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US 4,047,321 AGranted
Animal trap
OwnerLloyd Carl Thorninginventor
Life of this patent
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OwnerLloyd Carl Thorninginventor
Estimating the term…
There is provided an animal trap comprising a spiral spring which has a fixed inner end portion and a movable outer end portion and which is extendible to a stressed condition wherein the movable outer end portion of the spring is in engagement with support faces presented by the outer ends of two pivotally interconnected levers, these support faces being vertically above pivotal connections between the outer ends of the levers and links which are pivotally connected to a frame of the trap. With the spring in this stressed condition thereof a bait holder is disposed within the coils of the spring so that when an animal attempts operatively to gain access to bait on the bait holder the bait holder is tilted to contact either directly or indirectly one or both of the levers with resultant upward movement of the pivotal connection between the levers, the substantially vertically downward forces exerted by the outer end portion of the spring on the support faces causing the levers, when in this position, to pivot with a snap action to a position in which the support faces release the outer end portion of the spring as a result of the inward movement of these support faces. The animal in question is killed as the spring returns to its inert or out-of-use condition by the shearing action of the appropriate adjacent coils of the spring on the neck of the animal. Since with the spring in its stressed condition the spacing between the adjacent coils of the spring increases progressively from the fixed inner end portion to the outer end portion of the spring and since the distance between the coils of the spring and the bait holder likewise increases progressively from the fixed inner end portion to the outer end portion of the spring the trap can be used to kill in the same humane manner a variety of animals within a predetermined range of sizes.
An animal trap comprising a spiral spring having a fixed inner end portion and a movable outer end portion the spring having a plurality of coils and being extendible to a stressed condition thereof, a movable bait holder which is so mounted as to be within the coils of the spring when the spring is in said stressed condition thereof, a support with which said outer end portion of the spring is engageable when in said stressed condition thereof to retain the spring in said stressed condition thereof, and a linkage mechanism through which the bait holder is engageable with the support, the linkage mechanism being operable, by movement of the bait holder under the influence of an animal attempting to remove bait from the bait holder, to move the support for release of said outer end portion of the spring therefrom with resultant retraction of the spring from its stressed condition during which adjacent coils of the spring between which the neck of the animal is disposed exert a shearing action on the neck of the animal to kill the animal.
An animal trap comprising a frame, a spiral spring having an inner end portion fixed to the frame and a movable outer end portion, the spring having a plurality of coils and being extendible to a stressed condition thereof, a movable bait holder which is so mounted on the frame as to be within the coils of the spring when the spring is in said stressed condition thereof, and a linkage mechanism comprising two levers having inner ends which are pivotally interconnected, and two links each of which has a lower end pivotally connected to an outer end of a respective one of the levers and an upper end pivotally connected to the frame, the levers having support faces which are in substantially vertical alignment with the pivotal connections between the outer ends of the levers and the lower ends of the links and with which, when the spring is in said stressed condition thereof, said outer end portion of the spring is engageable, whereby to exert substantially vertically downward forces on said support faces, to retain the spring in said stressed condition thereof, and the pivotal interconnection between the inner ends of the levers being upwardly movable, with resultant inward movement of said support faces, under the influence of movement of the bait holder caused by an animal attempting to remove bait from the bait holder, for release of said outer end portion of the spring from said support faces with resultant retraction of the spring from its stressed condition during which adjacent coils of the spring between which the neck of the animal is disposed exert a shearing action on the neck of the animal to kill the animal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.