaller than the diameter of the external circumference of the head, preferably smaller than the internal circumference in the bottom of the holding shoulder, and when the diameter of the external circum erences of the staggered openings is smaller than the diameter of the internal circumference of the central opening.

The insertion member for the seal or eartag may according to the invention be such that when seen in the insertion direction of the insertion member the tip extends to the external circumference of said insertion member. In this manner the tip enlarges a hole in the ear of the cow which is sufficiently large for allowing passage of the entire male member.

Another embodiment of the insertion member according to the invention is characterised in that a holding shoulder is provided behind the tip, the front rim of said holding shoulder extending radially inwards, whereby the bottom of said holding shoulder is parallel to the external cir¬ cumference, and whereby the rearmost rim of said holding shoulder is inclined, preferably about 45°, and extends to the external circumference thereof. In this manner the tip is locked in the metal ring body of the female member, said tip usually being made of a harder material than the male member or the female member. In addition the inclined rearmost rim makes It Impossible to twist the members of the seal or eartag from one another by pressing the inser- tion member further inwards into one side simultaneously with tilting said member outwards in the opposite side.

Yet another embodiment of the insertion member according to the invention is such that the holding shoulder is situated immediately behind the end of the tip of the insertion member when seen in the insertion direction of said insertion member. As a result the insertion member can be covered by the soft plastics of the male member in such a manner that the soft plastics abuts the carti- lage of the ear, said soft plastics usually not harming the ear.

A still further embodiment of the insertion member accord¬ ing to the invention is such that it is retained in the male member by means of one or more channels, and/or one or more recesses, and/or one or more projections, whereby the best possible adherence is obtained between the rela¬ tively soft plastics of the rearmost portion of the male member and the hard plastics of the insertion member. It turned out to be advantageous that the insertion member is provided with one or more projections in form of barbs, and that the recesses are present in form of corrugations.

According to an embodiment of the insertion member, the channels may according to the invention be cylindrical of an either^*: circular, elliptical or polygonal cross section, whereby treasonable flow conditions as well as a relatively insignificant nick and bend effect are ensured.

Finally the insertion member may according to the invention be such that when seen in the insertion direction thereof a radially extending contact member is situated immediately behind the projections. In this manner a safe insertion of the seal or eartag is ensured because the tool used for the mounting of the seal or eartag cannot wedge in the insertion member. Brief Description of Drawings

The invention is described in greater details below with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which

Fig. 1 illustrates a cow provided with the seal or eartag according to the invention,

Fig. 2 illustrates the seal or eartag of Fig. 1 in the assembled state,

Fig. 3 is a sectional view substantially along the line III-III of Fig. 2 through details of the eartag of Fig. 2,

Fig. 4 illustrates a female member according to the inven¬ tion, whereby some parts have been cut away,

Fig. 5 is a partially sectional view through a pin on a male member of a seal or an eartag according to the inven- tion, and

Fig. 6 illustrates another embodiment of the insertion member according to the invention.

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

Fig. 1 illustrates a cow 2 provided with the seal or eartag 1 according to the invention. The eartag 1 is suited for marking all kinds of animals with outer ears capable of carrying the eartag 1. The seal or eartag need not only be used for identification, but can also be used as a stamp guaranteeing for instance the racial purity the reason why it is very important that the eartag is maxi¬ mally secured against falsification. Fig. 2 illustrates the eartag 1 comprising a male member 4 and a female member 5. Both the male member 4 and the female member 5 are provided with an information carrier 7. The information carriers 7 may include fields containing readable letters or signs or mechanically readable symbols such as line codes or magnetic tracks. The information may for instance be applied by means of laser either burning the information into the information carrier or activating a dye in said information carrier. The informa- tion carrier 7 is made of plastics, preferably polyure- thane , whereby suitably high strength and hygienic standard are obtained. The information carrier may also be made of transparent plastics foil surrounding a piece of paper or board like the conventionally used identification cards. The surrounded material may optionally be reinforced or include a passive or active electronic circuit.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view through the male member 4 and the female member 5, whereby a cavity 51 appears between said male member 4 and said female member 5 when they are assembled. It is very difficult to avoid such a cavity. It is, however, an object of the invention to minimize the cavity. The cavity must, however, be of such a size that a mutual turning of male member 4 and the female member 5 is allowed. The latter object is achieved by the plastics of the female member being relatively soft in such a manner that the insertion of the male member 5 causes a slight deformation of the plastics. Before the eartag is assembled, the cavity 51 inside the female member 5 may be filled with a systemic, dermatologic or allergy- prophylactic composition, such as for instance antibac¬ terial, disinfecting or the like compositions. The compo¬ sition may for instance contain antibiotics or antimycot- ics . When the seal or the eartag 1 is delivered to the user, the male member 4 and the female member 5 are inter- connected in pairs by means of straps or staps parted in connection with the mounting. Fig. 4 illustrates the female member 5 of a seal or an eartag according to the invention. The female member 5 includes a ring body 21, which is made of for instance metal, plastics or ceramics and is embedded in said female 5 member 5. The metal ring body 21 is provided with locking webs 22 vaulted inwards and embossed or pressed such that beads 24 or weakening/reinforcing zones appear. The webs 22 may be shaped by cutting. The tip of the web 22 may for instance have been subjected to a heat treatment in

10 order to achieve a high strength. A control of the casting procedure implies that the locking web 22 does not project into the male member 4 until a suitably high pulling force is exerted in order to try to force the male member 4 away from the female member 5. The ring body 21 is also

15 provided with a plurality of circumferential openings 26. The number of openings may vary according to desire, but the openings should be situated at regular Intervals along the circumference of the ring body 21_/ The ring body 21 is also provided with a plurality of notch-forming slits

20 33, actual notches 34 or cuttings, which on one hand must ensure that the ring body 21 is sufficiently fixedly arranged in the female member 5, and on the other hand that the safety wires 32, cf. below, are torn when the seal or eartag is subjected to a high load. The ring body

25 21 is preferably hexagonal or octagonal. The safety wires 32 are made of a material not being influenced during the manufacturing of the seal or the eartag and may for Instance be an electric wire composed of one or more thin and optionally twisted wires optionally ending In one or

30 more contact points 36. The individual wires may be made of metal, plastics or ceramics, such as for instance in form of carbon fibers, glass fibers or photoconductors . The wire(s) may optionally be endless for detecting pur¬ poses by means of inductive sensors.

35 Fig. 5 illustrates a partially cut pin 10 on a male member 4 of a seal or eartag. The pin 10 comprises an insertion member 13, a holding shoulder 16, a mounting flange 17 and a centering member 19. The mounting flange 17 is provided with one or more through channels 18 allowing passage of the plastics for the shaft 11, whereby said plastics can retain the head 12 relative to the shaft 11. The mounting flange 17 may also be provided with a cor¬ rugated surface so as to provide the plastics with the best possible adherence. The head 12 is usually made of a harder material, which may either be plastics, such as polycarbonate, metal or possibly ceramics. Safety wires 31 of the above type may also extend through the channels 18 in the flange 17, said wires not being influenced during the manufacturing of the shaft 11. The safety wires 31 are capable of revealing attempts at breaking up the seal or the eartag because they break or loose one or more of their properties, such as for instance the conductivity, when subjected to an overload. The channels 18 should be of such a cross section that they only allow a conventional load, and such that a misuse, if any, or falsification attempts result in a breaking of the wires and optionally also of the plastics of the shaft 11, whereby it is impos¬ sible to reuse the seal or the eartag either fallen off or taken off the animal. The centering member 19 is cen- trally situated inside the shaft 11 without being in contact therewith, whereby the relatively hard centering member does not reduce the resilience of the shaft 11. The centering member 19 is very important in connection with the mounting of the seal or the eartag because it ensures the position of the insertion member in such a manner that the locking webs 22 can be made reliably retaining the holding shoulder 15 adjacent the bottom 14 of said holding shoulder.

Fig. 6 illustrates another embodiment of the insertion member 13. The walls of the insertion member incline from the tip thereof and outwards towards the holding shoulder 15. The transition between the holding shoulder 15 and the tip is situated close to an imaginary external cylinder around the insertion member. The distance between the end of the tip of the insertion member and the holding shoulder 15 is relatively small, preferably between about 0 mm and about 1 mm, and more specifically about 0.1 mm. The holding shoulder 15 continues into a bottom 14. The bottom 14 is adjusted to the metal ring body 21 of the female member 5 in which the insertion member 13 Is to fit. In other words the bottom 14 is cylindrical and parallel to the external cylinder. The bottom 14 continues into an inclined rearmost rim 41 inclining outwards towards the circumference of the Imaginary external cylinder. The inclined rearmost rim 41 forms an angle with the external cylinder of about 45° in such a manner that it cannot influence the curved locking webs 22 of the metal ring body 21. The insertion member is secured to the pin 10 of the male member 4 in an area behind the holding shoulder 15. This area covers one or more channels 18, one or more recesses, and/or one or more projections 42. The projections 42 may be in form of barbs, cf. Fig. 6, or any arbitrary shape. The number of projections may vary and exceed 10, and they may be both axially and radially staggered. There are, however, prefer¬ ably only two relatively large projections. Although the recesses do not appear from Fig. 6, they may be provided between the projections 42 and the channels 18. The chan¬ nels 18 may be of a varying cross section, and In Fig. 6 they are of a cross section corresponding to a combination of a semi-circle, a rectangle, and a triangle. The channels 18 must be shaped such that the best possible adherence is achieved without causing a nick and bend effect neither in the Insertion member 13 nor in the pin 10. The number of channels 18 may vary, but usually only one is present. The channel is preferably radially positioned, i.e. it extends through the centre. The channels may, however, also be staggered relative to the centre and inclined relative to the radius . A radial contact member 43 Is provided behind the projections 42, said radial contact member providing a suitable contact surface for the tool to be used for pressing the female member 5 and the male member 4 together. A centering device 19 is situated behind the contact member 43, said centering device co-operating with the tool to be used for the mounting of the eartag.

The use of several different materials renders it possible to build in break-indicators revealing in an easy manner a possible, unacceptable or false overload.

The invention is not limited to the above embodiments, but may be modified in many ways without thereby deviating from the scope of the invention. The pin 10 of the male member 4 or the female member 5 may optionally be hollow in such a manner that cartilage and blood are pressed away with the result that infections and the like are prevented. The channels in the mounting flange may also be in form of notches.

Claims

Claims :

1. A seal or eartag for animals and comprising a male member and a female member, both members being provided with an information carrier and being inserted in one another when the seal or eartag is mounted, whereby the male member comprises a pin including a shaft, a head and an insertion member, and whereby the male member and the female member are made of at least two different materials, said female member comprising an inner metal ring body capable of co-operating with the pin on the male member, c h a r a c t e r i s e d in that the metal ring body (21) of the female member (5) is embedded in said female member (5) and comprises a plurality of vaulted locking webs (22) projecting towards the centre of the metal ring body (21) and capable of engaging the head (12) behind the insertion member (13) of the male member (4) , and that in addition to the insertion member (13) in form of a tip the male member (4) comprises a holding shoulder (15) in form of a circumferential recess, a mounting flange (17) in form of a body member, and a centering member (19) in form of a shaft, whereby at least one through channel (18) is provided in the mounting flange (17), and whereby the bottom (14) of the holding shoulder and the centering member (19) are preferably of a smaller circumference than the mounting flange (17) .

2. A seal or eartag as claimed in claim 1, c h a r a c¬ t e r i s e d in that one or more safety wires (31, 32) are embedded in the male member (4) and/or the female member (5), said safety wires ensuring or marking that the seal or eartag (1) has been correctly assembled.

3. A seal or eartag as claimed in one or more of the claims 1-2, c h a r a c t e r i s e d in that the safety wires (32) extend through notches (34) or openings (33) in the metal ring body (21) of the female member (5), and that the safety wires (31) are situated on the material transitions or inside the channels (18) in the male member (4).

4. A seal or eartag as claimed in one or more of the claims 1-3, c h a r a c t e r i s e d in that the safety wires (31, 32) include one or more wires of for instance plastics and/or metal extending substantially in parallel and/or being twisted together in each seal or eartag member (4, 5).

5. A seal or eartag as claimed in one or more of the claims 1-4, c h a r a c t e r i s e d in that the safety wires (31, 32) are made of a conductive material, and that at least one contact point (36) is provided on each seal or eartag member (4, 5) .

6. A seal or eartag as claimed in one or more of the claims 1-5, c h a r a c t e r i s e d in that the metal ring body (21) is made of metal plate and provided with a bead (24) on the webs (22) projecting towards the centre of said body.

7. A seal or eartag as claimed in one or more of the claims 1-6, c h a r a c t e r i s e d in that the outer periphery of the metal ring body (21) may be polygonal, preferably hexagonal or octagonal, with a plurality of openings (26) or notches having parallel but staggered axes .

8. A seal or eartag as claimed in one or more of the claims 1-7, c h a r a c t e r i s e d in that the cavity (51) resulting between the insertion member (13) and the female member (5) is relatively small, preferably corre- sponding to a distance of less than 1 mm when the seal or eartag (1) has been assembled, and that the cavity (51) contains a systemic, dermatologic or allergy-prophylactic composition or a combination thereof.

9. A seal or eartag as claimed in one or more of the claims 1-8, c h a r a c t e r i s e d in that the diame¬ ter of the external circumference of the metal ring body (21) is larger than the diameter of the internal circum¬ ference of the central opening, the latter diameter being smaller than the diameter of the external circumference of the shaft (11) when the male member is forced away from the female member, whereby the diameter of the exter- nal circumference of the shaft in turn is smaller than the diameter of the external circumference of the head (12) , preferably smaller than the internal circum erence in the bottom (14) of the holding shoulder, and that the diameter of the external circumferences of the staggered openings (33) is smaller than the diameter of the internal circumference of the central opening.

10. An insertion member for a seal or eartag according to one or more of the preceding claims 1 to 9 , c h a r¬ a c t e r i s e d in that when seen in the insertion direction of the insertion member (13) the tip extends to the external circumference of said Insertion member (13).

11. An insertion member for a seal or eartag according to one or more of the preceding claims 1 to 10, c h a r- a c t e r i s e d in that a holding shoulder (15) is provided behind the tip, the front rim of said holding shoulder extending radially inwards, whereby the bottom (14) of said holding shoulder is parallel to the external circumference, and whereby the rearmost rim (41) of said holding shoulder is inclined, preferably about 45°, and extends to the external circumference thereof.

12. An insertion member for a seal or eartag according to one or more of the preceding claims 1 to 11, c h a r¬ a c t e r i s e d in that the holding shoulder (15) is situated immediately behind the end of the tip of the insertion member (13) when seen in the insertion direction of said insertion member.

13. An insertion member for a seal or eartag according to one or more of the preceding claims 1 to 12, c h a r- a c t e r i s e d in that it is retained in the male member (4) by means of one or more channels (18), and/or one or more recesses, and/or one or more projections (42).

14. An insertion member for a seal or eartag according to one or more of the preceding claims 1 to 13, c h a r- a c t e r i s e d in that one or more projections (42) are barbs .

15. An insertion member for a seal or eartag according to one or more of the preceding claims 1 to 14, c h a r- a c t e r i s e d in that the recesses are corrugations.

16. An insertion member for a seal or eartag according to one or more of the preceding claims 1 to 15, c h a r- a c t e r i s e d in that the channels (18) are cylindric¬ al of an either circular, elliptical or polygonal cross section.

17. An insertion member for a seal or eartag according to one or more of the preceding claims 1 to 16, c h a r- a c t e r i s e d in that when seen in the insertion direction of the insertion member a radially extending contact member (43) is situated immediately behind the projections (42).