EAR TAG AND PLIERS

Abstract: A first tag-button 5 has a boss 7 accommodating a heel 15 of a pin 6 to form a shallow protrusion. The corresponding jaw 21 of the pliers has a complementary shallow recess into which the protrusion fits to provide good alignment of the pin 6 with an aperture 3 in the second button supported on the second jaw 22 of the pliers. To further enhance the alignment, clips 32, 42 are pro­ vided on the jaws for pressing the buttons 1, 5 into enga­ gement with their jaws 21, 22. The clips 32, 42 have a limited stroke on the jaws 21, 22 whereby the tag is forceably removed from engagement with the jaws after assembly of the tag and separation of the jaws.

Description: The present invention relates to an ear tag for marking an animal and to a pair of pliers for applying the ear tag. Conventional ear tags for identifying animals are generally made in two parts and constructed so that the two parts can be applied to opposite sides of an animal's ear. Normally the two parts are constructed so that in some manner, they interlock, once a hole has been punched through the ear. This can be effected by using pliers. Normally the first part of the tag is constructed with a pointed pin which makes the hole in the ear, and then locates in an aperture in the second part of the tag, when the pliers are closed. These 'two piece' tags, including two buttons, have been known for some time. They are either constructed of rigid material which may be hard plastics material or metal. Such a tag is described in British Patent No. 894,143. Alternatively the tag may be of flexible material normally soft plastics material. An advantage of buttons made of rigid material is that they are easy to apply with pliers. A pointed pin is strongly and rigidly fixed to the first button and its point does not therefore need to be specially guided through the ear and into the aperture of the second button, since the flat underside of the stiff button has a comparatively large area and aligns the point by cooperation with the supporting jaw of the pliers. Also, the pointed pin is strong enough to punch the hole in the ear without other assistance, when the pliers are closed. However a strong disadvantage of buttons made of rigid material is that by being rigid and necessarily of a flat or disc shape, they become easily caught on barb wire or fences for instance, where the hard flat surfaces cannot EAR TAG AND PLIERS come free. The buttons then break, or actually tear from the ear, causing injury to the animal. In both cases the animal is also no longer marked. An advantage of buttons made of flexible material is that the risk of the buttons becoming caught on fences is greatly reduced. The flexible nature of the button allows the part which is snagged, to bend or 'give' so that it comes free without damage. However a strong disadvantage of this type of ear button is the well known difficulty in applying the button to the ear of the animal. As the material is flexible, it is difficult to adequately guide the pointed part so that it locates directly in the female part of the second button. Further, nor in the first place can the pointed part, without being given assistance, be made to punch the hole in the ear of the animal. Two types of pliers are known for applying these flexible buttons. The first known type, described in British Patent No. 1394268, is constructed with a rigid metal rod affixed on one of the opposed faces of the jaws of the pliers. This rod is pushed through the pointed, pin of the male part of the button and the rigid rod then performs the function of guiding the male button in the correct direction and gives stability for punching the hole. These rods may be pointed or be of blunt form depending on the construction of the male part of the button. A disadvantage of this fixed rod system is that after the button has been applied to the ear, the rigid rod affixed to the jaw of the pliers has to be withdrawn from the male button. This is in a direction at right angles to that at which the animal normally pulls away from the user. The animal is in pain and always moves violently. Thus, the removal of the tag (and ear) from the pliers is difficult and hazardous. The second known type of pliers, described in British Patent No. 1485847, for applying buttons made of flexible material utilizes a detachable rigid metal rod inserted in the first part of the tag, leaving the rod protruding from the back of the first button. This first - male - part and the rod are then located on a first jaw of the pliers with the rod locating in a hole in the jaw. The rod then gives the necessary guidance to the button as with the first type of pliers. A disadvantage of the detachable rod system is that after the tag has been applied, the rod may not come easily free from the jaw of the pliers and in any event, after this, the metal rod must be immediately removed from the tag. The removal of the metal rod is not without difficulty or danger, as all animals on feeling the pain after having ears pierced are nervous and frightened and the larger animals i.e. cattle and pigs cannot readily be held securely enough for the pin to be grasped and pulled out. The advantages of flexible buttons can be achieved by using a rigid pin between two flexible buttons. Such a tag was proposed in British Patent No. 1320454 and more recently in European Patent Application No. 0031227. However such tags suffer from problems of alignment of the rigid pin with the aperture in the second button, into which the head of the pin must pass after piercing the animal's ear. For aiding alignment it was found necessary with the tag described in European Patent Application No. 0031227 to use the disadvantageous rigid metal rod fixed in the pliers as in British Patent No. 1394268. A further proposal is described in British Patent No. 1372769 where rigid plastic buttons are used in conjunction with a rigid plastic pin. The pin is pivotally connected to the first button. This pivotal connection compounds the difficulty of applying this tag to an animal's ear. None of these three-part tags have been widely used in contrast to the two two-part tags having metal stiffening rods. The object of the present invention is to provide a three-part tag, and corresponding pliers, with which the problem of alignment on application is alleviated. According to one aspect of the invention, an ear tag comprises a first button of flexible plastics material, a pin of rigid plastics material to which the first button is initially attached prior to application of the tag, the pin having a heel portion at the first-button end of the pin, and a second button of flexible plastics material which is initially separate from the pin prior to application of the tag, the first button having a boss on its side remote from the point of the pin which boss includes a seat on which the heel portion of the pin registers, the boss and heel portion cooperating to provide a shallow solid protrusion which is engageable in a complementary shallow recess in the first jaw of the application pliers for guiding the point of the pin to engage in the second button. Preferably the boss includes an annular rim which peripherally surrounds the heel of the pin, the rim being of such height that with the heel pressed firmly onto the seat, the outer surface of the heel and of the annular rim are flush. The advantage of the annular rim, flush with the outer surface of the heel, is that the effective diameter of the heel for the purposes of alignment of the pin is increased. At the same time the actual diameter of the heel can be reduced to not much greater than the diameter of the shank of the pin. This in turn is of advantage in avoiding the heel of the pin becoming caught in fence wire. A further advantage of the annular rim of the boss is that it protects the hard heel from abrasion against walls. Furthermore it is advantageous if the pin is a tight radial fit in the first button where it passes through it and in the annular rim where provided. This tight radial fit causes the material of the boss to be compressed if for any reason the pin is misaligned when in the recess in the jaw. The boss material being resilient, the pin tends to become realigned. According to another aspect of the invention, a pair of ear-tag pliers comprises a pair of jaws, the first jaw being adapted to support the first button and the pin during application of the ear tag and the second jaw being adapted to support the second button, the first jaw having a shallow recess complementary to a shallow protrusion on the first button comprised of the boss and the heel of the pin, the recess engaging the periphery and outer face of the protrusion for guiding the pin to engage in the second button on application of the tag. Preferably the first jaw includes means for pressing on the first button and attached pin to urge the protrusion into the recess. The pressing means assists in ensuring that the pin is correctly aligned. The alignment of the pin may be further assured by provision of guiding means in the pressing means for guiding the pin. Preferably the guiding means is a Ushaped slot engageable at the bottom of the U around half the periphery of the pin adjacent the first button, the U being open towards the free end of the first jaw. Preferably the second jaw is provided with pressing means, similar to that of the first jaw, for urging the second button into engagement with the second jaw, the second pressing means having a limited stroke whereby when, on release of the jaws after application of the ear tag, the jaws open under influence of a strong pliers spring, the tag is forceably removed from engagement of the protrusion in the recess. Normally both pressing means will have limited strokes whereby after application the tag is forceably removed from both jaws, whereupon the assembled tag is free to move axially of the jaws leaving the pliers. The invention has the advantage of enabling flexiblebutton ear tags to be used without a steel stiffening pin. Further, positive removal of the assembled tag therefrom ensures that the tag can be quickly released from the pliers once it has been assembled to the ear. Thus the animal is quickly released and the whole application of the ear tag can be quick and humane. To help understanding of the invention, an ear tag and a pair of ear-tag pliers in accordance with the invention are now described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a plan view of an initially free second button of the tag, Figure 2 is a plan view of the first button initially attached to its pin, Figure 3 is a sectional view on the line III-III in Figure 2, Figure 4 is a view similar to Figure 3 of the tag assembled and applied to an ear, Figure 5 is a side view of the pliers with the tag ready for assembly, Figure 6 is a similar view showing the pliers closed to the point of assembly, Figure 7 is a further similar view showing the pliers released for withdrawal of the assembled tag, and Figures 8 and 9 are scrap views in the directions of arrows VIII and IX in Figure 7 showing the position of the buttons on the pliers. Referring first to Figures 1 to 4 the initially free second button 1 has a boss 2 with an aperture 3 having a larger diameter mouth 4 on one side. The first button 5 having the pin 6 initially attached has a similar boss 7, aperture 8 and mouth 9. The pin 6 has a shank 10 provided with circumferential grooves 11,12 at either end. A point 13 is provided at one end with a head 14 of larger diameter than the shank 10, and a heel disc 15 is provided at the other end with a diameter the same as that of the head 14. The buttons 1,5 are of relatively soft plastics material normally of polyurethane whereas the pin 6 is of relatively hard plastics material normally of polycarbonate. Initially the pin 6 is attached to the first button 5 by being forced in until the heel 15 occupies the mouth 9 and the button material at the aperture 8 occupies the groove 12. The button material is a snug tight fit on the pin both at the groove 12 and where the annular rim 7' of the boss 7 peripherally surrounds the heel 15. With the heel 15 firmly registering on the seat 9' in the mouth 9, the outer face of the annular rim 7" and the outer face of the heel 15' are flush. On assembly on to an ear 16, the point 13 pierces a hole 17 in the ear and is forced through the aperture 3 in the initially free second button until the head 14 occupies the mouth 4 and the button material at the aperture 3 occupies the groove 11. Engagement of the head 14 and heel 15 in the mouths 4,9 ensures that the tag does not become dis-assembled in use. Turning now to Figure 5, the pliers are of the parallel action type. Handles 18,19 are pivoted together at pivot pin 20 and pivoted to respective first and second jaws 21,22 at pivot pins 23,24. The handle ends of the jaws have grooves 25,26 receiving pins 27,28 fixed in the handles at the same radius from the pivot pin 20 as the pivot pins 23,24 whereby the jaws 21,22 remain parallel as the handles are closed. A strong main spring 29 is provided around the pivot pin 20 to urge the jaws 21, 22 apart on release of the handles. The free ends of the jaws are adapted to hold the buttons 1,5. Each jaw has a shallow recess 30,31 dimensioned in depth and diameter to receive the bosses 2,7. The recess 30 in the first jaw 21 is flat bottomed for receiving the flush outer faces 7",15' of the boss 7 and heel 15 whereby the pin 6 is oriented to point directly at the aperture 3 in the button 1 held on the second jaw 22. A pressure clip 32 is provided to retain the button 5 and pin 6 in position. The clip 32 is in the form of a strap surrounding the jaw 21. Side grooves 33 in the jaws guide sides 34 of the clip for movement transversely of the jaw, towards or away from the jaw 22. The sides 34 are bridged by an abutment plate 35 which extends partially across the recess 30 and which in use abuts the inside surface 36 of the boss 7. A cut-out 37 in the plate 35 is dimensioned to fit snugly half-way around the shank 10, see Figure 8. The sides 34 of the clip are turned in at 38 into a cross-cut 39 at the back of the jaw 21 and captivate a compression spring 40 located in a recess 41 in the jaw 21. The spring 40 acts to urge the abutment plate 35 towards the recess 30 whereby the protrusion formed by the boss 7 and the heel 15 of the pin is urged into firm contact with the flat bottom of the recess 30 and the pin is held in its correct orientation. This orientation is further ensured by engagement of the cut-out 37 with the shank 10. A similar pressure clip 42, with a spring 43, is provided on the jaw 22 for retaining the button 1. There are the minor differences that the abutment plate 44 of the clip 42 engages on the flat of the button 1 around its boss 2, thus the cut-out 45, see Figure 9, is larger than the cut-out 37s and that spring 43 is longer thmn the spring 40 and the sides 44a are longer than the sides 34 to allow a longer stroke of the clip 42 for clearing the point 13, see below. The recess 31 does not have a flat bottom but is continued at a smaller diameter 45 to accommodate the point 13. Orientation of the second button 1 is less critical than that of the first button 5 and pin 6, nevertheless clip 42 securely holds the button 1 with its boss 2 in the recess 31. However the recess 31 forms a sufficiently wide step to support the boss 2 when the point 13 is forced through the aperture 3. For mounting the buttons to their positions shown in Figure 5 guides 46 in the opposed surfaces of the jaws at their remote ends 47 are provided for guiding the bosses back into the shallow recesses 30,31 on axial insertion of the buttons from the remote ends 47 of the jaws when clips 32,42 are pulled in against their springs 40,43. In order for the recesses to be effective, the guides are shallower even than the recesses. When mounted, the flats of the buttons lie, against the opposed faces of the jaws. Figure 6 shows the handles 18,19 having been closed to their position where the point 13 has passed through the aperture 3 and the buttons are assembled together, the point 13 having entered into the bore 45. Figure 7 shows the position at which the assembled tag is free to move axially of the jaws in the direction of the arrow A on release of the handles. The main spring 29 overcomes the compression springs 40,43 whereby the jaws 21,22 are pulled away from the buttons 5,1 with the bosses 7,2 leaving the recesses 30,31. The second button 1 has to move further transversely of the second jaw 22 than the first button 5 before being free to move axially because the point 13 has to clear the recess 31. The invention is not intended to be restricted to the details of the above specific emodiment. For instance the end surface of the disc 15 and the bottom of the recess 30 need not both be flat provided that they co-operate to correctly orient the pin 6. A further advantage of the particular shape of the cut-out 37 is that it abuts the shank 10 at both sides, and thus provides lateral guidance for the point 13. Lateral alignment of the point 13 with the aperture 8 is relatively more difficult to achieve than alignment longitudinally of the jaws.

Claims: Claims 1. An ear tag for marking an animal by application to the animal's ear with a pair of application pliers, the tag comprising : a first button (5) of flexible plastics material, a pin (6) of rigid plastics material to which the first button (5) is initially attached prior to application of the tag, the pin (6) having a heel portion (15) at the first-button end of the pin (6) and a point (13) at the second-button end of the pin, and a second button (1) of flexible plastics material which is initially separate from the pin (6) prior to application of the tag, the first button (5) having a boss (7) on its side remote from the point (13) of the pin (6), which boss (7) includes a seat (9') on which the heel portion (15) of the pin (6) registers, the boss (7) and the heel portion (15) cooperating to provide a shallow solid protrusion (7,15) which is engageable in a complementary shallow recess (30) in the first jaw (21) of the application pliers for guiding the point (13) of the pin (6) to engage in the second button (1). 2. An ear tag as claimed in claim 1 wherein the boss (7) includes an annular rim (7') which peripherally surrounds the heel (15) of the pin (6), the rim (7') being of such height that with the heel (15) pressed firmly onto the seat (9') the outer surfaces (15',7") of the heel (15) and of the annular rim (7') are flush. 3. An ear tag as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the pin (6) is a tight radial fit in the first button (5) where it passes through the first button (5) and in the annular rim (7) where provided. 4. An ear tag as claimed in claim 1, claim 2 or claim 3 wherein the second button (1) has a boss (2) similar to that of the first button (5) on the side thereof remote from the first button (5). 5. A pair of ear-tag pliers for applying an ear tag to an animal's ear, the ear tag having a first button and an initially attached pin and a second button, the first button having a boss, on its side remote from the pin, with a seat on which a heel of the pin registers, the pliers comprising a pair of jaws (21,22), the first jaw (21) being adapted to support the first button (5) and the pin (6) during application of the ear tag and the second jaw (22) being adapted to support the second button (1), the first jaw (21) having a shallow recess (30) complementary to a shallow protrusion (7,15) on the first button (5) comprised of the boss (7) and the heel (15) of the pin (6), the recess (30) engaging the periphery and outer face of the protrusion for guiding the pin (6) to engage in the second button (1) on application of the tag. 6. A pair of ear-tag pliers as claimed in claim 5 wherein the first jaw (21) includes means (32) for pressing on the first button t5) and attached pin (6) to urge the protrusion (7,15) into the recess (30). 7. A pair of ear-tag pliers as claimed in claim 6 wherein the pressing means (32) includes guiding means (37) for guiding the pin (6) t6 engage in the second button (1) in conjunction with the protrusion (7,15) and the recess (30). 8. A pair of ear-tag pliers as claimed in claim 7 wherein the guiding means (37) is a U-shaped slot (37) engageable at the bottom of the U around with half the periphery of the pin (6) adjacent the first button (5), the U being open towards the free end (47) of the first jaw (21) 9. A pair of ear-tag pliers as claimed in claim 5, claim 6, claim 7 or claim 8 including means (42) for pressing on the second button (1) and urging it into engagement with the second jaw (22), the second jaw pressing means (42) having a limited stroke, whereby when, on release of the jaws after application of the ear tag, the jaws open under influence of a strong pliers spring, the tag is forceably removed from engagement of the protrusion in the recess. 10. A pair of ear-tag pliers as claimed in claim 9 wherein both jaws are provided with limited stroke pressing means whereby after application the tag is forceably removed from both jaws. 11. A pair of ear-tag pliers as claimed in claim 10 wherein the two pressing means (32,42) each comprise a strap (32,42) encircling the respective jaw and a spring (40,43) urging the strap away from the opposite jaw, the portion of the strap on the face of the jaw nearest the other jaw being adapted to engage the respective button and the portion (38) of the strap on the opposite face of the jaw abutting the jaw when the pliers are released after application to remove the tag from the jaws. 12. A pair of ear-tag pliers as claimed in claim 11 wherein the jaws are provided with side grooves (33) for guiding the straps for movement laterally of the jaws. 13. A pair of ear-tag pliers as claimed in any one of claims 5 to 12 wherein the second jaw has a shallow recess (31) for engaging a boss (2) on the second button (1) and an axially extending groove (47) is provided in the opposed face of each jaw for initial guiding of the buttons (5,1) into engagement in the respective shallow recesses (30,31). 14. A pair of ear-tag pliers as claimed in any one of claims 5 to 13 wherein the jaws (21,22) are maintained parallel with each other during use.

Inventors: FROLICH, KARL, Frölich, Karl
Applicants: CAISLEY, ROY
Application year: 1983
Main classification: A01K11
IPC codes: A01K11