Improvements in Rat and other like Vermin Traps.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 30th July, 1890
Complete Specification Left, 14th Mar., 1891-Accepted, 2nd May, 1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Rat and other like Vermin Traps.
I, GEORGE BAKER, Junior, of Great Hampton Row, in the City of Birming-
ham, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
This invention consists in so making or forming the said traps, in manner that
the same admit of being folded, or collapsed, in order that less space may be
occupied by them, in transit, or when stored away, when not in use.
Heretofore, the said traps, have been made to occupy at all times the same space,
when in and out of use. This defect is oftentimes inconvenient, as the space
occupied, is considerable.
According to my invention, I preferably make the trap of an elongated square
shaped figure, having four wire barred sides, and like ends, one of which, constitutes
the door, wherein a rat, or other animal, enters, when the same is raised. These
sides are jointed together, in manner that they admit of folding flat, when an
internal support or stay, and the ends, are turned inward and outward respec-
tively. Thus, the sides are jointed one to another, while the ends are jointed to the
ends of the side constituting the top.
The back end folds inwards, and flat against the inside of the said top side;
whilst the front end or door, turns outwardly upon the front end of the top side as
aforesaid.
The middle of the trap, is provided with a jointed and transversely directed
turn-down stay, in the form of a rectangular shaped frame, of the inside cross
section of the trap, which is alike unto a wire cage. This stay, when turned down
flat, to the bottom of the cage, admits of the sides as aforesaid, folding, but
when turned upright, or across the said inside, the same makes a rigid internal
support, by being itself rigid in its longer direction, which is the cross direction of
the said trap.
The back end is also rigid, or consists of a rigid frame of bars, jointed at its
upper side, and of an area alike unto the inside cross section of the trap, so that
when in use, the said back end is turned down, and fills up the open end, but when
out of use, the said back end is turned inwards.
The door of the trap, is alike unto the back end, other than it opens outwards,
instead of inwards, and is provided with a device for the keeping of the same
closed, when an animal is caught, by the turning aside of a depending and jointed
hook or wire, whose upper end has a catch, which engages with the extreme outer
end of a lever, connected inwardly to an extension, directed from the top side of
the middle part of the door, which has a spring connected to it, for its closing.
The means of keeping the door closed, consists of inclined upright brackets,
with a loosely connected and threaded transverse bar, which falls into its acting
position by gravity, when the door is released.
The back end and stay may be secured in their assigned positions when in use, by
hooks or other fastening means.
I preferably employ eye joints for the sides and ends, although they may be
jointed in any manner as may be desired, and although I have described a cage-
trap, in which two of the sides fold upon the other two, yet I may construct the
trap that the sides fold upon each other, and with an outside stay frame, instead of
an inside one.
GEORGE BAKER, JUNIOR.
By Henry Skerrett,
Agent for Applicant

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Rat and other like Vermin Traps.
I, GEORGE BAKER Junior of Great Hampton Row, in the City of Birmingham,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement :-
This invention consists in so making or forming the said traps, in manner that the
same admit of being folded or collapsed, in order that less space may be occupied
by them, in transit, or for stowing away, when not in use.
In making a trap, according to one form of my invention, I joint the bottom, top,
and side frames together, in manner that the same form an elongated quadrilateral
figure, having wire barred sides, and like ends, which latter are jointed alike unto
the said sides. One of the said ends forms the door, and the other the enclosing
back, which besides fulfilling the office of closing the end, also forms a stay for
preserving or keeping the figure of the trap, when opened out. This stay when
removed, or folded inwardly or outwardly to the plane of the top or bottom sides,
allows the said parts to fold flat, or be collapsed.
Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings, represents in perspective, a collapsible
or folding rat trap, constructed and arranged according to one form of my inven-
tion.
Figure 2 represents upon an enlarged scale, a cross section of the said rat trap,
exhibiting the joints of the same, while the dotted lines exemplify how the sides
with top and bottom, fold or make a changing parallelogram, on the same col-
lapsing. It will be seen that the terminations of the upright wires of the sides
themselves, are hinged or jointed to the opposite sides of the top and bottom
boundary frames respectively, in manner alike unto a quadrilateral figure, jointed
at its angles, so that the upper and lower superfices admit of approaching and
receding from each other, on the same being closed or opened out. The col-
lapsing of the trap, is performed by turning the back end frame, which con-
stitutes the stay, inwardly, parallel to the underside of the top framing, and the
front end frame, which constitutes the door, turned outwardly, and in the same
plane as the back end frame.
Figure 3 represents a transverse section of the said cage, upon the same scale as
Figure 2, collapsed, or nearly collapsed, as when fully collapsed, the top and under-
sides lie nearly parallel.
Figure 4 represents a plan of a portion of the trap, or a plan of a trap, with a
portion broken away, when collapsed.
Figure 5 is a back end view, upon the same scale as Figures 2, 3, and 4, showing
how the back end frames forms the stay, for keeping the jointed frames rigid, when
the same make one with each other, right angles.
Figure 6 shows a portion of the back end of the trap, at right angles to the view
Figure 5.
a and bare wire barred top and bottom sides, with boundary framings a², a³, a, a,
62, 63, 6, to which the extremities of opposite side bars c, are jointed at ²; in
other words, the extremities of the said bars c, are turned eye or loop wise
around the bars a², a, b, 62, hence the connecting together of the top and bottom
horizontal wire barred sides to the vertical wire barred sides, and which connection
is made joint-wise, so as to admit of the same folding one upon another, as repre-
sented in Figure 3. The back end frame d, has a boundary framing d², with the
upper opposite ends of the vertical sides, hung joint-wise at d', to the boundary
end a³ of the top framing a, so as to admit of the same turning inwards, while
depending downwards from the lower edge of the said framed, are bending and
embracing wires d³ (shown by dotted lines Figure 1,) coming within the inside of
the bar 63, of the lower frame b,.and forming stops, and when turned round the

page_text: bar, and over the lower bar 62, as shown at d, the said back end framing is
secured in position, and the whole structure made rigid thereby. I wish it to be
understood, that the said jointed framings, may be made rigid, or their shape
preserved when open, by a jointed quadrilateral or four sided stay or stays, which
take the place of the back end frame, and further, that the eyes of the con-
nections may be made angular, wherein wires or pegs of a like figure may be
inserted, so as to prevent the frames constituting the sides, from turning upon
their connections as joint centres. e is the door, consisting of a wire barred frame,
jointed at its upper part to the bar a of the top framing a. e is an extended wire
arm, for taking upon the upper hook of the jointed bait hook f, depending
into the interior of the trap. g is a frame, jointed at 2. to the bar a and
adapted to block or fasten the door, after the same has been closed by a spring h.
Figure 7 represents in side elevation, a diagramatic view of a rat or vermin trap,
constructed and arranged according to another form of my invention. In this
arrangement, the opposite sides are double jointed, and fold inwardly, so that
the trap folds bellows or gusset-like, on the removal of the interior stay, or
back or front end, which is used as a stay, or in lieu of one. Figure S repre-
sents a transverse section of Figure 7, showing the double jointings of the sides,
and Figure 9 represents them collapsed or folded. The folding is performed, after
the back end (which may be hinged, as in the previous arrangement) and door have
been placed under and parallel to the top or bottom frame, according to whether
they are hinged to top or bottom. The back end may if necessary be detachable,
and so also may the front or door, and then subsequently applied, after the
body of the trap has been opened out. a is the top of the trap, the bottom,
d the back end, e the front end or door, and c are the sides, jointed about their
middles at 2, 3, and at their outer ends at a², a², 1, 2, hence the system or
frame so jointed, admits of the sides folding inwards, and the trap collapsing as
represented in Figure 9. I wish it to be understood, that I do not confine
myself to the method as shown of jointing the sides, as the same may be varied,
without departing from the nature of my invention; for example, the top and
bottom sides may be jointed and connected to the ends of the sides instead of
the sides to the tops and bottoms; and further, the said top and bottom frames,
and also the side frames, may have eye terminations or loops, wherethrough
longitudinally directed wires are threaded and pass, and form the joints upon
which the sides turn, and still further, the joints may be so arranged that the
trap springs open without the necessity of unfolding. If in the event of such
an arrangement, I propose that the spring should be made sufficiently strong to
keep the sides of the trap in a normal open position, without the employment of
holding or retaining stays.
Figure 10 represents a modification, in which the double jointed sides, are made
to fold outwardly instead of inwardly.
Figure 11 represents a cross section of a trap, constructed according to a
further form of my invention. Figure 12 represents the same folded out.
Figure 13 represents the said trap folded or collapsed, or partly so, as the end
frame shown may be turned flat upon the frame to which it is jointed. In this
arrangement, the top, bottom and sides, and also the ends, one of which forms
the door, are jointed to each other, in manner that they can fold out flat, when
connection of one of the sides is broken.
Thus, (as clearly shown in Figure 12,) the left-hand side of the trap, looking
from the back, is jointed to the right-hand extremity of the bottom or base,
while the top of the trap, is jointed to the sides, while the back end, is jointed
to the back part of the top, and with the door jointed to the front of the
said top.
The base may be of wood, metal, or other material.
a is the top frame of the trap, the bottom frame, c, c¹ the side frames, jointed'
to the sides of the boundary framing of the frame b, and to one side a³ of the

page_text: boundary framing of the frame a, at points c². As a converse method of jointing,
it may be observed, that the frames a and b, may be jointed if necessary to, or to
the adjacent bars of, the side frames e, c'. The outer side of the frame c', has
wire extensions which on the trap being opened out, and into an enclosing
position, as in Figure 11, are turned over the framing rod a², thereby connecting
the sides of the said quadrilateral figure together, which are then kept in a stayed
position by the back end d, taking into the open back of the frame thus made, and
there secured by the bending over of the wire extensions ³. The door or front
end, is hung from the top frame, or the upper part of the sides, and is provided
with the usual accessory parts common to wire traps now known.
In Figure 11, one of the connecting wires c³, is shown before turned over.
Instead of making the connection of the side e', with the bottom c, by bending
wires, the same may be made by eyes or loops of the one part, coming coincident
with eyes or loops of the other part, and then being connected together, by
threading or passing a wire through them, collectively, or in pairs.
I wish it to be further observed, that the connection joints of the parts, may be
made by links, or their equivalents.
Instead of the sides and top and bottom and back end being connected as
described in Figures 11, 12 and 13, they may be jointed in various ways, without
departing from the folding-out principle of my invention; for example the bottom
or base frame may have jointed at its two outside parts, the side framings, whilst
the back end of the said base or bottom framing, may have jointed and connected
to it, the back end, and to the top part of this back end, the rear end of the top
frame may also be jointed, with the fore part having jointed and connected to it
the door.
The application of my invention, for rabbits and other animals, differs in no
essential respect from its application to a rat trap as described.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, 1 declare that what 1
claim is :-
First: A rat, or other like vermin, or animal trap, having the whole of its sides,
or top, bottom, and sides, which constitute the enclosing frames or parts of the said
trap, jointedly connected together, or to each other, in manner, that the same admits
of folding, collapsing or lying flat, when not in use, substantially as, and for the
purpose, as described and set forth.
Secondly-In a collapsible, or folding rat or other like vermin, or animal trap, as
referred to in the preceding claim, supporting, staying or preserving the figure or
shape of the said trap when in use, by the back end framing, or its equivalent, in
the form of an open frame of the cross section of the trap, taking across and within,
or around or within the inside end of the jointed enclosing frame or frames, and
there secured, when necessary, by bending wires, clips, or their equivalents, as
described and set forth.
Thirdly A collapsible rat or other vermin or animal trap, substantially as
described and set forth in Figures 1 to 6.
Fourthly In a collapsible or folding rat or other like vermin or animal trap,
doubly jointing the sides, or the enclosing frames or parts of the said traps, as
described and set forth in Figures 7, 8, 9 and 10, whereby the said traps admit of
collapsing gusset or bellows wise, as set forth.
-
Fifthly In a folding rat or other like vermin or animal trap, making the same
up of a series of connected together enclosing frames, sides or parts, which when
made to enclose a quadrilateral or other figure, for use, are connected together, and
when not in use, the same admits of folding out, and lying flat and folding flat,
substantially as described and set forth in Figures 11, 12, and 13.
:-
Sixthly In a folding rat or other vermin or animal trap, with end stays for
preserving or keeping the figure of the same when in use, as described and set

page_text: forth in Figures 11, 12, and 13, and as described in the succeeding paragraph of
the Specification.
Dated this 5th day of March 1891.
GEORGE BAKER, JUNIOR.
By Henry Skerrett,
6, Livery Street, Birmingham, Agent for Applicant.
GEORGE BAKER, Junior.
By Henry Skerrett,
6, Livery Street, Birmingham, Agent for Applicant.