NZ198788A - Ear tag applicator - Google Patents

Description

198788 NEW ZEALAND PATENTS ACT, 1953 No.: 198788 :-V Date: 28 October 1981 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION IMPROVEMENTS IN AND/OR RELATING TO EAR TAGGING I/V&, BEN WHANGAPIRITA, a New Zealand citizen of 16 Cambridge Terrace, Gore, New Zealand hereby declare the invention for which I / Pray that a patent be granted to me and the method by which it is to be to be particularly described in and by the following staterrjfengtS 198788 The present invention relates to improvements in and/or relating to ear tagging and in particular although not solely to ear tag applicators.

Many forms of ear tag are known. One form of ear tag that is commonly used in New Zealand and especially with sheep is of a kind having a unitary moulded structure usually of a resiliently pliant plastics material having a first and second portion held together at or adjacent an extremity of each portion by a spanning region in such a way that a distal extremity of said first portion (or indeed even 10 the second portion) can be passed through an animal's ear usually through a pre-existent hole or tear therein (and the tag can then be arranged so that said spanning portion rests positioned through the ear and the said first and second portions together sandwich, over at least some of their extent, the animal's ear. Such an ear tag normally has a construction whereby said first and second portions are substantially coextensive parallel planar members. Normally the same are also elongate and the distal ends thereof are at a similar elongate extremity and means is provided to constrict the opening between the planar members. Accordingly to allow the insertion of the 20 tag reliance must be placed upon the flexible nature of the tag which allows the opening of the constriction to allow the placement of the tag on an animals ear. The most famous tag of this type known in New Zealand is that manufactured by Leader Products Pty. Limited and as disclosed in New Zealand Patent Specification No.136494. Such a form of ear tag ordinarily is applied by first taking an ear punching tool and making a hole in a sheep's ear just in from an edge thereof and then manually prising the first and second portions apar enable one of the two portions to be inserted through the 2i8iQCTn$82 198788 then manipulation of the two portions to such a condition where the spanning portion rests through the hole in the animal's ear whereupon it is possible to allow the first and second portions to resume the substantial parallel configuration with the constriction at their distal ends (clear of the ear) being recreated to ensure that the tag is firmly located. Such a form of application of such a tag does detract from its marketability and there is therefore some desire to provide means which will enable the ready attachment of such a tag to an animal's ear without it being necessary to manually prise the components apart and to manually insert the same.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide means and or methods which will go at least some way to meet the abo-vementioned desiderata or which will at least provide the public with a useful choice.

Accordingly in one aspect the present invention consists in an ear tag applicator for tags of a unitary kind having first and second portions held together at or adjacent an extremity of each portion by a spanning region In such a way that a distal extremity of said first portion can be passed through an animals ear and the tag can then be arranged so that the spanning portion rests positioned through the ear and said first and second portions together sandwich over at least some of their extent the animal's ear, said applicator comprising means providing first and second jaw means in a pivoted relationship about a pivot, j said first jaw means having holding means to hold a said tag with its spanning region disposed more remotely than said distal extremities thereof frjgp&fhi?- 198788 pivot of the said applicator, said first portion lying between the two jaw means, and means defining an anvil region against which an ear to be tagged can be positioned, and said second jaw means having an ear penetrating member mounted to pivot so that upon the bringing of the jaw means towards each other will cause said penetrating member to pass through an animal's ear disposed between said first and second jaw means against the reaction of said anvil region, said penetrating member having engagement means at or towards its distal end to engage the distal extremity of said first portion of a tag held on said holding means, the penetrating member having a degree of freedom and the arrangement otherwise being such that in use said penetrating member after passing through an animal's ear can^ uponPsptrte movement^Df the animal's ear and the applicator relatively apart, move to firstly engage said distal extremity of said first portion and thereafter pull and/or guide said first portion through the hole in the animal's ear as said applicator/animal's ear continue to move relatively apart and upon continued movement leave the tag on the ear clear of said holding means and said engagement means.

The term "jaw means" does not necessarily require contact between each jaw means and the term "pivoted" can include a scissor action.

Preferably said jaw means are regions of a scissor action arrangement at regions thereof remote from the portions to be hand actuated.

Preferably said anvil means includes means providing a cutting edge against which said penetrating member.can cuttingly co-act so as to provide sufficient shear to enable penetration of the animal's ear. c Preferably said cutting member is substantially across and 498788 substantially parallel in extent to the pivot axis of said penetrating member.

Preferably the cutting portion of said anvil member skirts about said penetrating member as it passes thereby during the cutting actuation but does not skirt about the penetration member on that side thereof remote from the pivot between said jaw means.

Preferably the arrangement is substantially as hereinafter described.

Preferably said holding means takes the form of a contoured extre-10 mity region of said first jaw means onto which the appropriate ear tag can be fitted (preferably clip fitted).

Preferably the ear tag to be used is a Leader type tag and the longer arm region thereof is positioned on that side of said first jaw means remote from said second jaw means.

Preferably said penetrating member is spring biassed to abut against a stop which holds the same substantially pointing towards said first jaw means and in particular an opening or recess in said anviI member.

Preferably however the arrangement is such that said penetrating 20 member moves at least to some extent against the bias of said spring or its equivalent as the same moves against the reaction of said anvil member or at least passes thereby.

Preferably said engagement means takes the form of a recess adapted to engage the distal end of the first or second portion as the case may be of said ear tag. In other forms it may be a loop or hooked member.

Preferably the arrangement is substantially as hereinafter descr i bed. flx PA PS 28 OCT 5982 j 198788 In a further aspect the invention consists in a method of applying a tag substantially as set forth which involves passing an ear punching and/or penetrating member of an applicator holding the tag to be applied through the animal's ear, engaging the distal end region of the first or second portion of the tag therewith and thereafter dragging and/or guiding said portion through the hole or tear in the ear through which said member has been passed as said member is withdrawn therefrom as a result of relative movement between the animal's ear and the member to leave the tag with said first and second portiong sandwiching over at least some of their extent the ear.

In a further aspect the present invention consists in a method of applying an ear tag of the kin J described which Involves the steps of taking an ear tag applicator in accordance with the present invention applying an ear tag of the kind previously setforth thereto in such a way that the same Is operative I y held by said holding means, positioning an animal's ear between said two jaw means and then bringing the two jaw means substantial ly together so as to cause said penetrating member to move through the animal's ear against the reaction of said anvil region and thereafter without substantially separating said first and second jaw means thereby causing the engagement means of the pivoting penetrating member to engage a portion of said ear tag and pull and/or guide the same through the hole and thereafter releasii the same leaving the tag applied to the animal.

Preferably said method is performed substantially as hereinafter described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

One preferred form of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings In which Figure 1 is a plan view of the preferred ear tag in accordance with the present invention being one as disclosed in New Zealand , V Patent Specification No.136494 the tag being viewed down on the larger I 19878s of the two planar, portions and having regard to the language previously setforth the preferred form of said second portion, Figure 2 is a view A-A of the tag as shown in figure 1, Figure 3 is a view B-B of the tag shown in figure 2, Figure 4 is a side elevation view of the preferred form of applicator in accordance with the present invention showing the same as consisting of a scissor action type arrangement having spring biassing means holding the handle region thereof apart and showing how a spring tension arrangement holds the penetrating member against a stop in 10 such a way that the pivoted penetrating member is disposed towards the first jaw means, Figure 4 also showing how and the direction in which (the arrows shows this) the prised apart tag as shown in figures 1 to 3 can be slipped onto the distal regions of said first jaw means, Figure 5 is a side elevation view in the same direction as shown in figure 4 of the first jaw means showing with dotted lines the gaps therethrough, the sectional lines being used to denote the solid portions in a longitudinal section just in from the sides, Figure 6 is a view C-C with respect to figure 5, Figure 7 is a view D-D of the preferred anvil means with respect 20 to figure 5, Figure 8 is a view E-E of the first jaw means with respect to that depicted in figure 5, Figure 9 is a similar view to figure 7 showing how an ear tag as depicted in figures 1 to 3 can be quick fitted thereon, Figure 10 is a side elevation view of the penetrating member of said second jaw means showing the biassing spring arrangement from a similar direction as that depicted in figure 4, Figure 11 is a view of the arrangement shown in figure 10 in the 198VSS d i rection F-F, Figure 12 is a view of the arrangement shown in figure 10 from the direction G-G, Figure 13 shows the first and second jaw regions with an ear tag appropriate Iy located on said first jaw region, an animal's ear (shown in section) against the anvil region of said jaw means and said penetrating member directed theretowards, Figure 14 shows how the penetrating member passes through the animal's ear under a simple scissor action against the reaction of 10 said anvil region and with the assistance of cutting regions of the first jaw means (about an opening through the anvil region), Figure 15 shows the arrangement substantially as shown in figure 14 but after some slight release in tension on the applicator allows the withdrawal of the applicator in the direction depicted by the arrow, thus allowing the penetrating member to pivot down in the arrowed direction to bring its engagement means into a dragging engagement with the distal region of the first portion of the ear tag held by said holding means, tool from the animal (normally under the movement of the animal away from the applicator) showing how there is a tendency to pull the said first portion of said ear tag towards the hole through the ear and to start the pliable movement of said ear tag relative to the holding means, Figure 17 shows the portion of the ear tag pulled through the animal's ear and showing how continued movement in the arrowed direction will free the tag completely from the applicator tool, and Figure 16 shows the next stage of withdrawal of the applicator Figure 18 shows the animal's ear left tagged with the 8 198788 opening at the distal end of the tag being resumed to effectively tag the an imaI• In the preferred form of the present invention the first jaw member 1 includes an anvil region 2 which includes cutting edges 3 which will co-act with the penetrating member 4 and in particular the distal end 5 thereof to make a tear in an animal's ear through which the ear tag can be positioned. The penetrating member 4 is pivoted about a pivot axis 6 and is biassed with respect to figure 10 to the right about that pivot axis and held against the stop best depicted in 10 figure 4. The stop 7 can be readily seen. It can be seen therefore that with the arrangement as shown the handle portions 8 would be squeezed together against the sprung bias 9 thereby forcing the region 10 of the penetrating member to slide upwardly as best depicted in figure 14 against the cutting edge 3 thus making for a clean cut through the animal's ear.

As best depicted in figures 13 through to 18 it can be seen that the pivoting of the penetrating member is not unduly hampered owing to the substantial cleaning out of the central region of first jaw means underneath the region 11 thereof which is adapted to locate the second 20 portion of the ear tag to be held as shown in figure 9. It can be seen that with the engagement means 12 the pivotal movement as depicted enables the distal end of the region 13 to be engaged and pulled in the sequence as shown through the animal's ear to achieve the necessary ear tagging.

Obviously refinements in the arrangement could include a spacing arrangement, i.e. a stop or a clearly defined measuring region 14 so that the hole in the animal's ear is only punched in an appropriate 198*788 could include a portion 15 to facilitate the support of the applicator in a.shed if not from a farmer's belt or the like. Other stops etc. are also readily apparent from the mode of construction as shown. It can be seen also that other than a straight scissor type arrangement could be employed. For example, in a less favoured form of the pre-, sent invention a tongs type arrangement could be employed where pivot access is substituted by a substantially flexible interconnection between the jaw means and reliance is placed on a direct pressure on to jaw means. Such a form of construction would find less favour. It 10 should also be appreciated that while reference is being made to a pivotal arrangement between the first and second jaw means multiple pivot relationships or the equivalent are also encompassed.

Also the tag itself may be modified slightly to include a protuberance to enable the applicator to have better gripping engagement.

On the basis of the foregoing therefore it is believed that in use it will be feasible for a farmer to more easily load tags as required onto the first jaw means and thus with less trauma to an animal to insert the same. Thus, applicators in accordance with the present invention should find widespread acceptance.

CS ^ OFRCf 28CCTI982 198788

Claims (14)

WHAT WE CLAIM IS:

1. An ear tag applicator for tags of a unitary kind having first and second portions held together at or adjacent an extremity of each portion by a spanning region in such a way that a distal extremity of said first portion can be passed through an animals ear and the tag can then be arranged so that the spanning portion rests posi tioned through the ear and said first and second portions together sandwich over at least some of their extent the animal's ear, said appIi cator compr is i ng means providing first and second jaw means in a pivoted relationship, said first jaw means having holding means to hold a said tag with its spanning region disposed more remotely than said distal extremities thereof from the pivot of the said applicator, said first portion lying between the two jaw means, and means defining an anvil region against which an ear to be tagged can be positioned, and said second jaw means having an ear penetrating member mounted so that the bringing of the jaw means towards each other will cause said penetrating member to pass through an animal's ear disposed between said first and second jaw means against the reaction of said anvil region, said penetrating member having engagement means at or towards its distal end to engage the distal extremity of said first portion of a tag held on said holding means, the penetrating member i - 11 - 1387SB 12 in use after passing through an animal's ear and on movement of the animal's ear and the applicator apart, can move to firstly engage said distal extremity of said first portion and thereafter pull and/or guide said first portion of the ear tag through the hole in the animal's ear as said applicator/animal's ear continue to move relatively apart and upon continued movement leave the tag on the ear clear of said holding means and said engagement means.

2. An ear tag applicator as claimed in claim 1 wherein each of said jaw means is a region of a separate member of a scissor action arrangement, said jaw means regions being on the other side of a pivot between the members from that portion of each of said separate members to be hand actuated.

3. An ear tag applicator as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 wherein said anvil means includes means providing a cutting edge against which said penetrating member can cuttingly co-act so as to provide sufficient shear to enable penetration of the animal's ear.

4. An ear tag applicator as claimed in claim 3 wherein said cutting edge is substantially across and substantially parallel in extent to the pivot axis of said penetrating member.

5. An ear tag applicator as claimed in claim 3 wherein the cutting edge of said anvil member skirts about said penetrating member as it passes thereby during the cutting actuation but does not skirt about the penetration member on that side thereof remote from the pivot between said jaw means.

6. An ear tag applicator as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein said holding means takes the form of a contoured extremity region of said first jaw means onto which the appropriate ear tag can be fitted.

7. An ear tag applicator as claimed in any one of the preceding - 13 - 198788 claims wherein the ear tag to be used is a tag of a kind hereinbefore described with reference to Figures 1 to 3 of the accompanying drawings and the longer arm region thereof is positioned on that side of said first jaw means remote from said second jaw means.

8. An ear tag applicator as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein said penetrating member is spring biassed to abut against a stop which holds the same substantially pointing towards said first jaw means and said penetrating member.

9. An ear tag applicator as claimed in claim 8 wherein the arrangement is such that said penetrating member moves at least to some extent against the bias as the same moves against the reaction of said anvil member or at least passes thereby.

10. An ear tag applicator as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein said engagement means takes the form of a recess to engage the distal end of the first or second portion as the case may be of said ear tag.

11. An ear tag applicator when constructed! arranged and operable substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

12. A method of applying a tag of a kind substantially as hereinbefore defined which involves passing an ear punching or penetrating member of an applicator holding the tag to be applied through the animal's ear, engaging the distal end region of the first or second portion of the tag with a portion of the punching or penetrating member that has passed through the ear and thereafter dragging and/or guiding said portion through the hole or tear in the ear using said engagement as said punching or penetrating member is withdrawn from the ear as a result of relative movement between the animal's ear and the member and the applicator to leave the tag with said first and-^=>, second portions sandwiching over at least some of their extent the e^rV ^

13. A method of applying an ear tag of the kind described which 198788 involves the steps of taking an ear tag applicator in accordance with the present invention applying an ear tag of the kind previously set-forth thereto in such a way that the same is operative I y held by said holding means, positioning an animal's ear between said two jaw means and then bringing the two jaw means substantially together so as to cause said penetrating member to move through the animal's ear against the reaction of said anvil region and thereafter without substantially I separating said first and second jaw means (thereby causing the engagement means of the pivoting penetrating member to engage a portion of said 10 ear tag and pull and/or guide the same through the hole and thereafter releasing the same leaving the tag applied to the animal.

14. A method of applying an ear tag of the kind described when performed substantially as hereinafter described with reference to the accompanying drawings. DATED THIS DAY OF October A. J. PARK & SON AGENTS FOR THE APPLICANTS - 14 - o \ —, r