Improvements in Ringing Bulls and other animals.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 6th Jan., 1898
Complete Specification Left, 28th Feb., 1898-Accepted, 14th May, 1898
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Ringing Bulls and other animals.
GEORGE HUNTER TYSON, Farmer, Billincoat, Dalton-in-Furness, Lancashire, do
hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
My invention relates to an improved and painless method of ringing bulls and
other animals. My improvement consists in a ring made of iron, steel or the like
without welding or fastening the ends of the circle or ring (of iron, steel or the
like) together except with pressure by tongs or pincers. After the circle or ring
is formed it is opened sufficiently wide to admit of its being inserted into the
nostrils of the bull or other animal-before closeing-The ring after being inserted
into the nostrils is closed by means of a strong pair of tongs or pincers, thereby
forming a ring by which the animal may be led about or fastened up in its stall
in the same way and under as much control as by the ordinary bull ring-But
doing away with the usual cruel and painful operation of piercing or punching
a hole through the cartilage of the nose as for ordinary ring.
The rings are made of iron, steel or the like with rounded ends to prevent pain
to the animal by cutting the flesh in the nose-The rings may also be made flat
ended, concave or convex so as to act with greater severity and give more control
over the bull or other animal should it be unruly or restive.
The tongs or pincers are made of iron, steel, or the like, with a circular lip or
mouthpiece slightly grooved in the inside so as to hold the ring in position, whilst
closeing it inside the nostrils of the animal.
The ring is placed before ringing in the mouth of the tongs or pincers and the
handles of the tongs are held together by means of a spring or the like fastened
to one of the handles, and a projection or catch on the other handle to loop the
spring onto so as to give a slight grip on the ring and hold it in position whilst
inserting the ring and lips or mouthpiece of the tongs into the nostrils before
closeing the ring by pressing the handles of the tongs together, thereby completing
the ringing of the bull or other animal.
Dated this Fifth day of January 1808
гаргоусщение ug Dun а ner niтить.
I, GEORGE HUNTER TYSON, of Billincoat, Dalton-in-Furness, in the County of
Lancaster, Farmer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
[Price 8d.]

page_text: manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement:-
This invention relates to an improved and practically painless method of ringing
bulls and other animals. The ring can be made of iron, steel, aluminium or other
strong yielding and comparatively unelastic metal, is not welded or fastened at the
ends, in fact the ring at start is more in the form of a horse shoe and is closed by
pressure by means of tongs or pincers. The ends are sufficiently wide apart to
admit of their being inserted into the nostrils of the bull or other animal before
closing. After being inserted they are closed by means of a special form of tongs
or pincers thereby forming them into a nearly closed ring. By this arrangement
the cruel and painful operation of piercing or punching a hole in the cartilage of
the nose as for ordinary rings is done away with, and thus the very large amount
of suffering saved to the animal together with the avoidance of all chance of blood
poisoning. Further with the ordinary ring the animal suffers for a very consider-
able time after the iron or steel ring has been inserted and as the sore caused by
passing the ring through the cartilage after healing becomes hard, the ring being
loose in the hole, a twitch on it has comparatively little effect on the bull. With
my ring however, which has preferably swelled ends, it does not pass through the
cartilage but if desired by giving it a slight twist the ends may be pressed against
the cartilage so as to give a person more control over the animal if unruly when
being led about. The rings may be made flat ended concave ended or convex
ended so as to act with greater severity and give more control over the bull or
other animal should it be unruly or restive. In practice I at present prefer to have
them flat, but rounded on the edges or very slightly convex. The accompanying
drawings illustrate the tongs or apparatus for closing the ring and also the ring
itself.
Figure 1 shows a general view of the tongs with ring in their jaws;
Figure 2, section through a b of Figure 1:
Figure 3, a ring by itself as made ready for ringing;
Figure 4, the ring when closed.
In these, A A are the jaws of the tongs curved to suit the form of ring and also
hollowed out as shown clearly in Figure so as to fit the ring. B is the ring.
Ca stop pivoted at c to one of the shanks D of the tongs and so formed as to pro-
vide two or more stops of different lengths and has for its object to prevent the
ring being closed beyond a certain limit, for instance as shown on the drawing,
if the shanks D D be pressed together in order to close the ring, the shank 1
will come against the stop C when the ring has been sufficiently closed. By plac-
ing the stop with the required face in such position as to come in contact with the
shank 1) it is quite impossible to close a ring beyond the right point, consequently
there is no fear of crushing or injuring the cartilage of the bull or other animal.
If it be required to use a smaller ring, the stop C is turned into the position shown
in dotted lines which will allow of the shanks of the tongs coming closer together.
E is a steel spring which is preferably placed as shown and in tension so that when
placed thus it naturally holds the ring securely in the jaws so that the operator
need not fear the ring falling out while he is adjusting it in the nostrils of the
animal. The spring is fixed at one end, but held by a hook, pin or stud at the
other end, sc that it can be attached at that end with ease, and thus the ring can
be taken out of the tongs with greater facility.
The mode of operation is as follows:-
The bull being firmly held the operator takes the tongs with the ring in posi
tion as shown and inserts the ring in the nostrils. He then after seeing that the
right stop is in position firmly presses the handles or shanks towards each other
and thus closes the ring so as to nearly touch the cartilage. He now removes the
tongs and the animal is ringed and from my experiments I find that the bull is
at once ready to feed and seems in no way inconvenienced by the ring whereas
when a bull is ringed with the ordinary ring he will refuse food for days often,

page_text: owing to the intense pain caused by piercing the cartilage of the nose, it then being
in such a tender state.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
1. The improvement in the process of ringing bulls which consists in using an
open ring of a strong yielding and comparatively unelastic metal and pressing the
ring into the nearly closed position in the nostrils of the animal substantially as
described.
2. The improved ring for ringing animals formed open and with the two ends
enlarged and rounded at their edges but with flat or slightly convex or concave
faces facing each other when nearly closed in the nostrils of the animal.
3. The improved form of tongs applicable for the purpose of ringing bulls or
other animals substantially as herein described and illustrated.
1
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Of 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, Patent Agents for the Applicant.