Reuseable rodent trap

A reusable trap capable of trapping rodents alive is self-locking. The trap comprises an elongated tube with a first terminus entry opening and a second terminus having a moveable closure door. A trapping door and latch means are mounted within the elongated tube in a manner which allows the trapping door to swing inwardly towards the second terminus by a pushing force supplied by the rodent. The latching means ensures that the trapping door cannot fully swing outwardly towards the first terminus nor can the door be pulled inwardly. A support member secured to the elongated tube at or near the second terminus elevates the second terminus and provides a slightly upwardly slope towards the second terminus when the trap is placed on a horizontal surface. The upward slope enhances the initial appeal of the bait and the trap to the rodent. The rodent trap is economical because of its reusability feature, easy to safely bait and set, and allows the individual homeowner or maintenance worker the option of killing the rodent or releasing it alive at a remote location.

This invention relates to a rodent trap. More particularly, it relates to a 
reusable rodent trap which effectively traps a rodent and allows for a 
clean disposal of the rodent alive or dead. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
Devices to trap rodents such as mice, rats and other small varmint have 
been extensively used throughout the world for many years. A very common 
and well known trap is a spring-loaded trap. A trapping spring is tripped 
when bait placed on a tripping pad is disturbed sufficiently to release 
the spring. The rodent is usually killed instantly. The trap is well 
accepted and is economical. There are some drawbacks, though. Care must be 
taken when loading bait onto the tripping pad and when placing the loaded 
trap to ensure the individual's fingers are not inadvertently caught in 
the trap. The sprung trap can also be a danger to small children and pets. 
Once a rodent is trapped, the unpleasant task remains of picking up the 
trap with the dead rodent and disposing of it. The trap itself, while it 
can be reused, normally is not. Removing a dead rodent from the trap is 
simply avoided. 
Many attempts have been made to build a better mousetrap. Examples are 
found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,103,448, 4,578,892, 4,727,677, 4,744,170, 
4,782,620, 4,787,170 and 5,005,312. They all suffer for one or more 
reasons. As many have discovered, a rodent trap which is capable of 
competing in the marketplace with the conventional spring-loaded rodent 
traps has proved elusive. Any new rodent trap must be economical. It must 
be easy to use. It, of course, must be effective. Ideally, any new rodent 
trap must not only have all the economical, ease of use and effectiveness 
attributes of the conventional spring-loaded traps, but also have another 
attribute which the general public will readily appreciate. 
In accord with a need, there has now been developed a rodent trap which has 
all the attributes of known rodent traps as well as added attributes. The 
rodent trap of the invention is economical, especially considering its 
multi-use capability. It is very easy to bait and to set. There are no 
concerns with its use, either during a bait setting stage, trapped rodent 
stage, or a disposal stage. It has also proved effective. Very 
importantly, the trap offers the user the option of killing the trapped 
rodent or releasing it in another location where it poses no concern to 
the individual user, e.g. a remote rural area. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
A rodent trap has a self-locking door which allows a rodent to be trapped 
alive and subsequently disposed of. The trap is reusable. It comprises an 
elongated tube with a first terminus serving as an entry opening for the 
rodent. A second terminus of the tube has a closure door which is mounted 
to close-off the tube. Bait is placed in the tube at or near the second 
terminus. The closure door blocks the rodent's exit through the second 
terminus. It also allows full access to the tube's interior for baiting 
and rodent removal purposes when opened. A trapping door and latch means 
is mounted within the elongated tube near the tube's first terminus. The 
trapping door is pivotally mounted to allow it to swing inwardly upon 
force being applied by the rodent as it travels through the tube to the 
bait. The latching means prevents the door from swinging back outwardly or 
to be pulled inwardly, thereby trapping the rodent. The elongated tube 
also has a support member near the second terminus so that the tube slopes 
upwardly when placed on a horizontal surface, thereby enhancing the trap's 
appeal to the rodent.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
The rodent trap of the invention is described with reference to the 
drawings. It is particularly effective for trapping mice, and, given the 
prevalence of mice in many households and other dwellings, finds its most 
use as a mousetrap. Other rodents such as rats, chipmunks, and shrews are 
also effectively trapped and the rodent trap of the invention is intended 
for such trapping purposes. The dimensions of the trap and the bait used 
to attract the rodent are readily adjusted according to intended use as 
further discussed below. 
With reference to FIGS. 1-3, there is shown the reusable rodent trap 10 of 
the invention. The trap 10 comprises as its essential components an 
elongated tube 11, a support member 12, a closure door 13, a trapping door 
14 and a latch means 15. Each of the components and their interactions are 
described in detail in the following paragraphs. 
The elongated tube 11 is dimensioned to receive and hold the rodent. It is 
straight and has a circular cross-section. It can as well have another 
shape cross-section such as square or oblong, though generally does not 
because of cost reasons. The dimensions of the elongated tube must 
accommodate the rodent to be trapped. For mice and other similarly sized 
small rodents, the tube preferably has an inside diameter of from about 
one inch to about two inches and a length of from about four inches to 
about eight inches. For rats and similarly sized large rodents, the inside 
diameter and the length of the elongated tube must be larger, e.g about 
two inches to about three inches in diameter and about six inches to about 
ten inches in length. Generally, the tube is made as small as possible for 
its intended use to minimize manufacturing costs and to make the trap as 
inconspicuous as possible. The tube 11 is made of plastic. It can be made 
of other rigid and durable materials such as glass or metal, though the 
plastic is highly preferred because of cost and use reasons. 
The elongated tube 11 has a first terminus 16 and a second terminus 17. The 
first terminus 16 serves as an open entry for the rodent. The second 
terminus 17 provides a means to add bait or free the trapped rodent when 
the closure door is in an opened position. 
As best seen in FIG. 3, the support member 12 is secured at or near the 
second terminus 17 of the elongated tube 11. Its purpose is to elevate the 
second terminus of the tube so that the tube is sloped upwardly when 
placed on a horizontal surface. It has been found that rodents, especially 
mice, seem attracted to the upwardly sloping nature of the trap and are 
more inclined to enter the tube and continue into it if it must climb to 
reach the bait. The support member 12 is a rigid plate with a flat base 18 
for stability purposes. It has a height of at least about 50 mils, 
preferably about 100 mils to about 500 mils from its base to the lowest 
point of the tube's second terminus. The height of the support base is set 
to provide a slope of from about three degrees to about twenty degrees to 
the horizontal. The support member is preferably made of plastic to match 
the tube and is secured by an adhesive or heat welding to the tube. As 
shown, the support member 12 extends only partially up the side of the 
tube for economy of raw material reasons. 
The closure door 13 is movably attached to the support member 12 so as to 
be readily moved between closed and open positions. As best seen in FIG. 
3, a rivet 20 extends through a lower corner of the support member 12 and 
the closure door 13. The door rotates about the rivet 20 to go from the 
open position shown in FIG. 3 to the closed position shown in FIG. 1. It 
basically slides across the second terminus of the tube to seal it closed. 
When opened, the interior of the elongated tube 11 is accessible for 
loading bait into it or for removing any trapped rodent. The closed 
position is used when the trap is baited and positioned for trapping 
purposes. 
It is highly preferred that the closure door 13 have an air hole 21 through 
it, as seen in FIG. 3, to allow aromas from the bait to whiff out through 
it and into the environs. This, of course, is needed to attract the rodent 
into the general vicinity of the rodent trap 10 and ultimately fully into 
the elongated tube 11 of the trap. The air hole is preferably 
approximately centered in the closure door. It has a diameter sufficiently 
large to allow the aroma to readily escape from the tube, but not so large 
that the rodent can squeeze through it. A diameter of from about 100 mils 
to about 300 mils is generally adequate. 
The trapping door 14 and latching means 15 of the rodent trap are located 
near the first terminus 16 of the elongated tube 11. The trapping door is 
self-locking. It allows the rodent to travel past it on its way to the 
bait, but does not allow the rodent to retrace its steps to the first 
terminus. 
The trapping door has a shape which conforms to the cross-section of the 
elongated tube. The trapping door 14 illustrated is flat and has a 
circular shape slightly smaller in diameter than the inside diameter of 
the elongated tube 11. It is made of a plastic or preferably made of a 
material such as metal which will withstand a gnawing action by the 
trapped rodent. It is pivotally mounted in the tube to swing substantially 
fully inwardly towards the second terminus 17, but swing only a limited 
extent outwardly towards the first terminus 16. A pivot pin 22 extends 
through the walls of the tube and through the trapping door above the 
mid-point of each. Preferably, the pivot pin is horizontally mounted in 
the tube at about one-eighth to about one-fourth the distance from the 
tube's uppermost surface. Optimum door swinging motion is achieved when so 
mounted. A front face has a hook or loop fastener material 23 attached to 
it and is a part of the latch means further described below. 
The latch means 15 forming a part of the invention works in conjunction 
with the trapping door 14 to allow the rodent to pass freely and fully 
into the elongated tube, but blocks its egress therefrom. With reference 
to FIG. 2, the latch means includes the hook or loop fastener material 23 
attached to the trapping door 14 and mating hook or loop fastener material 
24 mounted directly in front of the trapping door and within the elongated 
tube 11. The two fastener materials are operably associated to make 
contact when the trapping door is forced outwardly by a force, such as the 
rodent pushing the trapping door towards the first terminus in its attempt 
to escape the trap by way of its entry path into the trap. Hook or look 
fastener materials are commonly referred to as Velcro and are commercially 
available. The hook or loop fastener material 24 is wrapped around a shaft 
25 and the shaft is secured to inside walls of the tubes as to contact the 
mating hook or loop fastener material 23 attached to the trapping door 14. 
In operation, the rodent trap is first baited to attract the rodent. This 
is conveniently done by swinging the closure door open and placing the 
bait fully within the tube or smearing it onto an inside surface of the 
closure door. The closure door is now swung to the fully closed position 
and the trap placed where rodent activity has been noticed. A level 
surface is not necessary for proper operation. The trap will work on 
virtually any surface, even or uneven. The rodent is attracted to the trap 
by the bait. It eventually realizes that it must enter the elongated tube 
at the first terminus to get the bait. As seen in FIG. 4, the rodent 
pushes the trapping door inwardly towards the second terminus. The 
trapping door is capable of swinging sufficiently out of the way to allow 
the rodent to crawl under it and fully into the elongated tube as seen in 
FIG. 5. The door returns to its rest position once the rodent has fully 
entered. The bait is consumed and then the rodent attempts to leave by the 
path it entered. It initially pushes on the trapping door as shown in FIG. 
6. The hook or loop fastener material on the face of the trapping door 
contacts the mating hook and loop fastening material mounted on the shaft 
directly in front of the trapping door. The two hook or loop fastener 
materials interact to hold firmly together. The trapping door cannot be 
pushed far enough to allow the rodent to pass under it, nor can it be 
pulled back inwardly because of the latch means. The rodent is trapped 
alive with no means of escape. 
Ultimately, the individual home owner or maintenance worker will return to 
find the trapped rodent. The rodent can be killed by simply leaving it in 
the trap until it dies of starvation or it can be drowned by immersing the 
rodent while still in the trap into water. Alternatively, the trap and 
rodent can be transported to a remote location such as a rural area and 
released alive. 
The rodent trap can be used again with or without cleaning. The trap is 
durable and can be repeatedly used until the premises are rid of rodents. 
The trap's capability of being reused makes it economical. It is safe to 
bait. No poisons are used. There is no danger to children or household 
pets. As should be apparent, there is no mess such as results from use of 
the conventional spring-loaded traps. Removal of the rodent from the trap 
either dead or alive is not an onerous task. Most importantly, the rodent 
trap of the invention is effective for its stated purpose. 
While the invention has been described in detail with particular reference 
to the drawings, it should be understood modifications and changes can be 
made to the rodent trap. All such modifications or changes of an obvious 
nature are considered within the scope of the appended claims.