Self-setting Animal Trap.
Year: 1899

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Self-setting Animal Trap.
I, SAMUEL GRAHAM, of Brooklyn, County of Poweshiek, State of Iowa, U.S.A.,
Merchant, 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:-
-
My object is to combine simple and effective trap mechanism with a box or
cage that has a vertical partition to produce two distinct compartments in such
a manner that when a rat or other animal enters the one compartment through
an open doorway an elevated door will drop and close by force of gravity and
confine the animal in the first compartment, and when the animal passes through
an opening in the partition to the second compartment, the weight of the animal
will elevate the door in the first compartment, and the passage-way leading from
the first compartment to the second will be automatically closed, as required to
confine the animal in the second compartment, while the doorway in the first
compartment is open to admit and trap another animal.
My invention consists in the arrangement and combination of two tilting
platforms with the vertical partition in a cage or trap mechanism, a vertically-
sliding door at one end of the trap, trip mechanism for supporting the door when
elevated over the doorway, and means for baiting the trap, as hereinafter set
forth, pointed out in my claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawing,
in which-
Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of the trap, showing both of the tilting
platforms and the trip mechanisms in their normal positions and the sliding door
closed and resting upon the ends of rods or a lever extending from the inner
and elevated platform. Dotted lines indicate the positions assumed by the plat-
forms, the sliding door, and the trip device when operated as required to open
and close the passage-way in the end wall and also the passage leading from
the first compartment to the second..
...;
Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view looking toward the end wall and the inner
face of the vertically-sliding door and the trip device connected with the tilting
platform for supporting the door in an elevated position, as required to have the
doorway in the wall open.

page_text: A is the bottom; B, B2, the side walls; C, the top, (preferably arched and
integral with the side walls) and D), D2, the ends of the box or cage. It may
vary in dimensions, as required to suit large and small animals, and may be
made of sheet metal, wood, or woven wire.
F is a fixed partition that divides the cage into two distinct compartments.
H is a door fitted to close an opening in the front end wall D. It is slidingly
connected with fixed rods J, that extend vertically in parallel position, by means
of staples J³, fixed to the door.
K is a rock-shaft in bearings, formed in or fixed to the parallel side walls B
and B.
K2 is a platform fixed to the rock-shaft and extends across the bottom portion
of the first compartment of the cage in such a manner that when an animal enters
the weight of the animal will actuate the trip mechanism, as required to let the
door drop by force of gravity to close the doorway.
K3 is a trip device in the form of a three-sided frame made of wire, and the
lower ends of the parallel upright portions are fixed to the front portion of the
platform K³ to rise and descend therewith. The horizontal and central portion
of the frame is bent downward and then forward to produce a support K,
adapted to slip under the bottom of the door H when the door is elevated, as
required to retain the door open.
L is a chamber adapted for the passage of an animal from the first compart-
ment of the cage to the second. For rats and small animals it is preferably made
of wire and its open end fixed in an opening in the partition ' to allow an animal
to enter the chamber and pass down through when the bottom of the chamber
is open.
L³ is a lever in the form of a frame made of wire (for small animals) and
fulcrumed to the partition F at the bottom of the opening in the partition to
extend parallel with the open bottom of the chamber L, as required to close
its open bottom by means of a platform B, fixed to the frame or inner end of
the lever. The parallel portions of the lever in front of the partition F are bent
downward and then forward over the platform K² and terminate under the bottom
edge of the door H in such a manner that when the platformi L is depressed by
the weight of an animal the front ends of the lever will lift the sliding door to
allow the support K to slip under the bottom of the door to retain the door
elevated.
m is an extension at the rear end of the wall over a corresponding opening in
the end wall D2, and m¹ is a cover, preferably made of wire, to allow light to
enter, that will be advantageous when the cage is made of opaque sheet metal
or wood.
N is a receptacle for cheese or other suitable bait, connected with the parti-
tion F.
Wires P, having hooks on one end, are adapted for holding a piece of corn or
other bait, as shown in Fig. 1. The hooks are adapted to enter eyes or staples r,
fixed to the front end of the cage, to detachably fasten the wire bait-holders.
In the practical use of my invention when the operative parts are in position,
as shown in Fig. 1, I lift the door H and allow that part of the trip device K
adapted to slip under the door to assume such a position as will retain the door
elevated and the trap set in position to allow an animal to enter under the door,
and when it gets upon the inclined platform the weight of the animal will cause
the platform to assume a level position, and as its front portion rises the trip
device and door-support will move inward from under the door, as indicated by
dotted lines in Fig. 1, and allow the door to drop and close the doorway. The
animal thus caught in the first compartment will then naturally try to escape
through the opening in the partition F and get upon the platform L, which will
be depressed by the weight of the animal, and the animal will slip off into the
second compartment, and such depression of the platform on the rear end of
the frame or lever L will cause the front end of the frame to lift the door Has

page_text: required to let the trip device K' engage the bottom of the door to retain it
elevated and the trap thus automatically set to admit another animal. It is
therefore obvious that numbers of rats may be thus caught in succession and
the trap set every time one rat passes from the first compartment to the other.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:
1. In an animal-trap, a box or cage having a central vertical partition to pro-
duce two compartments, a doorway in one of the ends of the cage, a vertically-
sliding door fitted over the doorway, a tilting platform at the bottom inside of
the door, an opening in the partition and a bottomless chamber having an open end
fixed to said partition to extend horizontally into one compartment and communi-
cate with the other compartment, a frame or lever fulcrumed to the partition to
extent under the open-bottomed chamber, a platform fixed to the end of said
lever to close the open-bottomed chamber and the lever extended toward and
under the vertically-sliding door, and a trip device for supporting the door when
elevated, all arranged and combined to operate in the manner set forth for the
purposes stated.
2. The partition F having an opening, a chamber L fixed to the partition to
extend horizontally, a frame or lever L2 fulcrumed in the partition, a plaform L³
fixed to the lever to close the bottom of said chamber and the parallel parts of
the lever extended under a vertically-sliding door fitted over a doorway in the
wall of the trap, and a trip device for engaging and supporting the door when
elevated, arranged and combined as shown and described.
3. A self-setting animal-trap comprising a box or cage having a doorway at
one end, a vertically-sliding door fitted to the wall to open and close the door-
way, a tilting platform in the bottom of the cage inside of the doorway, a trip
device carried by said platform to engage and support the door when elevated,
a fixed partition to divide the cage into two compartments, an opening in the
partition and an open-bottomed chamber fixed to the partition and communicat-
ing with the two compartments, a frame or lever fulcrumed to the partition, a
platform fixed to one end of the lever to close the open-bottomed chamber and the
other end of the lever extended to engage and lift the sliding door, all arranged
and combined to operate in the manner set forth for the purposes stated.
Dated this 26th day of September 1899.
THOMAS R. SHILLITO,
15, Took's Court, London, E.C., Agent for the Applicant.