EP0060855A1

EP0060855A1 - Alarm system

Info

Publication number: EP0060855A1
Application number: EP19810902620
Authority: EP
Inventors: John Robert Park
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1980-09-24
Filing date: 1981-09-24
Publication date: 1982-09-29
Also published as: WO1982000952A1; GB2096898B; GB2096898A

Abstract

Systeme d'alarme constitue par la combinaison de commutateurs sensibles a l'orientation et d'un emetteur radio, servant a indiquer le commencement des contractions avant l'accouchement ou une maladie ou une blessure chez les chevaux ou d'autres animaux. Le dispositif est attache a l'animal dans la region de l'espace intermandibulaire et produit un signal d'alarme lorsque l'animal est allonge au sol sur un cote.Alarm system consisting of a combination of orientation sensitive switches and a radio transmitter, used to indicate the start of contractions before childbirth or an illness or injury in horses or other animals. The device is attached to the animal in the region of the intermandibular space and produces an alarm signal when the animal is lying on the ground on one side.

Description

ALARM SYSTEM TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates to alarm devices for indicating the onset of labour, or conditions of illness or injury, in animals such as horses and cattle.

BACKGROUND ART

In the breeding of animals such as thoroughbred horses it is of great importance that a skilled person be present during labour and birth. It has therefore been customary to have a person constantly in attendance when a mare is ready for foaling, and this is expensive and inconvenient, particularly as the great majority of foalings occur at night, and furthermore is not always reliable as the attendant after a night or so may, through fatigue, not be awakened by the foaling.

The object of the present invention is to provide a device which will sound an alarm when a mare or other pregnant animal is likely to be going into labour. Although of principal application to horses, in which context it will be described here, the invention will be seen to be applicable to other animals.

It is known that mares do not lie down until, or shortly before, the onset of labour, and the invention is based on this characteristic, and provides a device which will activate an alarm when a mare to which it is attached lies down.

Devices known for this purpose in the prior art have included pressure- operated or attitude sensitive switches attached to the body of the mare and associated with a radio transmitter, the apparatus most commonly being attached to a circingle. Particularly due to their positioning on the animal, such devices have been subject to damage and have tended to produce a high proportion of spurious responses.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

In the present invention, an alarm device actuated by orientation- sensitive switching means is attached beneath the horse's head, at the region of the inter-mandibular space, a location where it is well

OMPI protected and where it may function to indicate when the horse is lying down, but will at least only rarely give spurious responses.

An embodiment of the present invention will now be described in relation to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 shows the location of the device according to the present invention on a horse;

Figures 2 and 3 show schematically a first arrangement of orientation-sensitive switches in a device according to the present invention; and

Figures 4 and 5 show schematically a second arrangement of orientation-sensitive switches.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In Figure 1 there is shown an off-side view of a horse, fitted with a standard head stall 10 to which is attached in a manner described below, a device 11 in the inter-mandibular region. The device 11 consists of a radio transmitter mounted within a rectangular case 12. The device may be generally similar to those employed for remotely activating garage doors or the like, but contains as seen in Figures 2 and 3 a^* pair of mercury switches 13 either of which will activate the transmitter (not shown) when the device 11 is so orientated that the contacts of either mercury switch 13 are closed by the mercury contained in the switch.

Figures 2 and 3 show the orientation of the mercury switches 13 relative to the unit. No other details of the transmitting unit are shown, these being matters of common knowledge. As shown in Figure 2, the switches 13 are disposed so as to be inclined oppositely at equal angles to the longitudinal axis of the unit 11. This angle is not critical, and may be varied within limits determined by successful operation of the apparatus. In the present embodiment, an angle of approximately 20° is employed.

The contact ends 14 of the switches 13 are disposed towards the upper end of the unit as viewed in Figures 2 and 3, and the unit is orientated in attachment to the horse so that this end is directed towards the horse's neck.

As shown in Figure 3, the switches 13 are mounted so as to lie in a plane which is oblique to the general plane of the case 12, so that the contact ends 14 of the switches 13 lie closer to the surface 15 of the case, which is the surface which faces upwardly and towards the head of the horse when the unit is correctly positioned.

In an alternative arrangement shown in Figures 4 and 5, the mercury switches 13 are mounted by the fastening of their ends remote from the contacts, in a block 16 of plastics material which is in turn mounted on the printed circuit board 17 of the transmitter. An LED 18 is preferably provided, visible through the face 19 of the transmitter housing, and activated when either of the switches 13 is on. This LED enables the user to ensure that the device is functioning correctly when attaching it to the mare.

As a result of the orientation of the switches thus described, the transmitter will not normally be activated when the horse is standing, as the normally downward position of the head, together with the oblique disposition of the switches 13, will ensure that the mercury lies at the end of the switches remote from the contacts. The transmitter may be activated should the horse raise its head to an extreme position, but as a horse will not maintain this position for any length of time, an appropriate time delay in the alarm circuitry associated with the receiver will prevent spurious alarms from this source.

Should however the horse lie down, so that its head is on one side or the other, one of the switches 13 will be operated, due to the angular disposition shown in Figure 2, and the transmitter will be activated, causing the receiver to actuate an alarm device after the time delay referred to. The transmitting unit may be mounted in position on the horse by means of a pouch (not shown) attached between convenient points on the head stall, such as between the lead ring at the back of the nose band, and the neck band.

It will be appreciated that while the angular disposition of the mercury switches shown in Figure 2 is of importance in ensuring actuation when the head is on either side, the disposition relative to the plane of the case as shown in Figure 3 is not essential, and alternatively, for example, the switches 13 may be mounted parallel to the surface 15, and the mounting arrangement modified so that the final disposition of the switches relative to the head is the same.

While the present invention is described here in relation to the foaling of mares, it will be understood that it is capable of use in connection with other animals, for example cattle, and may be used to alarm as to conditions other than labour, such as illness or injury. Furthermore the invention is not l mited to the particular arrangements described herein. For example, the device may be attached to the horse or other animal in ways other than that described, and devices other than the mercury switches may be used as orientation-sensitive devices for activation of the transmitter, providing the nature of these devices and their positioning within the transmitter unit achieves the orientation-sensitive operation which has been described.

OMPI

Claims

1. Alarm apparatus for animals comprising orientation-sensitive switch means and a radio transmitter mounted within a housing, characterised in that said housing is adapted for fixing to an animal in the region of the inter-mandibular space, said switch means activating said transmitter when one side or the other of the animal's head assumes a substantially horizontal position.

2. Alarm apparatus according to claim 1 further characterised in that said orientation-sensitive switch means comprises a pair of co-planar, mutually angularly disposed mercury switches.

3. Alarm apparatus according to claim 2 further characterised in that the angular disposition of said switches and the disposition of their common plane relative to the jaw of the animal when said apparatus is fixed to the animal are so chosen that switch activation will not occur unless the animal's head is on one side or the other or is raised to an unusual degree.