Back to results
US 4,733,494 AGranted
Animal trap
OwnerOscar F. Johnson, Frandell O. Johnsoninventors
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An animal trap having a pair of elongated rods joined to jaws that are bias to a closed position with a coil spring. The coil spring is concentrically located about a pivot pin that pivotally joins the mid-sections of the rods together. An over-centered toggle trip mechanism is pivotally connected to the rods to hold the jaws in their open position. The trip mechanism has a trigger operable by the animal to be trapped to move the over-center toggle trip mechanism to a position wherein it collapses whereby the spring biases the jaws to their closed positions.
Claims20
An animal trap comprising:
- animal holding means having a first rod, first animal holding jaw attached to the first rod, a second rod located adjacent the first rod, second animal holding jaw attached to the second rod and located in general transverse alignment with the first jaw, means pivotally mounting the first rod to the second rod whereby the first and second jaws are movable relative to each other between an open position and a closed position, coil spring means located adjacent a portion of the means pivotally mounting the first rod to the second rod, said coil spring means cooperating with the first and second rods to bias the first and second jaws to the closed position, and a trigger mechanism for holding the first and second jaws in the open position against the force of the spring means, said trigger mechanism having an over center release means pivotally mounted on the first and second rods, and trip finger means pivotally mounted on the release means for movement between a set position and a trip position, said release means being released when the finger means is moved from the set position to the release position by an animal whereby the spring means moves the first and second jaws to the closed position to trap the animal between the first and second jaws.
An animal trap comprising:
- an elongated linear first rod having an end, first animal holding jaw attached to the end of the first rod and extended generally normal therefrom, an elongated linear second rod laterally spaced from the first rod having an end, second animal holding jaw joined to the end of the second rod and extended generally normal thereto, said first and second animal holding jaws being laterally spaced from each other, means pivotally mounting the first rod to the second rod for pivotal movement about an axis generally normal to the longitudinal extent of said first and second rods, said means pivotally mounting the first rod and second rod including a first plate joined to the first rod and a second plate joined to the second rod, said first and second plates having overlapped portions, said overlapped portions having aligned holes, a pivot pin extended through said holes located between first and second rods, spring means located around said pivot pin, said spring means having a first end engageable with the first rod remote from said jaws, and a second end engageable with the second rod remote from said jaws whereby the spring means biases the first and second arms to move the jaws to a closed position, a trigger mechanism operatively connected to said arms between said pivot pin and said jaws to hold the first and second jaws in the open position against the force of the spring means, said trigger mechanism having an overcenter toggle linkage including a first arm pivotally mounted on the first rod and a second arm pivotally mounted on the second rod, pivot means pivotally connecting the first arm with the second arm, said first arm having a stop engageable with the second rod to hold the pivot means in a down off-center position thereby holding the rods in an apart set position, said trigger mechanism including trip finger means pivotally mounted on one of said arms, said finger means having a member engageable with a rod on movement of the finger means from a set position to a release position whereby the spring means moves the first and second jaws to a closed position to trap the animal between the first and second jaws.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.