USRE7798E - Improvement in animal-traps - Google Patents

Description

Ressued July 17, 187.7.

` door.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK E. RICE, OF LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPRVEMENT IN ANIMAL-TRAPS. I

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 181,105, dated August 15, 1876 rReissue No. 7,798, dated v July 17, 1877 application filed May 26, 1877.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK E. RICE, ot' Lowell, Massachusetts, have invented certain Improvements in Animal-Traps, of which the following is a specification:

This invention relates particularly to a folding setting-lever, and to devices for locking and unlocking thehinged 'ends of wire boxtraps. Y

My invention consists in a settinglever for animaltraps, adapted to be unfolded or extended for setting the trap, and to fold or shut within the limits of the end of the trap when sprung.

My invention also consists in a wire cage, having a hinged door, closed by a spring and automatically locked, in combination with a lever, serving to unlock and open the door and to set the trap, and adapted to drop down when the trap is sprung into a position coincident with and not projecting beyond the door.

My invention also consists in a wire cage, a hinged door, and an operating-spring, in combination with an automatic locking device, fastening the door in its closed position, and an unlocking device operating by the movement of the lever preparatory to setting the trap.

My invention also consists in certain details of construction and operation, hereinafter explained.

The common box-trap i's a rectangular wire cage, having hinged doors at its end, closed by a spring, and frequently provided with a lock in some form; but this lock invariably requires special attention to-unlock,being entirely distinct from the lever whichopens the Again, in ordinary traps the lever, by which the door is opened, is a stiff double -wire, projecting several inches above the top of the' cage, making an extremely awkward article to pack, and exposing the protruding levers to injury.

In my trap the movement of the lever in opening the box automatically unlocks the door, and when locked the handle does not project at all. It is in these respects that I have sought to improve upon the traps now in use, and the annexed drawings represent in convenient form a trap embodying my improvements- Figurey 1 showing the cage locked and the lever folded, while Fig. 2 showsvone'end of the trap opened and set.

The description will be confined to the illustration shown,leaving other forms to the skill of the constructors.

A is the trap, and B one of the hinged doors. Gis a coiled spring, secured to the top of the cage, and having formed integral with it the projecting loop D, by which its power is applied to a central bar, E, of the door B. The elasticity of the spring tends to closethe door by depressing the bar to which its loop is attached. This bar is bent near its middle in reverse obtuse angles, to form a seat for the loop of the spring C when the trap is sprung. The loopD thus exteuds'diagonally from the lower angle e of the central bar to the rod upon which the spring is coiled, and forms a simple and secure automatic lock, for that part of the bar E lying between its two angles is substantially perpendicular to the loop, and the tension of the spring tends to hold the loop in its seat e. While in this position the tenacity of the wire composing the loop D resists any outward pressure upon the door B. This double function of the spring-lock C D is a lpeculiar feature of my invention. The locking arrangement may be somewhat modiled, if desired; but I consider the method described as the most convenient.

Fis the lever for unlocking and setting the trap. It consists, preferably, of a wire, doubled as shown, and pivoted near its ends loosely upon a wire, b, of the door, located just beneath the one a, which forms the corner of the cage, and the fulcrum for the lever F. Before the lever bears upon this fulcrum to open the door, it releases the lock by a movement preliminary to that of setting the trap. The lever is formed lwith an inward prolongation or shoulder, f, adjoiningits points of attachment to the door. When the lever is raised, preparatory to opening the trap, this shoulder presses against the key G, which is a wire bail piv-oted by oentf to the lever-pivots. Pressure of the shoulders f upon this key forces the extremity of the spring-loop D fromits seat in the lower angle of the bar E backward and upward beyond thus unlocking the door and the upper angle,

2 l l u 7,198

brises@ *tesi-ever F to bear ,I1-ptn gft-s Meran-1 the inner surface of the door, which will thus be opened widely by bringing the lever into-'a' horizontal position upon the top of the trap,

where it is held in *the snl wayby ajtriggeflconnection with the bait, as in Fig. 2. It is obvious that when the lever is releasedfrorn this connection the spring will eloseth door, and the look will automatically secure it, while the lever will be suspended loosely at the front of the door, so that neither c'nd of it -shallr project beyond the corners of the -trap.`

l claim as my invention- 1. A setting-lever for animal-traps, adapted to be unfolded or extended for setting the trap,

shut 'when sprung within the; limits of the end of the trap, substantially as and to fold or and vvfor the purposes `set forth.

2. A wire cage having `a. hinged door, a

spring, and an automatic-locking device, i'nlv combination 'with a lever, "arranged p and open l'tl1'*'e"rloor and to s't the tmp, adapted to drop down when the trap issprung into a position, substantially coincident with and not projecting beyond the door, for the 'puxposeset 'forth.

3. A wire cage having a hinged door and an operating-spring, in combination with a. lock- !ing ewice, ttdal't'lcl yto operate automatically when the trap is "sprung, and an unlocking device, which serves to unfasten the door by Ia"nnox'fermmt'of the lever used iii-setting the trap, substantially as set forth.

4. The combination, with the trap A and hinged door B, provided with the bent bar E,

of the spring-loop C D, having the double function herein described'.

FRANK E. RICE.

Witnesses z A. H. SPENCER, C. G. Knus.

Images