CALIBRATABLE LOCK EAS TAG

Abstract

There is disclosed a high Gauss magnetic lock comprising at least one high grade steel ball-bearing but typically 3 or 4 ball bearings, one generally non-ferrous ball basket that will carry and hold in a specific position the ball-bearing(s), at least one non-ferrous spring, one ferrous calibrating high precision element, and one generally non-ferrous and conical ball cage where the ball basket will evolve up and down pushed by the spring and pulled down by a magnetic field.

Claims

1. An electronic article surveillance (EAS) tag for use with a high Gauss detacher comprising a plastic pin member having a body member and a pin extending therefrom and adapted to be attached to a plastic body member to secure an article, the plastic body member having a base and a top and adapted to receive the pin member to secure the article, wherein the improvement comprises a calibratable lock for releasing the pin member from the body member by the high Gauss detacher, the calibratable lock comprising at least two ball bearings and a calibratable low magnetic tolerance ferro-magnetic material, and the EAS tag having no other ferro-magnetic components.

2. The EAS tag of claim 1 wherein the calibratable low magnetic tolerance ferro-magnetic material comprises a washer.

3. The EAS tag of claim 2 wherein the washer is made of steel.

4. The EAS tag of claim 3 wherein the steel is steel type S235JR.

5. The EAS tag of claim 1 further comprising a conical ball cage made of a Zamak metal, a ball basket made of a polyacetal and a non-ferrous spring.

6. The EAS tag of claim 6 wherein the non-ferrous spring is made of phosphor bronze.

7. The EAS tag of claim 1 wherein the base and the top of the plastic body member include means for receiving the calibrated lock.

8. The EAS tag of claim 1 wherein the high Gauss detacher has a Gauss value greater than 12,000 Gauss.

9. The EAS tag of claim 1 wherein the calibratable low magnetic tolerance ferro-magnetic material comprises a ferrous ball basket.

10. A calibratable high Gauss lock for use with a high Gauss detacher comprising a ball cage made of a non-ferrous material, a ball basket made of a non-ferrous material, at least two ball bearings mounted in the ball basket and ball cage, a non-ferrous spring and calibratable washer made of low magnetic tolerance steel, wherein the magnetic flux of the high Gauss detacher is adapted to engage the at least one ball bearing and the calibratable washer.

11. The calibratable high Gauss lock of claim 10 wherein the ball cage is made a Zamak metal.

12. The calibratable high Gauss lock of claim 10 wherein the ball basket is made of polyacetal.

13. The calibratable high Gauss lock of claim 10 wherein the non-ferrous spring is made of phosphor bronze.

14. The calibratable high Gauss lock of claim 10 wherein the ball cage is made a Zamak metal, the ball basket is made of polyacetal and the non-ferrous spring is made of phosphor bronze.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0033] The following detailed description of the specific non-limiting embodiments of the present invention can be best understood when read in conjunction with the following drawings, where like structures are indicated by like reference numbers.

[0034] Referring to the drawings:

[0035] FIG. 1 is a front view of the improved calibratable high Gauss lock inside an EAS tag.

[0036] FIG. 2 is a front view of the improved calibratable high Gauss lock inside an EAS tag with a resonant circuit.

[0037] FIG. 3 is an exploded front view of a high Gauss Detacher.

[0038] FIG. 4A is a top view of the calibratable washer and FIG. 4B is a sectional view of the calibratable washer taken along line A-A of FIG. 4A.

[0039] FIG. 5 is a front view representation of an EAS tag with the improved calibratable high Gauss lock inside an EAS tag resting on a high Gauss Detacher.

[0040] FIGS. 6A-6C show a front representation of three Detachers having three different magnetic fluxes detaching three improved calibratable high Gauss locks inside an EAS tag with three different calibrating elements.

[0041] FIG. 7A-7B represent a front view of the same tags of FIGS. 6A-6C on the nesting area of the same high Gauss Detacher, except that the tag of FIG. 7B uses a ferrous-spring and does not release properly.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0042] Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown the improved calibratable high Gauss lock 10 comprising a Zamak metal conical ball cage 50, a ball basket 60 made of polyacetal POM where the ball bearings 150 are mounted which are pushed upwards by the force of a non-ferrous spring 40 which can be made of phosphor bronze and pulled down when pulled by the ferro-magnetic material composed of the ball bearings 150 and the calibratable washer 30 that can be made of high grade low magnetic tolerance steel such as steel type S235JR or a similar material. The lock is depicted inside a specific EAS tag 20 having an EAS security element but may also fit inside another EAS tag or device which needs to be locked and/or unlocked.

[0043] FIG. 2 shows a presently preferred embodiment of an EAS tag 20 comprised of a plastic pin 110 and a plastic body 190 of the tag containing the improved calibratable high Gauss lock 10. The plastic pin 110 includes a plastic body 112, a pin 114 and a plastic dome 116. The pin 114 has a shoulder 118 connected to body 112 and a shank 120. Plastic dome 116 may carry a pre-printed commercial message such as a logo or a QR code with no protective transparent window. The housing 190 includes the conical ball cage 50, the ball basket 60, the ball bearings 150, the non-ferrous spring 40, and the calibratable washer 30 as referred to in FIG. 1. The housing body is preferably fully enclosed and includes a base 192 and a top 194. Base 192 includes an upwardly extending annular wall 196 for connecting to and holding lock 10. Top 194 includes a downwardly extending annular leg 198 for connecting to wall 196, thereby holding lock 10 in place.

[0044] The conical ball cage 50 may be made of a Zamak metal or a similar non-magnetic metal. The ball cage 50 has a conical shape with a top wall 52, side wall 54 and bottom wall 56. Side wall 54 is tapered on an inside surface to stop upward movement of ball basket 60. The top wall 52 has an opening 53 for receiving the shank 120 of pin 114 and an opening 57 to engage the ball basket 60, thereby retaining ball bearings 150.

[0045] The ball basket 60 may be made of POM or a similar plastic or other non-magnetic material. The ball basket is annular with a side wall 62 with a top wall 64 having a shoulder 66 and a bottom wall 68. The top wall 64 has an opening 65 and bottom wall 68 has an opening 69. Shoulder 66 fits in opening 57 and may move upward on sidewall 54 a certain distance such that ball bearings 150 engage pin shank 120 to secure the EAS tag to merchandise.

[0046] In a preferred embodiment, there are four ball bearings 150, one not being shown in the Figures based on the cross-sectional view. The ball bearings are made of a magnetic metal. It is understood that a different number of ball bearings may be used without departing from the scope of the invention.

[0047] There is a resonant device 140 that receives and/or emits radio signals. The resonant device may include, but is not limited to, any of an EAS label; an antenna; or a security device or electronic label such as an RFID element/antenna for the purpose such as, but not limited to, one or multiple traceability, merchandising, marketing, pricing or inventory purposes.

[0048] Referring to FIG. 3, there is shown an exploded view of a high Gauss magnetic Detacher 200 such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,084,498 comprising a plastic housing 210 which may be made of ABS plastic, an annular neodymium high grade magnet 220, a magnetic assembly of neodymium magnets 230 comprising at least two magnets, and a metallic base 220 which can be made of iron to contain the magnetic field. There is also shown the nesting area or spot 240 on the magnet assembly's surface where the EAS tags rest to be released.

[0049] Referring to FIGS. 4A and 4B, there is shown in FIG. 4A a metal washer 30 used in the improved calibratable high Gauss lock as the calibrating element to interact with different Detachers that generate different Gauss values on their spot. FIG. 4B shows a cross-section of metal washer 30 taken along line A-A of FIG. 4A. In a preferred embodiment the metal washer is made of steel type S235JR. The thickness of the washer may be varied to calibrate the magnetic force needed to remove the body 190 from pin 110 by detacher 200.

[0050] FIG. 5 shows the EAS tag 20 of FIG. 2 sitting on the nesting area 240 of a magnetic Detacher 200 with a Gauss value of about 17,000 Gauss on its nesting area 240 and about 10,000 Gauss at the height 260 where the ferro-magnetic parts of the improved calibratable high Gauss lock 10 are located: ball bearings 150 and the calibratable washer 30 which are about 11 mm from the spot 240. The detacher 200 through the magnetic attraction to, the ball bearings 150 and washer 30 will cause the non-ferrous spring 40 to compress by pulling ball basket 60 downward thereby releasing ball bearings 150 from engagement with pin 110 and allowing the removal of pin 110 from body 190.

[0051] FIGS. 6A-6C represent the same EAS tag 20 shown in FIG. 5 with the same new improved calibratable high Gauss lock 10, the same ball bearings 150, the same spring 40 and three different metal washers 70, 80 and 30 wherein the thickness of washer 70 is thicker than washer 80 which is thicker than washer 30 to interact and release the pin 110 respectively with Gauss values of 5,000 by detacher 201 in FIG. 6A; 10,000 by detacher 202 in FIG. 6B and 17,000 Gauss by detacher 200 in FIG. 6C on each Detacher's nesting area. More specifically, washer 70 has a thickness of 1 mm; washer 80 has a thickness of 0.85 mm; and washer 30 has a thickness of 0.5 mm.

[0052] FIGS. 7A and 7B represent a front view of the same tag 20 of FIG. 5 (except as noted below) on the nesting area of the same high Gauss lock Detacher 200 whereas the non-ferrous spring 40 of lock 10 retracts normally to release the pin 110 in FIG. 7A. FIG. 7B represents the same tag 20 of FIGS. 5 and 7A, except that the non-ferrous spring 40 has been replaced with a ferrous spring 340 that bends, thereby preventing the pin 110 from being released without moving the tag 20 in a back and forth motion 350 until the ferrous spring retracts properly.

[0053] The exemplary embodiments herein disclosed are not intended to be exhaustive or to unnecessarily limit the scope of the invention. The exemplary embodiments were chosen and described in order to explain the principles of the present invention so that others skilled in the art may practice the invention. As will be apparent to one skilled in the art, various modifications can be made within the scope of the aforesaid description. For example, the shape of the ball cage 50, ball basket 60 and calibratable metal washer may vary or the EAS security element may be in the plastic pin. Such modifications being within the ability of one skilled in the art form a part of the present invention and are embraced by the appended claims.