Improved Means for Catching Small Birds, such as Sparrows.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 5th Nov., 1895
Complete Specification Left, 5th Aug., 1896-Accepted, 5th Sept., 1898
Improved Means for Catching Small Birds, such as Sparrows.
I, WILLIAM FULLARD, of Wryde Croft, Thorney, in the County of Cambridge,
Farmer (retired), do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be As
follows:
As is well known small birds, such as sparrows, are frequently highly destructive
ou farms.
Now the object of my invention is to provide in a simple and effectual manner
for reducing the number of such birds, which I do as follows:-
I construct a trap which may be in the form of a rectangular box, in which
there is pivoted a counterbalanced platform; one end of the box is open, the other
is closed by means of a transparent closure such as a sheet of glass. In the
bottom of the box below the platform there is an opening; over the end of the
box near which this opening occurs there is fixed the mouth of a net. I make a
hole through the wall of a barn or other building or room in the opposite side of
which there is a door and I guard against entry of light elsewhere; in the said
hole I fix the box so that its open end is towards the barn or other building
and the net is outside. To the door of the building 1 apply a suitable con-
trivance (it may be a rope fixed at one end to the door, passing round a pulley
fixed to the wall, and carried away to a distance, say 20 yards, more or less)
whereby, assuming the door to be open or partly open, it can be readily closed
from a distance.
With such an arrangement, in order to catch the birds I leave the door partly.
open for some time, it may be for a week, during which time I provide in the
building food, such as damaged grain or the like, so that the birds, finding food,
gradually congregate in the building in considerable numbers; at some time when
there is a large number of birds in the building, 1, by means of the cord or other
closing device, from a distance close the door; the birds become frightened, and
as then the only light presented to them is through the glass of the trap, they fly
into the trap, and from the platform they are tipped through the hole in the
bottom of the box into the net.
:
Improved Means for Catching Small Birds, such as Sparrows.
I, WILLIAM FULLARD, of Wryde Croft, Thorney, in the County of Cambridge,
Farmer (retired), 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 :-
As is well known small birds, such as sparrows, are frequently highly destructive
on farms.

page_text: Now the object of my invention is to provide in a simple and effectual manner
for reducing the number of such birds, which I do as I shall now describe with
reference to the accompanying drawings wherein Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section of
a trap, and Fig. 2 a perspective view of a building in connection with which the trap
is used:
The trap comprises a box 1, which may be of rectangular form as shewn in
Fig. 1, in which there is pivoted a counterbalanced platform 2 one end of the box
being open and the other closed by means of a transparent closure such as a
sheet 3. of glass. In the bottom of the box below the platform there is an
opening 4 and over the end of the box near which. this opening occurs there is
fixed the mouth of a net 5. For using the trap I make a hole through the wall 6
of a barn 7 or other building or room in the opposite side of which there is a
door 8, and I guard against entry of light elsewhere than through the doorway
and hole. In the said hole I fix the box so that its open end is towards the barn
or other building and the net is outside as shewn in Fig. 2. To the door 8 of the
building I apply a suitable contrivance (it may be a rope 9 fixed at one end to the
door, passing round guide pulleys 10 fixed to the wall, and carried away to a
distance, say 20 yards, more or less) whereby, assuming the door to be open or
partly open, it can be readily closed from a distance.
With such an arrangement, in order to catch the birds I leave the door 8 partly-
open for some time, it may be for a week, during which time I provide in the
building, food, such as damaged grain or the like, so that the birds, finding food,
gradually congregate in the building in considerable numbers; at some time when
there is a large number of birds in the building, 1, by means of the rope 9 or other
closing device, from a distance close the door; the birds become frightened,
and as then the only light presented to them is through the glass 3 of the
trap, they fly into the trap, and from the platform 2 therein they are tipped
through the hole 4 in the bottom of the box into the net 5 in which they are thus
caught.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature. of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I.
claim is :-
My improved means for catching small birds. such as sparrows, substantially as
described and shown.
described and shown.
Dated this ɔth day of August 1896.
For the Applicant,
W. LLOYD WISE,
46 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Chartered Patent Agent.