Improved Trap for Moles or other Vermin.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 5th Dec., 1892
Complete Specification Left, 4th Sept., 1893-Accepted, 7th Oct., 1893
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improved Trap for Moles or other Vermin.
We, WILLIAM BIRCHALL of 6 Redbank, Manchester Mechanic, and
ROUGHSEDGE WALLWORK of the Firm of Henry Wallwork & Co. of Union
Bridge Iron Works, Manchester in the County of Lancaster, Engineer do hereby
declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
Our invention relates to traps for catching moles or other vermin and consists in
an improved arrangement or construction of the same.
•
Our improved trap consists of a tube or box with open ends, made of metal, wire
or other suitable material, and of any desired shape and size according to the
vermin the trap is intended for, and of a door at each end hinged at the top so that
it opens inwards. The doors are made with sharp teeth or spikes at the bottom
edge and are preferable of metal, and each door has a lever at an angle formed on
or attached to it, the levers being of such length that when they are placed with
their ends resting against each other, the doors are slightly opened. One lever is
formed with a fork at the end and the other with a prong entering said fork for
supporting each other.
The action of this trap is as follows: In case of using it as a mole trap, the trap
is fixed in the run and the mole in its passage on entering the trap will catch the
door at that end with its back and by lifting it will also lift the lever connected to it
and thereby release the other lever and door, which will swing into a nearly vertical
but still somewhat inclined position and thereby close the exit at the other end and
prevent the mole from passing through. It will also be impossible for it to turn
back, as the teeth or spikes at the edge of the door prevent its doing so, but it may
go forward when the door at that end also drops into a nearly vertical but not quite
closed position and the trap will be ready for catching a second mole, which can
push up the door, but if it only gets its head in cannot get it out again and the
harder it pulls the faster will the door hold it. It does not matter at which end the
vermin enters, as the action is the same from either end.
Dated the 2nd day of December 1892.
R. J. URQUHART,
57, Barton Arcade, Manchester, and 5, Clayton Square, Liverpool,
Consulting Engineer and Patent Agent.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved Trap for Moles or other Vermin.
We, WILLIAM BIRCHALL of 6 Redbank, Manchester, Mechanic and
ROUGHSEDGE WALLWORK of the Firm of Henry Wallwork & Co. of Union
Bridge Iron Works, Manchester in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, 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:-
Our invention relates to traps for catching moles or other vermin and consists in
an improved arrangement or construction of the same.
On the sheet of drawings appended hereunto
Fig. 1 shows a side view Fig. 2 an end view and Fig. 3 a top view of a trap for
moles arranged according to our invention.
Our improved trap consists of a tube or box with open ends, made of metal, or of
wire or other suitable material, and of any desired shape or size according to the
ID 077

page_text: vermin the trap is intended for, and a moveable door at each end hinged at the top
so that it can open inwards. The drawing shows a trap made of sheet metal bent
in to a circular tube a joined at the top, part of the metal at each end and side being
bent upwards so as to form vertical lugs b, which are formed with holes serving
as bearings for the pivots c of the doors d. The doors d are preferably made of
metal, either of sheet metal with pivots soldered or rivetted thereto or of malleable
iron or other cast metal and are formed with sharp teeth or spikes d' at the bottom.
Each door has a levere attached to or formed on it set at an angle to the door, the
levers being of such length that when they are placed with their ends resting
against each other the doors are partly opened. One lever may be formed with a
fork at the end and the other with a prong entering said fork for supporting each
other, or one may be formed with a cross ledge near to the end against the other
rests. Preferably the levers are in part loosely hinged to studs as shewn so that
when dropping down upon the trap body they can slip to one side and pass each
other as indicated by dotted lines on Figures 1 and 3 and light wire springs may be
used to push them sideways when released.
The action of this trap is as follows: In case of using it for catching moles, the
trap is fixed in the run and the mole in its passage on entering the end of the trap'
will catch the door d at that end with its back and by lifting it will also lift the
lever e connected to it and thereby release the other lever and door, which will
swing into a vertical or nearly vertical position and thereby close the exit at the
other end and prevent the mole from passing through. It will also be impossible
for it to turn back as the teeth or spikes at the edge of the door will prevent its
doing so, but it may go forward when the door at that end also drops into a nearly
vertical position. The trap will then be ready for catching a second mole, which
can push up the door, but if it only gets its head under, it cannot get it out again,
the spikes catching in the back of the head and .the harder the mole pulls the more
will the door be closed and the faster it will hold it. It does not matter at which
end the vermin enters, as the action is the same from either end.
b
In order to prevent the doors from being pulled outwards beyond their vertical
position, the corners of the lugs 6 are bent inwards so as to form stops for arresting
the solid part e¹ of the levers, or other suitable stops may be arranged for this
purpose. The trap as stated, may be made of any sectional shape, for instance
oval or square, and of any suitable material, such as cast iron, wire, wood or stone
ware according to the kind of vermin it is intended for. A bait hook may be
arranged in it in some cases.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is
The arrangement or construction of traps for catching moles and other vermin
substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated by the drawings.
R. J. URQUHART,
57, Barton Arcade, Manchester, and 5, Clayton Square, Liverpool,
Consulting Engineer and Patent Agent.