CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS ON MACHINES OR APPARATUS FOR CATCHING AND DESTROYING OF RATS AND OTHER VERMIN;
Year: 1818

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
TAYLOR, of Kingston, in the County of Surrey, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain and Ireland,
bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-sixth day of May, in the fifty-eighth
year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the said Henry Taylor, my
exors, admors, and assigns, His special licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Henry Taylor, my exors, admors, and assigns,
during the term of years therein specified, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, and also in all His Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad,
my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS ON MACHINES OR APPARATUS FOR
CATCHING AND DESTROYING OF RATS AND OTHER VERMIN;" in which said Letters
Patent there is contained a proviso, that if I, the said Henry Taylor, shall
not particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, and cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within four calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent, that then the said Letters Patent,
and all liberties and advantages whatsoever thereby granted, shall utterly
cease, determine, and become void, as in and by the same, relation being there-
unto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Henry Taylor, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described and
ascertained in and by the Drawings hereunto annexed, and the following
description thereof (that is to say):-
In Fig. 1 is delineated the plan of a box, two feet long, fourteen inches wide,
and thirteen inches deep, more or less, wherein are placed five transverse par-
titions, five inches high and half an inch thick, marked A, A, A, A, and B,
with holes at the alternate ends to admit of the rats and other vermin to pass
and repass therein at their pleasure, and resembling a burrow. The centre
partition marked B should be three-quarters of an inch thick, and made with
a mortice in the centre, into which mortice is to be afterwards inserted an
upright pillar or standard, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5, and there marked C;
Over these partitions and resting thereon are placed two sliding bottoms or
partitions, which are to be let into the box by a groove. These two sliding
bottoms or partitions should together cover the whole area of the interior of
the box, and in each of them are cut two holes sufficiently large for the rats or
other vermin to pass through at their pleasure, as shewn in Fig. 1, by the
letters D, D, D, D. At cach end of the box should be made an aperture, and
fitted with a sliding door or shutter in a groove, which should work or travel
with ease, also shewn in Fig. 1 by the letters E, E, and in Fig. 5 by the
letter E. These doors should have stops to prevent their being drawn entirely
out of the grooves, and are made with hooks or pins for attaching strings or
chains, and which strings or chains are shewn in Fig. 2 by the letters W, and
in Fig. 4 and 5 by the letters X; and with an eye or staple for affixing a bell,
as shewn by the letter Y in Fig. 4, to give notice by the falling of the doors
when the rats or other vermin are caught; a tug or handle is placed at each
end of the box for the purpose of lifting it, and serving also to check the spring
bell. Next above the sliding bottoms or partitions already described, and
resting on them are placed two iron transverse partitions, four inches from the
ends of the box, and six inches high, with bottoms, as shewn in Fig. 2 by the
letters F, F, and in Fig. 3 by the same letter. These partitions are made
with an aperture at one end sufficiently large to admit of rats and other vermin
passing easily through, and fitted with sliding doors or shutters in a groove, as
shewn in Fig. 3 by the letter G, and which should work or travel with ease. At
the end of these partitions is an aperture, as shewn in Fig. 3 by the letter_H,
two inches high, and one inch and a half wide, with two wires dividing the aper-
ture perpendicularly into three equal parts, and making it thereby impassable.
This aperture is one inch from the end of the transverse partition in which it

page_text: is made, and half an inch from the sliding floor. The transverse partition has
a wire frame attached to it, about three inches within that end where the in-
passable aperture is made, standing at right angles with it, and extending to
the nearest end of the box, as shewn in Fig. 2 by the letters I, I, and in Fig. 3
by the dotted line marked J. One of the apertures of this wire frame is one
inch and three quarters wide, and the others half an inch only; the top and
bottom of the frame which connects the upright wires has two holes each in
the large aperture in order to pass a thread through, which divides this aperture
into three equal parts. Over the last-mentioned transverse partitions and resting
thereon is a wire grating with a frame around it, the wires of which grating
are sufficiently close to prevent the rats or other vermin from passing through.
This wire grating, which is shewn in Fig. 2 and 3 by the letters K, K, has a
hook affixed to the under side of it, as shewn in Fig. 2 by the letter I, the
upper end of which hook passes through the lid of the box and reaches one
inch above it. The lower part, on which the bait is fixed, is three inches from the
sliding floor or bottom; this hook is connected to the wire grating with an eyc
or staple, on which it works like a hinge, at the extremity of the shank, marked
M, or it may be connected to it by means of a spring next above the wire
grating; and about one inch from it is placed the lid, hung with hinges, and
having a lock, as to a common box. This lid has a mortice in the centre, cor-
responding with that already described, in the centre partition at the bottom,
and for the same purpose as there mentioned; an eye or staple is also fixed at
each end of the lid, as shewn in Fig. 4 or 5 by the letter N, for a string or
chain to pass through. The parts marked O, O, Fig. 4 and 5, represent the
foot or base of an upright pillar or standard, which foot or base is made of iron
or other metal, eighteen inches long and twelve inches wide. In the centre of
this foot or base is screwed the lower part of the pillar or standard marked C
in Fig. 4 and 5, and which lower part of the pillar or standard is sixteen inches
high, one inch and a half wide, and three-quarters of an inch thick, which
passes easily through the mortices in the centre of the box, and the upper end
is bevelled, as shewn in Fig. 5; the upper end of this lower part of the pillar
or standard is also made with a nut or socket, into which the upper part,
marked P, P, in Fig. 4 and 5, is screwed. This upper part is twelve inches
long and five-eighths of an inch diameter, and is made with an arm or stay,
placed obliquely about three inches from the top, as shewn by the letter C in
Fig. 5. In a groove at the top of this pillar or standard is placed an horizontal
bar or steelyard, as shewn by the letter R in Fig. 5, and which bar or steel-
yard is twelve inches long, one inch wide, and one-eighth of an inch thick, and
is affixed to the upper part of the pillar or standard by a pin passing trans-

page_text: versely through the top and through a hole in the bar or steelyard one inch
from the end, so as to work or travel freely on this pin as a hinge or centre.
There is also a groove in the top of the rim or stay for the steelyard to rest in,
and a hook at the side to keep the bar or steelyard in an horizontal position
whilst setting the trap. Fig. 6 represents a box which is used for the purpose
of removing the rats or other vermin from the large trap for the purpose of
drowning them, and may also be used for catching by the introduction of the
bait hook, &c., described in the Specification of the large trap; it is made eighteen
inches long, four inches wide, and four inches deep, with a sliding door or
shutter at one or at both ends; an aperture is made in the top eight inches long
and the whole width of the box, and which aperture is covered with a piece of
wire grating; a door is made in one side, three inches square, as shewn by the
letter Z; a plug is also used, about three inches long, and fitted to the square
of the box, for the purpose of confining the rats or other vermin at one end
when the box is used for drowning them. The trap may be used with or
without the steelyard, as occasion may required. To set it with the steelyard,
the lower part of the pillar or standard, marked C in Fig. 4 and 5, must be
screwed into the foot or base, marked O, and passed through the mortices in
the centre of the box; the box must then be elevated two inches from the
floor by means of a plug or wedge; the upper part of the pillar or standard
having the horizontal bar or steelyard must then be screwed into the lower
part, as it appears in Fig. 5, and the hook S must be placed over the steelyard
to keep it level; the string or chain must now be affixed to one of the doors
or shutters, which door or shutter must be drawn up to a stop prepared in the
frame or groove, and the string or frame passed over the short arm of the
horizontal bar or steelyard and fastened to the hook of the other door or
shutter, which must also be drawn close up to its stop; a weight must now
be placed on the long arm of the steelyard to keep the box to its present
elevation, the plug or wedge placed under the box must be removed, and the
hook taken off the steelyard; the box will then be suspended on the short
arm of the steelyard and balanced by the weight on the other, as shewn in
Fig. 5. The box or trap being baited between the sliding floor and the wire
grating; the rats or other vermin are allured to the inside, and by their weight
preponderating the box, the string or chain slips from the short arm of the
horizontal bar or steelyard, the box falls to the ground and the doors are closed;
the falling of the door sets the spring bell, which is affixed to it, in motion, and
gives notice of the vermin being within. The weight on the long arm of the
horizontal bar or steelyard may be adjusted according to its distance from the
pillar or standard, so as to catch any number of rats or other vermin. To use

page_text: the trap without the steelyard, the doors or shutters, marked T in Fig. 5,
must be drawn up and fastened in that position by a string or chain passing
from one to the other. The doors or shutters of the transverse partitions,
marked V in Fig. 8, must have threads affixed to them; each door must be
drawn up to the top of the partition, leaving the aperture open for the rats or
other vermin to pass through; the thread is then brought through a notch or
hole in the top of the partition (and over the door or shutter) to the wire frame
at the other end, and is there passed and repassed through the holes in the top
and bottom of the large aperture, as shewn by the letters U, U, in Fig. 2, and
fastened. The bait is placed within the wire frame, and being seen through
the aperture, marked H in Fig. 3, the rats or other vermin are decoyed
through the aperture, marked G, to the inside of the division or gallery formed
by this partition; the wire frame which stands before the bait being made
impassable by the thread from the door, the rats or other vermin bite the
thread and the door closes upon them.
Another method of using the trap without the steelyard is as follows:-A
string or chain must be fastened to one of the doors or shutters, marked T, with
a ring at the other end, which string or chain must be so long as to reach from
the door or shutter (when drawn up) to within three inches of the mortice in
the lid of the box. A string or chain must be fastened to the other door also,
long enough to reach from that door (when drawn up) to the ring of the other
string and back to the mortice in the centre of the lid, as shewn in Fig. 2; this
string or chain must also have a ring at the end of it, but smaller than that
belonging to the other string, in order that it may pass through it. Both doors
are now drawn up, and the ring of the longest string being passed through the
other, it is next placed over the upper part of the hook L, which is brought
through the mortice in the lid. The hook being baited at the bottom, as soon
as the rats or other vermin take hold of it they pull it through the lid, and the
rings losing their stay, the doors fall, and the vermin are secured. When
rats or other vermin are caught in the large box or trap, the lid should be
opened and the sliding floor or bottom drawn out; the whole of the interior is
then exposed to view through the wire grating. The box, Fig. 6, must then be
placed against one of the apertures at the end of the trap and the rats or
vermin driven into it; this box is then removed from the trap and placed in
water until the rats or other verniin are drowned; the sliding bottoms or
partitions by which the box is divided into two separate heights. The iron
transverse partitions, marked F in Fig. 2 and 3, (by which the galleries are
formed at the ends of the trap,) together with the wire frames and doors
belonging to them, the wire grating under the lid (by which the rats or other

page_text: vermin are secured when the lid is opened, the hook attached to it, and the
strings from the doors, are all my own Invention; the upright pillar or
standard, with the horizontal bar or steelyard at top, the string or chain
from the doors, and the hook, together with all the parts belonging to it, and
the mode of inserting it through the box or trap, are also my own Inventions;
the spring bell attached to the doors, and the method of removing the rats or
other vermin for the purpose of drowning, and the construction of the drowning
box, are likewise my Inventions; and all of which Inventions I claim under
my present Patent. Tho' I have specified particular sizes and materials, yet I
do not confine myself to either, as both may be varied according to the
circumstances under which their use may be required.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Taylor, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and eighteen.
HENRY TAYLOR. (L.S.)
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-fourth day of Septem-
ber, in the year of our Lord 1818, the aforesaid Henry Taylor came before
our said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Twenty-fourth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eighteen.