US3025953A - Pellet magazine - Google Patents

Description

E. R. TAGGART ETAL PELLET MAGAZINE Filed Jan. 20, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 /N VEN 7' UPS. Vl-'A7577 P47 'GGAP' W4! TER T PJLMEP WWXW T'PNEK March 20, 1962 E. R. TAGGART ETAL 3,025,953

PELLET MAGAZINE Filed Jan. 20, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 /N VEN TOMS. EVERL-'r RAV 7466/197' WAL TEA 7. PAL MEA avm XW 4 TANEX 3,025,953 PELLET MAGAZINE Everett Ray Taggart and Walter T. Palmer, Des Moines, Iowa, assignors, by mesne assignments, to Diamond Laboratories, Des Moines, Iowa, a limited partnership Filed Jan. 20, 1958, Ser. No. 789,965 7 Claims. (Cl. 2636-42) Our invention relates to pellet injectors and more particularly to injectors designed for subcutaneous injection of chemical or biological substances in pellet form in animals or poultry.

One of the important objects contemplated by this invention is the provision of an improved pellet magazine or cartridge clip assembly for packaging a selected varying number of pellets and for successively feeding such pellets into position for ejection irrespective of the position in which the device is held.

Another object is to provide an improved pellet injector of the above class which includes window means associated with the cartridge clip and ejection apparatus whereby the actual presence of a pellet in the ejection chamber can be visibly determined. This feature affords positive assurance that a pellet is actually being injected and eliminates the possibility that the device is operating on an empty loading chamber due to a failure in the feeding device, or exhaustion of the pellet supply which cannot be readily determined in completely closed injecting devices.

Further objects inhering herein are to provide an improved pellet injector that is convenient to handle and use, durable in construction and extremely e'icient for its intended purpose.

Other objects and advantages of this invention reside in the details of construction and correlation of the various parts and will be apparent as the description proceeds.

This invention consists of novel parts and combination of parts to be hereinafter described whereby the objects set forth are attained, as pointed out in the claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a preferred embodiment of this invention,

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view taken on the line 22 of FIG. l,

FIG. 3 is an enlarged front elevational View of the cartridge clip in the holder therefor with the holder partly in section to more clearly illustrate the construction thereof,

FIG. 4 is an enlarged perspective view of a loaded pellet magazine or cartridge clip prior to insertion in the injector device, and

FIGS. 5 and 6 are respective enlarged exploded perspective views of the cartridge clip showing the same adapted for packaging different numbers of pellets.

Referring to the drawings an elongated cylindrical hollow barrel is mounted at its forward end 12 to an annular shoulder 14 integral with the inner end 16 of an elongated transparent pellet magazine or clip holder 18 so that holder 18 is disposed perpendicularly to the longitudinal axis of barrel 10 as shown in FIG. l. Oppositely disposed on end 16 of holder 18 relative to the shoulder 14 is a projecting externally threaded vboss 28 and thus arranged, shoulder 14, inner end 16 of the holder 18 and the boss 20 are in longitudinal alignment with each other and in axial alignment with barrel 10. An opening or passageway 22 extends through parts 14, 16 and 20 parallel to the longitudinal axis of barrel 10 and that part of passageway 22 through the inner end 16 of holder 1S serves as a pellet loading chamber 24 as will later appear. A hypodermic type needle 26 is removably mounted in the opening 22 through boss 20 by a suitable se 3,825,953 Patented Mar. 20, 1952 nut 28 and lock ring 30 in a well known manner so as to register with chamber 24.

Within barrel 10 and slidable longitudinally therein is a plunger rod assembly designated generally by the numeral 32 (FIG. 2). This includes a block member 34 which carries a plunger rod 36 projecting therefrom in axial alignment with barrel 10 and toward the forward end 12 of the barrel. Rod 36 is positioned to register with passageway 22 so as to move therein and through needle 26 to approximately the point end 38 thereof. Mounted also in block 34 so as to extend oppositely to rod 36 and toward the rear end 40 of barrel 10 is a rod 42 which carries an enlarged head or cap 44 attached to a compression spring 46. The rearward end 48 of spring 46 abuts a cap or plug 58 serving as a closure for the rearward end 40 of barrel 10 which is removably held in place by a screw 52. A leaf spring member 54 attached at one end to block 34 by a screw 56 (PIG. 2) is provided with an upturned shoulder 58 on its rearward end relative to the rear of barrel 10. A control button consisting of a knob portion 60 with integral stem 62 has the stem 62 threadably engaged with spring 54 so that knob 60 is disposed on the outer surface of barrel 1) and stem 62 is movable longitudinally of the barrel 10 in an elongated slot 64 formed in the barrel wall and extending longitudinally on the forward portion thereof. At the rearward end of slot 64 a catch or hook 66 extends slightly into the interior of the barrel 10i. Plunger assembly 32 is manually operated lby an operator placing a finger on knob 60 and moving it rearwardly until shoulder 58 of spring 54 engages catch 66 as shown in FIG. 2. In this position the compression spring 46 is compressed and the assembly is cocked ready for use. A slight pressure on knob 60 will depress spring 54 sufficiently to disengage shoulder 58 from catch 66 and assembly 32 can either be permitted to forcibly move forward under expansion of spring 46 or by maintaining linger tip control of knob 62 it can be eased forwardly, if desired.

The pellet clip holder 18 is provided on its forward side (FIG. 3) with a longitudinal slo-t 68 that communicates at the inner end portion 16 with chamber 24 in passageway 22 and extends through the outer end 70 thereof. Slot 68 as formed divides the forward side of holder 18 into the spaced Segments or walls 72 and 74. A plate or guard 76 is secured to wall 72 by screws 78 so as to extend across a portion of slot 68 intermediate the ends thereof and engage wall 74 as shown in FIG. 3. Wall 74 is provided with a longitudinal hole 88 communicating with end 70' and terminating approximately mid-way toward holder end 16. A coil spring 81 is disposed in hole 88 being secured at the bottom thereof by a screw 82 and at the other end projects beyond holder end 70 where it is attached to the short end of an L shaped follower member 84 adapted for use with the pellet magazine or clip indicated generally by the numeral 86 (FIGS. 4, 5 and 6) which will now be described.

The magazine 86 is basically an elongated box-like hollow body that is rectangular in cross section `and is adapted to hold `a supply of preferably cylindrical shaped pellets 88 which are fed into the loading chamber 24 when the magazine is positioned in slot 68 of holder 18 as will later appear. These magazines 86 are pre-packaged ready for use and are of a novel construction to permit of efficient packaging and of packaging of diierent numbers of pellets for commerical uses. They comprise an elongated body member 90 which is C shaped or of channel formation in cross section so `as to provide the longitudinal pellet chamber 92 (FIGS. 5 and 6) which communicates with the respective top and bottom ends thereof, 94' and 96 and which is recessed between the oppositely disposed shoulders 98 and 100. A supply of 3 preferably cylindrical shaped pellets are placed in the lower end of chamber 92 as shown and an elongated flat stop 102 is slid into chamber 92 from the top to abut the uppermost pelle-t and thus keep them from moving out of place. Stop 102 which is preferably made of plastic is provided with a transverse groove or scored as at 164 intermediate its ends so that it can be easily broken in two at such point to leave only the shorter upper part as shown in FIG. 6. In this way, the entire length of stop 102 is used when a small supply of pellets 88 are packaged as shown in FIG. 5 and the lower portion is broken olf when a larger supply is used as shown in FIG. 6. As a practical matter we use ten pellets for the small supply and twenty-four for the large supply but it will be understood that this is merely a matter of choice and can be varied. The upper end of stop 102 projects beyond the upper end 94 of the magazine S6 where it can Y be manually grasped for removal. With the pellets packed as described, a flat elongated cover plate 106 is slid into place on shoulders and 19d and provides a closure over the pellets and chamber 92. A capy 103 is slipped over the bottom end 96 of the magazine 86 to keep the pellets from falling out and thus arranged, the magazine is loaded as shown in FIG. 4 and ready for use in our injector when needed.

To lad this injector, the magazine 36 is inverted so that end 96 is up and cap 10S is removed. Holder 1S is positioned with end 70 down and the magazine is then slid into slo-t 68, being held therein by guard 76. Gnce the magazine is thus installed, the holder 18 is righted, stop 192 manually removed, and the long arm of follower 84 is placed in chamber 92 in place of stop 102. Thus loaded, the lowerrnost pellet 38 will enter chamber 24 ready for ejection and follower 84 will urge successive pellets into such chamber as pellets are ejected, iri respective of the position in which the injector is held. in loading magazine 86 as described, it is immaterial 'whether cover 105 is placed adjacent holder walls 72 or 774 andwhichever way it is inserted, one of the oppositely projecting finger grip anges 110 at the top end 94 will project beyond the holder 18 (FIG. l) where it can be grasped for Withdrawal.

As mentioned above, holder 18 is transparent and while we have preferably made it entirely so, it is sufiicient if only the inner end 16 is of transparent material so as to provide a window making chamber 24 visible 'at all times. By' providing such a window means, it is 'possible to see the pellet 88 in the loading chamber 24 ready for ejectionthrough needle 26 by the plunger rod 36. As the rod 36 moves through chamber 24, it forces the pellet therein into the needle and the length of rod 36A is sufficient to push the pellet out of the needle when it is subcutaneously injected. When rod 36 is Withdrawn by re-coclting assembly 32 as described, follower S4 will move the column of pellets until one is seated in chamber V24. The spring action of follower 84 assures the reloading of chamber 24 irrespective of the angular position of the magazine and holder and does not depend on gravity as `is true of many similar devices. The rearward end portion of barrel 1G which serves as a handle for grasping the injector may be knurled 112 for obvious reasons.

=l-t is submitted that the invention shown and described is aptly suited to achieve the purposes intended and is characterized by a combination of highly useful and mutually cooperating elements that combine their respective and proportionate functions in accomplishing the objects sought to be obtained.

It will be understood that the phraseology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not for limitation and that modifications and changes in the construction and arrangement of this invention can be made within the scope of what is claimed, Without departing from the spirit and purpose thereof. It is thus intended to .cover by the claims, any modified forms of structure or 4e' mechanical equivalents which may be reasonably included within their scope.

We claim: l. A pellet magazine for use with a pel-let injector,

,comprising an elongated body member channel shaped `in cross section to dene a chamber, oppositely disposed inwardly extending shoulders on the respective channel sides and co-extensive in length therewith, a cover member removably seated on said sho-ulders for enclosing said chamber, a removable cap on one end of said body member to limit the movement of pellets in one direction and to secure said cover member to said body member until said body member is placed in operation, a stop member longitudinally movable in said channel at the other end of said body member to limit the movement of pellets in the opposite direction, and said stop member projecting from said body member for grasping in removing the same at times.

2. A pellet magazine for use with a pellet injector, comprisingan elongated body member having a longitudinal channel co-eX-tensive with its length to define a charnber, a removable cover for enclosing said chamber, a removable cap on one end of said body member to limit the movement of pellets in one direction and to secure said cover until said body member is placed in operation, an elongated stop member longitudinally movable in said chamber at the other end of said body member to limit the movement of pellets in the opposite direction, said stop member projecting from said body member for grasping in removing the same at times, said stop member being scored transversely of its longitudinal axis intermediate its ends whereby it can be severed and used as defined with a shortened length, said severance providing a predetermined variance in the length of said stop member and a corresponding variance in the area of said chamber occupied thereby so that a variance in the number of pellets to be placed in said channel can be accomplished.

3. A pellet magazine for use with a pellet injector, comprising an elongated body member having a longitudinal channel co-extensive with its length to define a chamber, `a removable cover for enclosing said chamber, a removable cap on one end of said body member to limit the movement of pellets in one direction and to secure said cover until said body member is placed in operation, a stop member longitudinally movable in said chamber, said stop member being adjustable as to length and removably disposed in said chamber at the other end of said body member to limit the movement of pellets in the opposite direction.

4. A pellet magazine for use with a pellet injector, comprising an elongated body member having a longitudinal channel co-extensive with its length, a removable cap on one end of said body member to limit the movement of pellets in one direction until the magazine is placed in operation, lengthwise adjustable stop means removably disposed in said channel at the other end of said body member to limit the movement of pellets in the opposite direction, said stop means being complementary in cross section to said channel, and a cover member on said body member for enclosing said channel.

5. A pellet supply clip, comprising an elongated body member channel shaped in cross section to dene a longitudinal chamber co-extensive with its length, a removable cover intermediate and engaging the sides of said channel for enclosing said chamber, a removable cap enclosing one end of said chamber and one end of said cover, an elongated removable rigid stop complementary in cross section to and longitudinally movable in the other end of said chamber to enclose the same, and said stop being transversely scored to be easily severable and thereby adjustable to a predetermined shortened length to provide a selective variance in the area of said chamber which it will occupy.

6. In a pellet magazine construction, an elongated box-like holder provided with a transverse passageway at one end and a longitudinal slot perpendicular to and in communication with said passageway, a guard across said slot, an elongated body member defining a charnber open on each end and on one longitudinal side, a removable cover on said open side, said body member removably disposed in said holder so that one end of said chamber is in communication with said passageway, said cover being secured against movement relative to said body member by said guard, a movable stop in the other end of said chamber, and a spring loaded follower on said holder engageable with said stop.

7. In a pellet magazine construction, an elongated box-like holder provided with a transverse passageway at one end and a longitudinal slot perpendicular to and in communication with said passageway, a guard across said slot, an elongated body member defining a chamber open on each end and on one longitudinal side, a removable cover on said open side, said body member removably disposed in said holder so that one end of said chamber is in communication with said passageway, Said cover being secured against movement relative to said body member by said guard, an elongated stop longitudinally movable in the other end of said 6 chamber, said stop being scored transversely of its longitudinal axis intermediate its ends whereby it can be easily severed to provide a predetermined shortened length thereof and a corresponding variance in the area of said chamber occupied thereby, `and a spring loaded follower on said holder engageable with said stop.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,262,732 Andrews Apr. 16, 1918 1,347,622 Deininger July 27, 1920 1,486,445 Mayol Mar. 11, 1924 1,933,596 MacLean Nov. 7, 1933 1,958,524 Tooker May 15, 1934 2,366,053 Putter Dec. 26, 1944 2,530,127 Kltbck Nov. 14, 1950 2,620,796 Eriksen et al Dee. 9, 1952 2,632,444 Kas Mar. 24, 1953 2,659,369 Lipman Nov. 17, 1953 2,761,446 Reed Sept. 4, 19'56 FORETGN PATENTS 521,971 Great Britain June 5, 1940

Images