Tick removal device comprising electrically heated retractable tweezers

A device for removing a tick attached to an animal or person having a tweezer with first and second tweezer arms disposed within a casing, such tweezer arms movable within first and second channels defined on the inside of the casing with the front tips of the tweezer arms extendible and retractable through an opening in the front of the casing, the channels tapering inwardly to direct the tips of the tweezer arms together as they pass through the opening. A power source is provided which can be a battery disposed within the casing and interconnected to the first and second tweezer arms. An electrical circuit is completed when the tweezer arms are in their forward advanced position extending out the opening of the casing to heat the tweezer arms and the tick grasped therebetween.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
The device of this invention resides in the area of devices for removing 
ticks from animals and people and more particularly relates to an 
extendible and retractable tweezer disposed in a casing which tweezer, 
upon extension, automatically grips the tick and heats up to cause the 
tick to release its grip. 
2. Description of the Prior Art 
There are many hand tools which use heated tweezer-like elements for 
removing a tick from the skin of an animal. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 
4,213,460 to Weiner discloses forceps with an electrical current passing 
therethrough to provide heat with the forceps having oppositely aligned 
cup-shaped members to surround and remove the tick. U.S. Pat. No. 
4,979,771 to Childs, III also discloses the use of cup members at the end 
of tweezer-like elements to surround the tick. U.S. Pat. No. 5,276,306 to 
Huffman teaches the use of a heated needle which, when poked into the 
tick, causes the tick to release its grip, and the tick can then be 
scooped off the skin by a spoon member disposed below the needle. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It is an object of this invention to provide a convenient and effective 
device to remove a tick attached to the skin of an animal or person, such 
device incorporating a heated tweezer which device utilizes an internal 
battery as a source of power for such heat or which can be plugged into 
normal house current by a cord. In the tick removal device of this 
invention the tweezer is disposed within a casing such that the tweezer 
arms slide within inwardly tapered channels formed on the interior of the 
casing and are disposed so that as they pass through an opening in the 
front of the casing, the tweezer arms are forced together by the shape of 
the channels to lock onto the tick. As the tweezer arms come together and 
close on the tick, an electrical circuit is completed within the casing 
which allows electrical current to flow to, and heat, the two tweezer arms 
which, in turn, heat the tick to cause it to release its grip on the 
animal or person. 
It is a further object of this invention to provide a heated tick removal 
device, the heated tweezer arms of which are substantially shielded both 
from the user's hands and from the animal from which the tick is to be 
removed.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT(S) 
FIG. 1 illustrates a top cross-sectional view of the tick removal device 10 
of this invention showing a pair of metal, thin and flexible tweezer arms 
being first tweezer arm 12 and second tweezer arm 14 which are disposed 
within casing 18. Casing 18 has a hollow interior, the front of which 
tapers to opening 20. The shape of the device in a preferred embodiment 
can be elongated and bullet-shaped for ease of handling although other 
shapes can be utilized. The first ends of the tweezer arms can be pointed 
to grasp the tick and are aimed toward opening 20 at front portion 44 of 
the casing. The rearwardly disposed second ends of the tweezer arms are 
attached to slide member 16 which is slideably fitted within casing 18. 
Shaft 30 is attached to slide member 16 and extends upwards through 
longitudinal slot 34 formed in the top of the casing as better seen in 
FIG. 2. Push knob 32 is disposed on top of shaft 30 and is manually 
movable forward and backward. Forward movement of push knob 32 is 
indicated in FIG. 2 by the direction of the arrow from the solid line 
depiction to the dotted line depiction. First and second tweezer arms 12 
and 14 of the tweezer ride, respectively, within inwardly tapered first 
and second channels 52 and 54, as seen in FIG. 5, formed on opposite sides 
of the interior wall of casing 18 such that they are always aligned with 
one another. First and second channels 52 and 54 taper inwardly toward 
opening 20. As push knob 32 is advanced, it moves attached shaft 30 within 
slot 34 which, in turn, advances slide member 16 which moves attached 
second ends of the tweezer arms forward, causing the front first ends of 
the tweezer arms to emerge from opening 20 and start to come together. The 
inwardly tapering first and second channels 52 and 54 positioned opposite 
to one another force the pointed first ends of the tweezer arms to 
precisely come together to grip tick 50 as seen in FIG. 4. 
Heat can be provided to the tweezer arms as described below. As seen in 
FIG. 2 electrical contact is made to first pole 24 of a power source, such 
as battery 22 which is located in the rear portion of the casing, by 
electrical wires 28 and 29 which are, respectively, attached to first and 
second tweezer arms 12 and 14. Power from a house current wall plug, for 
example, can also be used through a step-down transformer not shown but 
well known as a power source. Electrical wire 42 extends from second pole 
26 of the battery to an activation contact 40 which is disposed on the 
inside of the casing near the front of slot 34 which activation contact 40 
makes contact with a second contact 36 attached by electrical wires 38 and 
39 to second tweezer arm 14 and first tweezer arm 12, respectively, such 
that when the tweezer is in an advanced position with push knob 32 moved 
forward, second contact 36 moves against activation contact 40 which 
completes the circuit through battery 22, causing the heating of the 
tweezer arms, each of which contains an upper wire 15 and lower wire 17, 
as seen for example in tweezer arm 14 in FIG. 2, connected near their tips 
by a ni-chrom coil 19 which heats when the circuit is completed as, for 
example, through electrical wire 29 connected to lower wire 17, and 
electrical wire 38 connected to upper wire 15. 
As seen in FIG. 5, first and second channels 52 and 54 can be formed within 
the interior walls of casing 18, and they taper inwardly toward one 
another on opposite sides of the interior wall of casing 18 to cause the 
tweezer arms to be perfectly aligned opposite to one another as they move 
forward through opening 20 to come toward one another to grasp the tick 
such that the heat in each tweezer arm causes the tick to release its 
grip. As seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, spring 46 can pull slide member 16 
rearwards when push knob 32 is released to quickly retract the tips of the 
tweezer arms back into the casing. 
Although the present invention has been described with reference to 
particular embodiments, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art 
that variations and modifications can be substituted therefor without 
departing from the principles and spirit of the invention.