Ear tag for marking animals with organic substance sampling system

SAMPLES OF ORGANIC MATTER.

Ear tags for cattle also called hoops are generally composed of a wall with a female head and a wall with a male head. These walls contain identification data.

In the placement made by means of a clamp, the male rod pierces the animal's ear and is housed in the female head where it remains locked so that it cannot be separated from the female. The necessary shore hardness is given by the tip of the clamp that is housed in the hollow section of the stem. Said rod is generally cer rado.

Generally, the female heads that provide greater guarantee of inviolability of the union and therefore of the inviolability of the marking are the closed heads.

The closed heads have a single hole through which the male that is locked, enters through a customary mechanism; by a radial flange, at the back of its acute end, distal with respect to the mark of which it is an irreparable part.

The flange of the stem is locked in the female head with ribs, teeth or other means that, without impeding the penetration of the stem, prevents its withdrawal.

Particularly made as a brand or ear ring, the closed female head is made of a synthetic material, overmolded directly on the wall and equipped with sufficient hardness to hinder its possible perforation or cutting and then act on the end of the stem in order to remove it from the head.

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Currently, the most commonly used ear ear tags are closed head rings.

There are also open head ear marks on the market, they have an acute end penetration hole with a stem flange in an open tubular space, that is, it has a hole at its free end.

The use of ear marks or hoops for marking animals is a widespread practice in all breeding countries to ensure that the origin of breeding animals intended for human consumption can be traced.

These brands and data related to animai are generally centralized in computerized and accessible databases for updating or consultation for all participants: from the chador, the fattening chador, the veterinary services, etc. to the distribution networks ibuciôn.

The search for a maximum of security in the identification of the animal encourages the extraction of organic matter extractions that can be preserved in order to perform a DNA analysis.

WO 99 61882 offers a solution in this regard and proposes a device and a method for sampling organic tissues.

Said patent describes a receptacle for the sample and an extraction instrument that is a punch that is locked in the receptacle with the organic matter obtained.

The receptacle and punch can be associated with a mark of

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ear and present the same marks.

Although the mentioned patent indicates that it is possible to take the sample simultaneously with the placement of the ear tag, there is no technical precision in this regard and it is not evident that it is possible with a single common action.

In any case, the extraction instrument should be placed on the sharp end of one of the arms of the marking pliers and the receptacle, on the other arm of the clamp. Such a possibility is valid only for ear marks with an open head that can be pierced by the punch holder of the clamp and the extraction instrument.

It is known that such ear tags are unsafe and therefore little used.

Patent DE 197 40 429 describes a procedure and a device very similar to the previous one, the use of which is also restricted to open head ear marks.

EP 1 060 662 discloses an ear mark of the aforementioned type in which the male rod has at its end a circular cutting piece and detachable from the rod that is housed in an encapsulation moved by a perforation that reaches the rear face of the head female.

The sec device ùn the patent is not applicable to ear marks for cattle with closed heads.

On the other hand, the larger diameter of the cutting piece hinders the penetration of the male rod into the wall of the ear.

The present invention is directed to make an ear or ring mark

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of marking of animals with a system of extraction and conservation of organic matter that allows the placement of the mark and the extraction in the same operation, being able to be said brand of head open or closed interchangeably.

By simultaneously marking the placement of the ring and the extraction, the risk of improperly affecting the extraction is ruled out as according to the invention, the male rod for fixing the ring on the female head directly participates in the extraction.

For this purpose, the ear mark that, according to the in The marking of animals has a female constituted by a female head included or formed in a first wall, a male constituted by a male stem included or formed in a second wall, identification means placed at least in one of the male elements or female, it is essentially characterized in that the male stem is made up of two separable elements, and that one of them closes in the female head and the other consists of a piece of extraction of organic matter in the passage of the male stem through the wall of the ear, which moves through an axial channel of the previous one and is removed through the wall of the male part after fixing the mark on the ear of the animal.

According to another of the characteristics of the invention:

- the ear mark comprises a female part with a female head and a male part munida of a male rod, said parts contain identification indications.

- the mac stem ho is housed permanently after crossing the ear of the animai inside the female head.

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- the male stem is traversed by an axial channel that ends at the wall and at the end of the stem.

- the tip of the stem is made up of a punch.

- a movable rod goes through the male rod channel.

- the movable rod has a piercing point of the organic matter and a piece of preservation of the material extracted by the punch and said tip is perforated in such a way that the cutting and drilling occur during the journey of the male rod towards the female head , once these are coupled, the mobile rod can be removed from the male rod channel, bringing with it the extra organic matter Ida.

According to another of the characteristics of the invention, the tip of the male rod is provided with a perforated nozzle in its center, said nozzle has a fo The outer rim of the truncated cone and has an axial bore to the stem channel, in the concavity of the truncated cone, the circular edge 12 of said nozzle resulting from the apposition of the two cone trunks defines a projection 12 that forms a punch.

According to another of the features of the invention, the tip 15 of the movable rod in the rod channel has a tip 15 attached to a reduced portion 16 at the back of the head mentioned by an orthogonal flange 17 on the axis of the dipstick.

According to another of the characteristics of the invention, the tip 15 of the piercing rod, at the maximum level of its introduction, exceeds the projection 12 of the punching nozzle.

According to another of the characteristics of the invention, the piercing rod that penetrates the rod has, at the opposite end to the tip, means 14 of

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fixing on one of the clamps of the clamp

According to another of With the characteristics of the invention, the wall of the internal cone trunk of the nozzle forms with the transverse axis an angle between 40 ° and 60 °, preferably 45 °.

According to another of the characteristics of the invention, the ear mark composed of a female part with a female head and a male part with a male rod, both parts with identification means, and the male rod designed to stay permanently, then crossing the animal's ear, in the female head, is essentially characterized in that:

- the male stem is crossed by an axial channel that flows into the wall and at the end of the stem.

- The instrument of extraction of organic matter of mobile installation in the channel of the male rod and separable from the latter is constituted by a hollow needle in the terminal of the fixing means of said extraction instrument on one of the clamps of the clamp coloc ation

According to another of the characteristics of the invention, the extraction instrument has, at the top, a wall (19) provided with identification means comparable to those found in the male and female parts of the mark.

According to another of the characteristics of the invention, at least one of the male or female parts has a wall (1), the identification means associated with one of those parts is contained by said wall.

According to another of the characteristics of the invention, the extraction instrument has, at the top, a means of definitive connection or not with a

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receptacle in which the limb of the extraction instrument and the organic matter extracted are housed.

According to another of the characteristics of the invention, the receptacle in which at least the end of the extraction instrument is housed It contains a means of identification.

According to another of the characteristics of the invention, the identification means are of the visual type. In this way, said identification means may become the form of an inscription with alphabetic or numerical characters or even bar code. The various inscriptions may be identical or different but correlative.

According to another of the characteristics of the invention, at least one of the identification means is composed of a transponder with an electronic identification, for example in the form of an electronic number coupled to one of the elements of the male or female parts and / or the wall (19) and / or the receptacle.

The transponder, for example, will be concealed in the mass of one of the elements of the male or female parts or in the mass of the wall (19) or in the mass of the receptacle, but it may also be associated with the corresponding element by any other means. known, stuck po r example.

The transponder shall be provided with an EPROM ROM memory in which the electronic number and an appropriate transmitter circuit will be registered. The information contained in the memory, for example the number and possibly other useful information for a given application, is read remotely with an appropriate reading device.

Other advantages and characteristics of the invention will arise from the reading of

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The following description of an embodiment of the invention presented by way of non-exclusive example and illustrated by the accompanying graphs in which:

- Figure 1 is a view of the open fastening systems of a clamp for placement of ear marks or rings.

- Figure 2 is a view of the mark or ring with a male rod according to the invention and a sharp rod.

- Figures 3a to 3c represent the tip tip of the male rod

- fig ura 4 is a view of the sharp rod.

- Figure 5 is a view of the piercing rod according to another embodiment.

- Figure 6 is a view of another embodiment of the male part of the mark according to the invention.

- Figure 7 is a sectional view of Figure 6 according to reference AA.

Figure 1 shows a partial view of a clamp for placing an ear mark.

The ear mark also called a hoop has two parts:

- a male part formed by a first wall 1 with identification indications of the animal and a vertical rod 2 whose point 3 is provided with a flange 5,

- a female part with a second wall 1 with indications identical to the wall of the male part and a hollow head 6 that can be either open or closed.

In figure 1, the female head is located in a sector of the clamping device, and the part male is attached to the other device

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The female head has common means for locking the stem of the male part.

According to the invention, the male rod 2 is composed of two parts. One inside the other, separable, one of them crosses the wall of the ear and is housed inside the female head 6 to couple the two components of the mark; the other, contained by the first, crosses the wall of the ear and retains the organic matter, this part is named after the extraction piece.

By separating the two parts of the stem when the latter is housed in the female head of the brand, organic matter is removed for eventual preservation and subsequent analysis, for example, the determination of the animal's DNA

An advantageous feature is that one of the parts of the stem works as a punch that cuts a portion of the organic material, and the extraction instrument retains said portion and It allows its extraction.

Preferably, the part that constitutes the punch is that which is housed securely in the female head.

Such a horn can be seen in the graphics, one of the parts of the stem is constituted by the cylinder-conical module 2 crossed by an axial channel that ends on the mark 1 at one of its ends and at the end of the tip 3, the other part It consists of a sharp rod shown in greater detail in Figures 4 and 5.

The flange 5 of the tip 3 makes it possible to secure the male rod in the female head 6 by any of the usual means.

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The tip of the tip 3 of the male rod is provided with a nozzle 7 (fig. 2) overmoulded.

Said nozzle is preferably metallic.

Figures 3A, 3B, 3C depict the nozzle 7 which has a concealed neck in the mass of the stem and an external end 9 in the shape of a cone trunk.

The mouth it is crossed by a central channel 10 that axially extends the internal channel of the stem.

The nozzle has a hole 11 in the concavity of the cone trunk.

Cone-shaped walls 9 and 11 are oriented in the opposite direction and define a circular projection 12 or circular edge that forms a punch.

The piercing rod 13 is constituted of a metal module whose upper end has common mounting means 14 in the corresponding clamping device of the clamp and the other end has a tip 15.

Between the pieces 14 and the tip 15, the module of the piercing rod is housed in the axial channel of the rod 2, the pieces 14 pass through the wall 1 and the tip 15 protrudes outside the nozzle 7 or remains at the level of the projection 12 of the nozzle.

Preferably, the lancing rod module has, at the back of the tip 15, a reduced portion 16 of diameter ro inferior to the tip and the upper position of the module.

A flange 17 located behind the tip retains the organic matter through which the tip 15 passes.

The tip 15 has a slightly smaller diameter than the axial rod channel

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and from the nozzle, thanks to which, by removing the sharp rod towards sector 16, the organic material is housed in the axial channel.

The sharp rod is provided, at the top of the module, with a conical portion 18 that limits the penetration of the rod into the channel so that when the mark is placed, the tip 15 slightly passes the projection 12 of the nozzle and its flange 17 can penetrate organic matter.

In operation, when the rod makes contact with the wall of the ear, the protrusion of the nozzle sectiones said wall while the tip the transfer and fix it on the flange.

After inserting the male rod into the female head and removing the clamp, the user removes the sharp rod from the channel and can keep it with the extracted organic material.

Conservation can be carried out in a tubular receptacle, with or without internal preservation material, of a diameter equivalent to that of the upper part of module 13, allowing an immobilization seal.

Other ways and means of holding the receptacle on the module, for example a screw on the module and in the container, can be used.

In Figure 5 an embodiment of the sharp rod can be seen, which has, between the module 13 and the clamp fixing pieces 14, a wall 19 provided with the same identification indications as the ear mark or correlative identifications.

In figures 6 and 7 another embodiment of d and the ear mark according to the invention in which the male rod crossed by an axial channel leading to the wall 1 and at the tip 3 of the rod receives a moving piece of organic matter extraction in the shaft channel

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male 2 and detachable from the latter, which is composed of a hollow needle 20 attached to the fixing means 14 of said extraction piece on one of the grips of the clamp.

An advantageous feature is that the end of the hollow needle 20 is sharp and protrudes, as indicated in 21. of the end 3 of the male rod in such a way that it practices the perforation of the ear wall, the cutting and the retention of matter. organic on the same path from male stem 2 to the female head.

After the coupling of the male part and the female part, the extraction part is removed from the stem channel in the opposite direction to the end 3 locked in the female head through the wall 1 of the pa rte male.

It goes without saying that the present invention can admit all the changes and variations of the scope of technical equivalences, without thereby departing from the scope of the present invention as defined in the appended claims.