Method of manufacturing an EAS marker
First Claim
1. A method of manufacturing a magnetostrictive EAS marker, said method comprising the steps of:
- (a) providing a resonator container, said resonator container having a resonator cavity and an open top;
(b) inserting a resonator into said resonator cavity through said open top;
(c) providing a biasing element container, said biasing element container having a biasing element cavity and an open bottom;
(d) inverting said biasing element container;
(e) inserting a biasing element into said biasing element cavity of said inverted biasing element container;
(f) encasing said biasing element within said biasing element container with a separator;
(g) inverting said biasing element container to its original orientation; and
(h) joining said resonator container and said biasing element container to form a magnetostrictive EAS marker comprising a resonator and a biasing element wherein said resonator and said biasing element are separated by said separator.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An EAS marker and method of manufacturing same. In a preferred embodiment, the EAS marker comprises a rigid bottom piece of molded plastic having the shape of an open rectangular box. An elongated resonator is disposed in the bottom piece, the resonator being bowed downwardly about its longitudinal axis. A rigid separator of molded plastic is positioned over the open top of the bottom piece, thereby loosely encasing the resonator in the bottom piece. The foregoing bottom piece, resonator and separator are all positioned within the cavity of a rigid top piece of molded plastic having the shape of an inverted open rectangular box, the separator being press-fit against the interior surface of the top wall of the top piece, the bottom piece being press-fit against the interior surfaces of the side walls and end walls of the top piece. The top wall of the top piece is provided with a recessed area in which a biasing element is disposed, the biasing element being retained in the recessed area by the separator. The separator is shaped to include a projection that extends downwardly beyond the remainder of the bottom surface of the separator, the projection being sized and shaped to contact the top of the resonator only within a circular area approximately 0.1 inch in diameter located in approximately the middle of the resonator. The present invention is also directed to an automated method and apparatus for manufacturing the above EAS marker. In a preferred embodiment, each of the top piece, the bottom piece and the separator is manufactured, by rotary extrusion molding, as part of a continuous web, and the various continuous webs are automatically laminated to one another at nips between pairs of rollers.
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Citations
6 Claims
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1. A method of manufacturing a magnetostrictive EAS marker, said method comprising the steps of:
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(a) providing a resonator container, said resonator container having a resonator cavity and an open top;
(b) inserting a resonator into said resonator cavity through said open top;
(c) providing a biasing element container, said biasing element container having a biasing element cavity and an open bottom;
(d) inverting said biasing element container;
(e) inserting a biasing element into said biasing element cavity of said inverted biasing element container;
(f) encasing said biasing element within said biasing element container with a separator;
(g) inverting said biasing element container to its original orientation; and
(h) joining said resonator container and said biasing element container to form a magnetostrictive EAS marker comprising a resonator and a biasing element wherein said resonator and said biasing element are separated by said separator. - View Dependent Claims (2)
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3. A method of manufacturing a magnetostrictive EAS marker, said method comprising the steps of:
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(a) continuously molding a first web, said first web comprising a plurality of resonator containers, each of said resonator containers having a resonator cavity and an open top;
(b) inserting a resonator into through the open top and into the resonator cavity of a first resonator container on said first web, whereby a first marker subassembly is formed;
(c) continuously molding a second web, said second web comprising a plurality of biasing element containers, each of said biasing element containers having a biasing element cavity and an open bottom;
(d) inverting said second web;
(e) inserting a biasing element into the biasing element cavity of a first biasing element container on said inverted second web;
(f) continuously molding a third web, said third web comprising a plurality of separator elements;
(g) joining a separator element on said third web to a biasing element container on said second web in such a way as to encase said biasing element within said biasing element container, whereby a second marker subassembly is formed; and
(h) joining said first marker subassembly to said second marker subassembly to form a magnetostrictive EAS marker comprising a resonator and a biasing element wherein said resonator and said biasing element are separated by said separator element. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5, 6)
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Specification