Pellet implant gun

Claim 1

A pellet implant gun, for implanting pellets into domestic animals, comprising in combination: a. a body member; b. a trigger rotatably attached to said body member; c. first spring means connected to said trigger and said body member to bias said trigger in a first trigger position relative to said body member while permitting rotation of said trigger to a second trigger position relative to said body member; d. a plunger having a leading edge and mounted within said body member for reciprocating movement between a first plunger position in which said leading edge is withdrawn within said body member and a second plunger position in which said leading edge is extended from said body member; e. lever means coupling said trigger and said plunger for holding said plunger in the first plunger position when said trigger is in the first trigger position and for moving said plunger to the second plunger position when said trigger is moved to the second trigger position against the bias of said first spring means; f. a cartridge holder connected to said body member and having (1) a cartridge receiving cavity adapted to receive a cartridge and to allow rotational movement thereof, (2) an aperture bearing for rotatably holding a cartridge within said cartridge receiving cavity, (3) a positioning detent for angularly positioning a cartridge within said cartridge receiving cavity, (4) second spring means for biasing said positioning detent into contact with a cartridge within said cartridge receiving cavity, and (5) means defining a pellet conveying conduit aligned with said plunger; g. a hollow injection needle mounted on said cartridge holder and aligned with said pellet conveying conduit; and h. a generally circular, removable multi-pellet cartridge rotatably mounted within said cartridge holder and including a plurality of angularly spaced pellet cylinders, each pellet cylinder having a first end, a second end, and flexible pellet restraining means at its first end and its second end, said cartridge further including rotatable journal means cooperating with said cartridge holder aperture bearing for rotatably holding said cartridge within said cartridge receiving cavity while permitting rotation of said cartridge within said cartridge receiving cavity to pass each pellet cylinder in turn into alignment with said plunger and said conduit, said cartridge further including a plurality of indents, one indent associated with each pellet cylinder, said indents cooperating with said cartridge holder positioning detent to cause alignment of the associated pellet cylinder with said plunger and said conduit when said positioning detent is within an indent to permit, in response to rotation of said trigger from the first trigger position to the second Trigger position, movement of said plunger from the first plunger position to the second plunger position with the plunger leading edge passing from within said body member through the aligned pellet cylinder and said conduit to within said hollow injection needle; whereby with the pellet implant gun inserted into an animal and with a pellet within the aligned pellet cylinder, rotation of the trigger from the first trigger position to the second trigger position results in implanting of the pellet into the animal.