Abduction-preventing collar

• US 4,694,284 A
• Filed: 04/14/1986
• Issued: 09/15/1987
• Est. Priority Date: 04/14/1986
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Ginette Cormier, Jacqueline Cormier, Pierre Brassard, Serge Leveille
• Original Assignee: Ginette Cormier, Jacqueline Cormier, Pierre Brassard, Serge Leveille
• Inventors: Brassard, Pierre, Leveille, Serge, Cormier, Ginette, Cormier, Jacqueline
• Primary Examiner(s): Swann, III, Glen R.
• Application Number:
  US06/851,830
• Time in Patent Office: 519 Days
• Field of Search: 340/574, 340/573, 340/693, 340/539, 455/100
• US Class Current: 340/574
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0297 Robbery alarms, e.g. hold-up alarms, bag snatching alarms

Abstract

The collar consists of two legs pivoted to each other at one end by a hinge member and releasably locked to each other at the other end by a key operated lock. The legs are made of shear-resistant material. A radio signal generating and transmitting device and autonomous power supply are housed within the collar. A trigger switch is closed to activate the device upon opening of a flap by the abducted collar wearer, and circuitry including a silicon controlled rectifier, causes activation of the transmitter and characterized by the impossibility of deactivation thereof, short of complete discharge of the power supply, as long as the lock locks the legs of the collar around the wrist, neck or ankle of the wearer.

Claims

1. An abduction-preventing device comprising a collar adapted to surround a human body portion, said collar consisting of two legs pivoted one to the other at one end by a hinge member and releasably locked one to the other at the other end by a lock member, said legs being made of a shear-resistant material;

a radio signal-transmitting circuit, an autonomous power supply for said circuit, and switching means to activate said circuit, all housed within said collar, and a switching means manual actuator accessible at the external face of said collar, said circuit further including means to prevent deactivation of said circuit once activated by said manual actuator, short of complete discharge of said power supply, while said lock member locks said legs around said body portion.

2. The device as defined in claim 1, wherein said lock member is actuatable by a removable key.

3. The device as defined in claim 1, wherein said switching means includes a reed-switch having normally opened reed terminals and a first permanent magnet adjacent said reed terminals, said actuator being a flap outwardly pivotable on said collar and a second permanent magnet carried by said flap and facing said first magnet in the closed position of said flap, with the reed terminals located between the two magnets and the faces of like polarity of said two magnets facing each other, the change in the state of the magnetic field produced by said magnets upon outward pivoting of said flap causing closing of said reed terminals

4. The device as defined in claim 3, wherein the portion of said collar in registry with said flap is of reduced thickness to define a recess of thickness equal to that of said flap to allow the latter therein.

5. The device as defined in claim 4, further including a fingernail-engageable notch at the outer edge of said flap.

6. The device as defined in claim 1, wherein said means to prevent deactivation includes a silicon controlled rectifier having a triggering circuit including said switching means.

7. The device as defined in claim 6, wherein said switching means includes a reed-switch having normally opened reed terminals and a first permanent magnet adjacent said reed terminals, said actuator being a flap outwardly pivotable on said collar and a second permanent magnet carried by said flap and facing said first magnet in the closed position of said flap, with the reed terminals located between the two magnets and the faces of like polarity of said two magnets facing each other, the change in the state of the magnetic field produced by said magnets upon outward pivoting of said flap causing closing of said reed terminals

8. The device as defined in claim 7, wherein said circuit further includes a hinge switch located at said hinge member closing upon closing of said legs and opening upon opening of said legs, said hinge switch resetting said circuit upon opening of said legs.