Abstract: A machine to make up doses of semen in a container comprising welded thermoplastics films that can be opened by hand without using instruments in order to insert therein an insemination probe includes a tubular needle having a nozzle over which is threaded a cleaning ring to prevent coating of a region to be sealed by welding with semen and to keep the walls of the thermoplastics films dry after filling the dose with semen. The sealing weld is made by a device having inverted U-shape jaws. An incision perpendicular to the branches of the U-shape is made at the same level as the latter by an incision device including an orientable blade.

Abstract: A machine to make up doses of semen in a container comprising welded thermoplastics films that can be opened by hand without using instruments in order to insert therein an insemination probe includes a tubular needle having a nozzle over which is threaded a cleaning ring to prevent coating of a region to be sealed by welding with semen and to keep the walls of the thermoplastics films dry after filling the dose with semen. The sealing weld is made by a device having inverted U-shape jaws. An incision perpendicular to the branches of the U-shape is made at the same level as the latter by an incision device including an orientable blade.

Abstract: A machine to make up doses of semen in a container comprising welded thermoplastics films that can be opened by hand without using instruments in order to insert therein an insemination probe includes a tubular needle having a nozzle over which is threaded a cleaning ring to prevent coating of a region to be sealed by welding with semen and to keep the walls of the thermoplastics films dry after filling the dose with semen. The sealing weld is made by a device having inverted U-shape jaws. An incision perpendicular to the branches of the U-shape is made at the same level as the latter by an incision device including an orientable blade.

Abstract: A device for collecting seminal fluid, comprises a collecting container (1) on which is mounted an adaptor (2) provided with a cannula (3) for sucking up the seminal fluid under the effect of a partial vacuum. The device further includes an adaptor sleeve (5) interposed between the container (1) and the adaptor (2). The sleeve comprises a chamber (10) in communication with the adaptor (2) in which chamber a filter (11) for the seminal fluid is located. A pipe (16) for sucking up the fluid and having a first flared end portion (17) emerges on the filter (11) and a second end portion (18) emerges in the container via a projection (19) extending axially beyond the end (20) of the sleeve pointing towards the container. A sucking-up duct (21) intended to be connected to a source of partial vacuum terminates at the end (2) of the sleeve inside the container in order to generate, within the container (1), a partial vacuum intended to bring about the sucking-up of the seminal fluid through the filter (11).

Abstract: A device for identifying the content of a straw formed of a heat-sealed section of ionomer resin tube offering high performance at cryogenic temperatures comprises a sheath length threaded onto the straw and trapped between the ends of the straw which are flattened and widened in the transverse direction on sealing the straw after filling. The sheath carries printed identifying data and its color facilitates identification. This avoids the possibility of defective printing on the ionomer resin and damage to the straw or its contents by diffusion of constituents of the ink. The sheath can be ovalized at one end to prevent it moving freely.

Abstract: The tube, known as a straw, according to the invention, is conventional in its form, and is constituted by a rectilinear length of transparent tubular envelope. In the vicinity of a first end, the straw contains a sliding stopper with a quantity of powder gellable by hydration between two porous pads. The tubular envelope is extruded from an ionomer resin marketed under the brand name of Surlyn 8921. Ionomer resins have, above and below a transition zone extending from 45.degree. C. to 60.degree. C. approximately, states that are respectively thermofusible and crosslinked. Thus, the straw can be closed by fusion of the ends clamped by heated jaws, while presenting suitable properties of rigidity at ambient temperature. Furthermore, the ionomer resin used does not have an embrittlement temperature, so that it can be manipulated at cryogenic temperatures (77 K.) without the need for taking any particular precautions. The filling and sealing of the straws can be automated, to ensure the safety of the operators.

Abstract: Straws, in particular for artificial insemination of animals and storage of biological products, are filled by aspiration through a suction nozzle fitted with a needle which enters the straw to the rear of a composite stopper and is fitted with a seal. A biological product (diluted sperm) is drawn up a flexible elastomer tube to an injector nozzle in response to reducing the pressure in the straw. The flexible tube is held centered over a distance equal to at least five times its outside diameter in a hoop held in a support. The elastomer from which the flexible tube is made has a Shore hardness of 41 to 47 and a reversible elongation capacity of at least 250%. These arrangements ensure rigorous centering of the needle in the hoop despite the flexibility of the tube. Parts which have been in contact with the sperm can be discarded after all of a sample has been used up, rather than requiring costly cleaning.

Abstract: The tube, known as a straw, according to the invention, is conventional in its form, and is constituted by a rectilinear length of transparent tubular envelope. In the vicinity of a first end, the straw contains a sliding stopper with a quantity of powder gellable by hydration between two porous pads. The tubular envelope is extruded from an ionomer resin marketed under the brand name of Surlyn 8921. Ionomer resins have, above and below a transition zone extending from 45.degree. C. to 60.degree. C. approximately, states that are respectively thermofusible and crosslinked. Thus, the straw can be closed by fusion of the ends clamped by heated jaws, while presenting suitable properties of rigidity at ambient temperature. Furthermore, the ionomer resin used does not have an embrittlement temperature, so that it can be manipulated at cryogenic temperatures (77 K) without the need for taking any particular precautions. The filling and sealing of the straws can be automated, to ensure the safety of the operators.

Abstract: An ink jet printing machine for elongate cylindrical articles such as tubes or straws for biological fluids, includes an automatically controlled ink-jet printing station. The printing station includes a printing head, handling apparatus for the straws or tubes comprising an admission passage for receiving, guiding and feeding straws or tubes, a wall panel, a suction port disposed in the wall panel at a downstream end of the admission passage and connected to a source of vacuum, a transfer plunger mounted for reciprocating along the wall panel between the suction port and a conveyor, the leading straw or tubes being transferred from the suction port to the conveyor by displacement of the transfer plunger toward the conveyor.

Abstract: A container for biological liquids such as a culture medium comprises a hollow body of elastomeric material including a tubular intermediate part, rounded ends and a portion perforable by a cannula for introducing the biological liquid and hermetically resealing itself once the cannula is removed. The interior and exterior surfaces of the hollow body are smooth and curved throughout and the portion perforable by the cannula is thick walled and is preferably provided at one or both ends of the hollow body. The container may comprise two half shells joined together or a blow extruded member. The interior surface is advantageously coated to eliminate asperities.

Abstract: An instrument of artificial insemination or embryo transfer by a transperitoneal and/or cervical route or for sampling follicular liquids in mammals especially horses, pigs, sheep, goats, deer and carnivores is of the type constituted by a syringe formed by a sheath in which slides in fluid-tight manner a piston movable in translation. The sheath is externally protected by a rigid cover and is immobilized in a manipulator sleeve comprising a rotary member adapted to actuate the piston. The anterior end of the sheath is fitted with a needle. The cover protecting the sheath is covered by and guides a palpator the length of which is greater than that of the cover but less than that of the sheath (including the needle). Thus the needle of the syringe is selectively covered or exposed in whole or in part by axial sliding movement of the cover.

Abstract: This invention relates to closing an open end of a pailette containing a biological element. The invention includes heating a dose of thermo-plastic material to a flowable condition and injecting the dose into the cold open end of the paillettes so that the material adheres to the inner wall of the paillette and solidifies to form a stable plug closing the end. The thermo-plastic material is preferably in the form of solid sticks. A valve in closing apparatus opens and closes communication with a reservoir containing the thermo-plastic material under pressure and defines a pre-determined volume for the dose. The invention is especially applicable to the production of paillettes for use in artificial insemination.

Abstract: A dispenser for dispensing and conveying capsules to a printer for receiving indicia comprises a sloping ramp and a complementary guide which define a conveying passageway having an inlet and an outlet. A vertically movable slide member is associated with the outlet and is movable between a first position wherein the slide member receives a capsule from the outlet of the conveying passageway and a second position wherein a portion of the slide member seals the outlet of the conveying passageway. The slide member when in its second position further defines with the complementary guide a horizontally extending passageway for conveying the capsule to the printer.

Abstract: This instrument is of the type comprising a hollow body housing a reservoir tube for reproductive components, 4, which receives an ejection piston rod and which is closely enveloped by an external protective sheath 7 having, at its distal end 7b, retaining means 9 inside which the projecting end of the reservoir tube bears.The problem to be solved consists in making it possible to avoid causing any lesions and carrying along any mucus and also to construct instruments of very small diameter.According to the invention, the retaining means 9 on the sheath 7 comprises a terminal 9 with a solid rounded head or distal end 9b and with a blind axial passage 10 open towards the cylindrical body 1 and communicating with the outside at its blind end by means of a lateral transfer orifice 10c.The invention has an advantageous application in the transfer of animal embryos.

Abstract: The invention relates to apparatus for artificial insemination of animals, and particularly carnivores such as dogs, foxes, wolves and even smaller animals such as mink.The apparatus comprises a flexible probe having apertures at each end, in which is mounted slidingly a semen reservoir tube, which is also flexible, a projecting end of the semen tube presenting a head and an orifice behind said head through which the semen is ejected from the tube, the other end of the semen tube being coupled with a sheath having a removable abutment limiting the stroke of the sheath and tube in the probe, a piston extending through the sheath to engage in the tube for actuation to eject semen therefrom, and balloons extending externally round the probe for inflation once the probe is disposed in the vaginal cavity of the animal by compressed air blown through a separate conduit in the probe from that receiving the semen tube.

Abstract: The sheath is of the type having a thickness which is substantially constant throughout its length and having at a first end, or insemination end, a narrowed shape (4b).The problem is to provide a sheath which may be employed on an insemination gun which fixes the sheath by means of projections without presenting difficulties when manufacturing or when inserting the sheath.According to the invention, this sheath is characterized in that its opposite end portion (4a), or fixing end portion, of very short length relative to the total length of the sheath, has an inside diameter substantially larger than the constant inside diameter it has throughout the remainder of its length. The invention has an advantageous application in respect of sheaths for insemination guns for bovines.

Abstract: Small, compact and portable semen straw filling devices are hand operated by a single person.A single turn of the handle advances a straw for filling and renders the straw removable by a handheld syringe with which an operator may guide the straw into an ovaduct of a turkey before squeezing the syringe and expelling the semen into the ovaduct. The device is portable so that it may be taken directly to the domestic birds and used by one man to impregnate a large number of birds in a short amount of time.Using the present invention, a man simply cranks the filler, inserts the syringe, withdraws the syringe and straw, impregnates a bird, discards the straw and repeats the cycle. Turning a handle of one filler removes a straw from storage and aligns it with a nozzle while preloading a pump. Inserting the syringe triggers the pump, and withdrawing the syringe withdraws a loaded straw.

Abstract: The invention relates to apparatus for presenting poultry or similar animals for artificial insemination, or for collecting semen.The technical problem is to reduce the displacements and manipulations of the operator and facilitate the operations so as to ease the work of a sole operator.The invention provides apparatus comprising a carriage movable along a battery of cages, a grip lockable in a position in which it grips the birds' hind legs, a guide for supporting the body of an animal restrained by the grip and for guiding the animal back into the cage when it is released from the grip, the grip and guide being mounted on a mount in adjustable positions on the carriage.The invention is used primarily in artificial insemination operations on poultry.

Abstract: The invention concerns sleeves for protection against internal contaminations for a gynaecological gun for animals of the type comprising a tubular body, a chamber for storing the product to be injected or aspirated, and ejecting or aspirating means (7) operative through the front end of the body. The problem is to avoid contaminations through the medium of the gun between the vagina and the uterus of the animal.According to the invention, such a sleeve comprises a cylindrical element (13) of flexible and thin material and having an end (13c) which is closed in a sealed manner but is tearable, the length of the sleeve approximately corresponding to the length of the whole of the gun, two substantially parallel slits (16) being provided in the vicinity of the end (13a) opposed to the closed end.The invention is advantageous in the artificial insemination of bovines.

Abstract: The invention discloses a multi-shot artificial insemination device and interchangeable and disposable reservoir tubes connectable thereto such that plural doses of liquid semen are sequentially discharged from one end of a tube by step-wise displacement of a plunger into another end of the tube. The apparatus is configured for easy, secure connection and support of a rear end of a reservoir tube to the device while a freely protruding front end of the reservoir is of sufficient length and shape for insertion into an animals cloaca for insemination thereof upon actuation of the device.