IMPROVEMENTS IN ANIMAL AND MAN TRAPS
Year: 1883

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said William Burgess at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 28th September 1883.
.
WILLIAM BURGESS of Malvern Wells in the County of Worcester. "IMPROVEMENTS
IN ANIMAL AND MAN TRAPS
"
My Invention relates to improvements in Spring traps, chiefly designed for rabbits
and other animals and it consists in the employment of a pair of curved shear like
gripping jaws, in combination with a spring and setting and releasing devices, the
jaws being so pivoted and arranged as to work in a vertical plane, so that when
released they will rise up and embrace the animals neck, the relative position of
the jaws and of the trigger plate or platform by which the release of the trap is
effected, being so arranged that from whichever side an animal may be advancing
the release of the trap will take place at about the instant the animals head has
passed beyond the jaws, so that the animal will be seized by the neck and instantly
killed instead of being caught by the limbs or body and mained or mutilated.
To this end the trigger plate or platform is so constructed and arranged that the
jaws, when the trap is set, lie across the middle of the plate and flush there with so
as not to obstruct the passage of the animal onto the plate, and so, when the
weight of the animals' fore feet comes on the plate, its head will have passed
beyond the jaws in whichever direction it may be advancing to cross the jaws and
it will consequently be seized around the neck upon the release of the trap which
will thereupon take place. The spring by which the jaws are operated and the
base plate upon which the mechanism of the trap is fixed, are bent at right angles
so as not to lie in line with and obstruct the passage of the animal onto the plate
or platform. The jaws are curved towards one another so as to ensure that the
animal shall be seized by them when the trap is released, and instantly killed.
In order that my Invention may be more readily understood, I have illustrated
7

page_text: it in the drawings accompanying and forming part of this Specification, and I
will proceed to more fully describe the construction of the trap with reference
thereto.
Figure 1 is a side elevation
Figure 2 an end elevation and
Figure 3 a plan of the trap set.
A A are the two jaws of the curved form shown pivoted at a to a stud rising
from the base plate and working past one another, like the blades of a pair of
shears although their edges are neither sharpened or serrated. B is the trigger
plate or platform by which the release of the trap is effected. It is pivoted at b
to the base of the trap and provided with a catch c for the latch C to engage with
as usual to retain the spring when the trap is set. D is the spring by which the
trap is operated. It is provided with a loop d which when the spring is released
rises and by embracing the jaws A forcibly closes them together. The plate B
surrounds the pivotal centre of the jaws A, being constructed with an aperture or
gap to allow the loop d and the end of the spring to be depressed through the
plate sufficiently to allow the jaws to lie flush with the surface of the plate as
shown in Figure 3. For this purpose the plate is formed with a slot or gap in the
line of the jaws for the jaws to lie in when the trap is set, the two portions of the
plate at either side of the jaws being rigidly connected at the opposite side to that
at which the spring is situated by a downwardly curved bridge piece B' rivetted
to or formed on the plate so that the two portions of the plate act as one.
spring D and the base E on which it is fixed are each bent at a right angle
as shown so that the greater portion of their length lies in a direction passing
to one side of the plate B instead of being situated in the centre line of the trap
as usual.
The
The trap may also be employed as a man trap for burglars in which case it
would be made proportionally larger than for animals.
Having described the nature of the said Invention and the manuer of
performing the same I declare that what I claim as new and desire to secure by
Letters Patent is :
1. A Spring trap consisting of a pair of curved shear-like gripping jaws arranged
and operating as described in combination with a spring to operate them and with
suitable setting and releasing devices substantially as shown and described.
2. The improved construction of spring trap for animals and burglars wherein
the trigger plate or platform whereby the trap is released, is so formed and
arranged in combination with a pair of pivoted gripping jaws as to surround the
centre of motion of the jaws and admit of the jaws lying flush with or below the
level of said plate when the trap is set, substantially as and for the purpose
described and shown in the drawings.
In witness whereof I the said William Burgess have hereunto set my hand
and seal this twenty seventh day of September A.D. 1883.