Crustacean trap

A crustacean trap, comprising:

• a plurality of serially connected monolithic, molded plastic, side panels forming a container, said side panels having edges serially adjacent in a closed configuration forming peripheral margins defining a portal providing unrestricted access to the interior of said container;
• an additional monolithic, molded plastic, side closure panel pivotally mounted on said first-mentioned side panels to be positionable within said portal, said side closure panel having peripheral edges respectively engaging the edges of said side panels between said plurality of serially connected panels for controlling access through said portal by pivoting between closed and open positions;
• means selectively latching said closure panel in its closed position contacting said peripheral margin;
• a bait receptacle having an open top and being supported by one of said first-mentioned monolithic side panels in a location adjacent to said portal with said open top adjoining and directly covered by the inside surface of said closure panel when in said closed position;
• and
• said bait receptacle being sufficiently smaller than said container so that crustaceans may be manually removed from said container through said portal by pivoting said closure panel to an open position and without moving said bait receptacle relative to said container side panels.

A crustacean trap, comprising:

• a plurality of substantially planar, monolithic, molded plastic, side panels having first margins including retaining means protruding transversely from the planes of said panels for engaging a base, having side margins disposed along edges transverse to said first margins, and having peripheral margins extending between said side margins;
• said side margins including locking means integral to said panels, having channels opening along directions transverse to the planes of said panels and terminating in distal projections;
• said locking means of adjacent panels retentively inter-engaging by assembly movement parallel to said side margins, in coupled pairs and serially interconnecting said plurality of panels as sides of a container, with said distal projections of one channel within the adjacent channel to be shielded within said channels from the exterior of said container;
• said peripheral margins defining a portal providing access to the interior of said container;
• a substantially planar, cover panel pivotally positioned within said portal between said plurality of serially interconnected side panels for controlling access through said portal;
• and
• funnel means within said cover panel having an aperture providing limited access into said interior and more limited egress from said interior for crustaceans;
• said one of said side panels including engageable studs disposed against said closure panel when in said closed position, and said bait receptacle includeing lugs having apertures releasably engaging around said engageable studs while said closure panel is in said open position and when said engageable studs engage against said closure panel when said controlling means is in said closed position said lugs are prevented from being disengaged from said studs.

A crustacean trap comprising:

• a plurality of serially connected monolithic, molded plastic, substantially planar, sides and a substantially planar base forming a container having an open side;
• a substantially planar, monolithic, molded plastic lid pivotally connected to said container for covering said open side;
• funnel means disposed into one of said sides and lid providing passage for crustaceans into said container and limiting their egress;
• and
• a pair of latches mounted on said serially connected sides to pivot about parallel axes from first positions re taining the edges of said lid against said serially connected sides to second positions permitting said edges of said lid to be pivoted away from said serially connected sides;
• means limiting the rotation of said latches respectively to only clockwise and counter clockwise rotation from said first positions to said second positions so that water pressure on said latches caused by relative movement between said trap and the water will, at most, exert a force to one of said latches toward said first position and simultaneously exert a force to the other of said latches toward said second position to prevent unintentional unlatching and opening of said lid during retrieval of the trap.

A crustacean trap, comprising:

• a plurality of monolithic, substantially planar, molded plastic, side panels serially connected together as sides of a container having a portal providing access to the interior of said container and top edges bordering said portal along each of said side panels;
• a substantially planar, molded plastic, cover panel having peripheral edges respectively overlapping horizontally and being supported on top of said top edges of each of said side panels;
• hinge means pivotally positioning said cover within said portal between said plurality of serially connected side panels for controlling access through said portal for pivotal movement of said cover between a closed position and an open position;
• said hinge means having its axis of cover rotation mounted on said side panels for transverse, horizontal shifting from the closed position wherein said cover peripheral edges overlap all of said top edges and said cover cannot pivot to said open position to a hinge shifted position wherein the cover peripheal edge portion adjacent one of said side panels is horizontally spaced from said one side panel to permit pivoting of said cover to said open position;
• funnel means providing passage to crustaceans disposed into one of said panels;
• and
• a base extending between the lower edges of said side panels to close the bottom of said container.