Patent ID: 7757427

Claim:
An animal trap comprising: an animal enclosure having a roof and an animal access opening into a vacant interior sized to receive an animal to be trapped; a door movably mounted at the access opening, the door operative in an opened position to reveal the animal access opening and in a closed position to block the animal access opening; an actuating cable having first and second ends, the first end being secured to the door; an over-center set mechanism mounted on the roof of the trap for movably securing the second end of the actuating cable, said set mechanism including a set lever having two ends, a handle and a pivot axis adjacent the roof of the trap, said two lever ends being co-located with and rotatable about the pivot axis and the handle being movable back and forth between a tripped position in which said handle is in abutment with the roof of the trap on one side of said pivot axis and a set position in which said handle is in abutment with a fixed stop on the roof of the trap on an opposing side of said pivot axis, said set position being rotationally beyond a point of equilibrium located between said tripped and set positions such that, when the set lever is in the set position, said second end of said actuating cable exerts force on the handle of said set lever below the pivot axis and the lever ends co-located therewith to pull the handle downwardly toward the roof of the trap and against the stop to hold the set lever in the set position; and a trip mechanism configured to actuate a pivot action of the set lever to move the handle thereof in a direction away from said fixed stop toward and then past the point of equilibrium to move the set lever to the tripped position and enable the door to move from the opened position to the closed position thereby trapping the animal in the animal enclosure.