AN IMPROVED ANIMAL TRAP
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Arthur Hervey Byng, of Southsea, in the
County of Hants, Retired Lieutenant in the Royal Navy, for the
Invention of "AN IMPROVED ANIMAL TRAP."
Sealed the 26th October 1875, and dated the 26th April 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Arthur Hervey Byng
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 26th April 1875.
I, ARTHUR HERVEY BYNG, of Southsea, in the County of Hants,
Retired Lieutenant in the Royal Navy, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED ANIMAL TRAP," to be as follows:-
The object of my Invention is to construct a trap which will kill the
animal instantaneously or nearly so, and thereby overcome the objection
which exists to those traps which catch an animal by the leg or other
part and retain him alive in a lacerated or wounded state until released.
My trap is composed of two arched or bent wires or rods, each
attached at its ends to strong springs, of which it in fact forms a part.

page_text: The springs when the wires are free keep the wires in a horizontal
position, the arches lying in opposite directions; but when the trap has
to be set the two wires are brought face to face into a vertical position
and fastened together by a cross bar or other suitable device, to which
the bait is secured. When the animal pulls the bait the cross bar is
released, and the springs then draw the wires quickly and forcibly into
the horizontal position; in this movement one or other of the wires will
strike the animal a strong blow on some portion of the back, and at the
same time retain him. The blow is sufficient to produce death instan-
taneously or nearly so. As the wires fall in opposite directions one or
other of them is sure to catch the animal, no matter which way his head
may be.
The springs and wires are carried by a board or base plate, which
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Arthur Hervey Byng in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 26th October 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ARTHUR
HERVEY BYNG, of Southsea, in the County of Hants, Retired Lieutenant
in the Royal Navy, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Arthur Hervey Byng, Her
special licence that I, the said Arthur Hervey Byng, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Arthur
Hervey Byng, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of
Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVED ANIMAL TRAP," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Arthur Hervey Byng, my

page_text: executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the
Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Arthur Hervey Byng, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the
accompanying Drawings, that is to say :—
The object of my Invention is to construct a trap which will kill
the animal instantaneously or nearly so, and thereby overcome the
objection which exists to those traps which catch an animal by the leg
or other part and retain him alive in a lacerated or wounded state until
released.
My trap is composed of two arched or bent rods, bars, or wires, each
of which is acted upon by one or more strong springs. The springs
when the arched rods are free keep the rods in a horizontal position, the
arches lying in opposite directions; but when the trap has to be set the
two arched rods are brought face to face into a vertical position and
fastened together by a cross piece or other suitable device, to which the
bait is secured. When the animal pulls the bait the cross piece is
released, and the springs then draw the arched rods quickly and forcibly
into the horizontal position; in this movement one or other of the rods
will strike the animal a strong blow on some portion of the back, and at
the same time retain him. The blow is sufficient to produce death
As the arches fall in opposite directions
one or other of them is sure to catch the animal, no matter which way
his head may be.
instantaneously or nearly so.
The springs and arched rods are carried by a board or base plate.
Figure 1 of the annexed Drawings is an clevation, and Figure 2 a
plan of a trap constructed according to my Invention, and suitable for
taking rats. The Figures shew the trap with the parts in the position
they occupy when “set.”
A is the base plate, which is by preference open in the centre, as
shown. B, B, are two arched bars, having pius C, C, which work in the

page_text: lugs D, D, projecting from the plate A. Each of these bars has an outer
pin or projection E, E, upon which the end of a strong spring F bears.
G is a cross piece (shewn separately in Figure 3) in the form of a sort of
fork, the two prongs of which have notches H, H, to take on to the
outer edges of the bars B, B, which are by preference recessed, as shewn
at I, I, for the purpose. This cross piece has a hook K, to which the
bait is attached. To remove the action of the spring F from the
bars B, B, while the trap is being set, a lever L may be employed. It
passes through a slot M in the spring, and bolow this slot it is widened
or formed with a shoulder, as seen at N. It has its fulcrum on the
projection O.
To set the trap the lover L is first forced up into the position shown
in dotted lines in Figure 1, whereby the spring F is lifted by the
shoulder N clear of the projections E on the bars B, B, and kept from
acting on those bars until they are set by the cross piece G, as seen in
the Figures. The lever L is then lowered, when the spring bears upon
the projections E, but the bars B are retained in the set position by the
cross piece. When a rat pulls the bait attached to the hook K he
releases the cross piece G, and the spring F then forces the bars down
into the horizontal position (sec the dotted lines) so that one or other of
them will strike the animal a strong blow. P is a projection to keep tho
The cross piece G should be
inner end of the lever clear of the bars B.
attached to the plate A. by a string to prevent it being lost.
Figure 4 is a side view, Figure 5 a front view, and Figure 6 a plan of
my trap in the form I prefer for rabbits.
A is the base plate, which is of curved form, so as with the bars B
(when set) to make the trap circular and suitable to be placed at the
mouth of a rabbit hole or in a "run." C, C, are the pins on which the
bars B, B, turn. E, E, are the projections on which a saddle piece Q
bears; this piece is acted upon by the strong spring F. G is the cross
piece with its notches H, H, to take on to the outer edges of the
bars B, B. L is a bent fork or clamp centred at O, which is placed in
the position seen in Figure 5 to hold the bars while the trap is being set,
and as soon as the cross piece G has been put in place this clamp is
moved back, sco Figure 6. The rabbit in coming out of the hole or
passing through a run pushes against the tail K of the cross piece and
releases this piece, when the bars B, B, acted on by the spring F, at

page_text: once come down forcibly, and one of them strikes the animal on the
back.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim, con-
structing traps with arched or bent rods, bars, or wires, arranged and
acting substantially as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Arthur Hervey Byng, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of October,
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.
ARTHUR H. BYNG. (L.S.)