Rotating Brush Attachment for Intact Tick Removal
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional methods for removing acarine parasites like ticks from hosts' skin often cause damage or breakage, risking the transfer of pathogens and are ineffective for various life stages of ticks.
Innovation Solution
A device with a brush attachment featuring a fiber arrangement in a recessed, preferably conical or frustoconical shape, which rotates around the tick without applying compressive forces, utilizing the tick's grip reflex to detach it gently and reliably.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional gripper tools or spreading devices are used to remove ticks, then the tick can be grasped and removed, but the tick body may be damaged or broken causing pathogen transfer
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces conventional mechanical gripper tools that apply compressive forces with a rotating brush attachment that uses gentle rotational motion. The brush fibers engage the tick's grip reflex to achieve detachment without compression, eliminating the risk of tick body damage and pathogen transfer while ensuring complete removal.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the fundamental parameter of force application from compressive (gripper tools) to rotational (brush attachment). By rotating the brush at controlled speeds, the tick is gently agitated to trigger its grip reflex, causing it to detach intact from the host skin without the harmful compressive forces that cause breakage.
2Reliability
If spreading devices with closed cavities are used to accommodate the parasite, then the tick can be contained, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the containment function from a complex closed cavity structure and replaces it with a simple rotating brush attachment. The brush fibers themselves provide the containment mechanism through their arrangement, eliminating the need for intricate spreading devices with closed cavities while maintaining reliable tick containment during removal.
3Productivity
If conventional removal methods are used, then the procedure can be completed, but it is ineffective for various life stages of ticks (larvae, nymphs, adults)
Solution Approach 1:
The rotating brush attachment provides a universal solution that works effectively across all tick life stages (larvae, nymphs, and adults). The rotational motion and fiber arrangement adapt to different tick sizes and morphologies, making the device versatile for all acarine parasites without requiring size-specific tools or adjustment mechanisms.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The device effectively removes ticks without damaging them, preventing pathogen transfer by rotating the tick within its puncture site, ensuring complete removal in a few rotations.
Implementation Method 1
utilizing the tick's grip reflex to detach it gently and reliably
Data Source
AI summary
A device for moving an acarine parasite which has penetrated the skin of a host, in particular a tick, has a drive, in particular an electromotive drive, which is received in a housing, and an attachment, which has an interface on the drive side and can be rotated about a rotational axis and which contains a number of fibers arranged in the form of bristles as a fiber assembly. The fiber assembly has a recess, preferably a coaxial recess, in particular a conical or truncated conical or parabolic recess, and a fiber wreath assembly, which is formed by the fibers at the free ends thereof along the circumference of the recess and which has at least one fiber wreath with a wreath width which is greater than or equal to 0.3 mm, preferably 0.8±0.4.