GB2026833A - Animal traps - Google Patents

Abstract

An animal trap comprises a housing divided into two chambers by a plate 13, that is a upper bait chamber 11, and a lower trap chamber 12, a platform 2 pivotably mounted at 21 to close an aperture in the plate through which a trapped animal will pass to the lower chamber, a trap door 3 pivotally mounted near the inlet 14 to the trap and moved by the platform 2 to close the inlet 14 to the trap when an animal steps on the platform and pivots it downwardly allowing passage to the lower chamber. When the animal moves off the platform 2 it returns to its original position, the set condition of the trap. The trap door 3 closing the inlet to the trap returns to its original position by the movement of the platform, or, by operation of a reset pedal 41 when the animal applies pressure thereto, movement of the reset pedal effecting release of the trap door 3 from retaining means 4 so that the trap is automatically reset. A cage 5 is spaced from the housing by a passageway 51. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION An animal trap The present invention relates to an animal trap particularly for rodents such as rats.

There have been developed various methods of killing or catching rats, including poisonous bait methods and mechanical methods. However, the disadvantages of the poisonous bait method are that the poison or poisonous bait is dangerous to human beings or domestic animals by carelessness or ignorance; the handling of poisened rats is not easy; and the cost of frequently replacing the poisened bait is rather considerable. The mechanical method is carried out by using trap, for example, spring type and cage type traps are predominant, but both these possess a common disadvantage, that is the characteristic odor of a rat trapped and remaining in the trap will instinctively alert other rats to keep away from the trap. Thus, a trap without the above mentioned disadvantage is expected eagerly.

According to the present invention there is provided an animal trap comprising a housing having an animal inlet opening, two elevated platforms, both having a first position extending substantially parallel with respect to the housing base, the platforms being sequentially situated from the animal inlet openings, said platforms each being pivotally mounted in the housing with one of said platforms being located adjacent the animal inlet opening, and intermediate member between said one platform and the further platform being arranged such that pressure applied downwardly with respect to the housing base to the said further platform causes the further platform to adopt a second position which is effective to pivot said one platform upwardly to its second position to close the animal inlet opening, biasing means for biasing said further platform towards its first position and resetting means for automatically resetting said one platform to its first position when pressure is removed from said further platform.

Preferably, the pivots for said platform lie in the same plane with the platforms extending parallel to said plane in opposite directions with respect to each other, said further platform having said intermediate member extending therefrom to beyond the pivot of said one platform to contact the surface of the one platform facing the housing base, so that upon pivotal movement of said further platform in response to downward pressure applied thereto the intermediate member moves said one platform upwardly about its pivot to close the animal inlet opening. The intermediate member is arcuate, serves as a counter balance to said further platform and also constitutes said biasing means.

In one preferred embodiement of an animal trap according to the present invention there is provided a pivotally mounted lever with a hook at one end for securing said one platform in the closed position of the animal inlet opening, the opposite end of the lever from the hook interconnected with a pivotally mounted plate which together with the lever constitutes said resetting means, wherein pressure applied to the plate disengages the hook from the said one platform to allow said one platform to return to its first position. Said platforms may be mounted independently or alternatively said one platform is pivotally mounted on the intermediate member between the platforms. In the latter instance the said one platform is provided with a counter balance to assist in the resetting of said one platform.

Preferably, the housing is divided into upper and lower chambers by an apertured plate, one aperture of which is closed by said further platform in its first position.

It is a further preferred feature that the lower chamber be provided with an animal outlet which communicates with a passage way to a cage spaced from the housing. Preferably, there is provided at the junction of the cage and passageway a non-return gate to prevent an animal escaping from the cage. In addition a further non-return gate may be provided in the region of the junction of the passageway and housing.

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 7 is a perspective view of the animal trap of the present invention when disassembled, Figure 2 is a part sectional side elevational view of the animal trap of the present invention, Figure 3 is a part sectional side elevational view of the animal trap of the present invention including a balanced pedal in a position which occurs after pressure is applied to the pedal upon an animal stepping on the pedal, Figure 4 is a part sectional elevational view of the animal trap of another embodiment of the present invention, Figure 5 is a part sectional side elevational view of another embodiment of the present invention in which the balanced pedal is in its downwardly pivoted position, and Figure 6 is a part sectional side elevational view of a further embodiment of an animal trap according to the present invention.

Referring particularly to Figures 1 to 3 there is shown an animal trap which will now be described with particular reference to the catching of rats. The trap comprises a housing 1, a horizontally balanced pedal or platform 2, a trap door or platform 3, a hook retaining apparatus 4, and a cage 5. The housing 1 may be made or metal such as iron plate or wood and is separated with a lateral plate 13 into two chambers, an upper "bait" chamber 11 and a lower "trap" chamber 12. An opening 131 is provided in the lateral plate 13 near its rear end to provide communication between the bait chamber 11 and trap chamber 12. In the bait chamber 11 on the innermost end of the lateral plate 13 is provided bait 111, and at the front of the bait chamber 11 is provided an inlet 14 through which a rate must pass to eat the bait.

One side arm 23 of the pedal 2 is located beneath the trap opening 131 to block the opening. The pedal 2 is pivotably mounted about a pivotal axis 21, the intermediate or outer side arm 22 of the pedal 2 being of arc shape. Since the length of the outer side arm 22 of the pedal 2 is shorter than that of the inner side arm 23, a weighted body 24 is provided under the outer side arm so that the pedal 2 may be maintained in a first horizontal position in a state of equilibrium with the axis 21 as the balance centre.At the upper end of the trap chamber 12 near the inlet 14 is located the trap door 3, shown in its first horizontal position which may pivot upwards about a pivotal axis 31 and which is constructed so that the outer side end of the trap door 3 is supported on the wall of the inlet 14 and the outer side end 25 of the balanced pedal 2 just contacts with the bottom surface of the trap door 3.

Being attracted by the smell of bait placed in the upper chamber of the housing 1, a rat will enter the bait chamber through the inlet 14. As soon as the rat steps on the inner side arm 23 of the pedal 2, thereby applying a pressure downwardly towards the housing base, the pedal pivots because of the body weight of the rat, thus making the inner side arm of the pedal tilt downwards to its second position resulting in the rat being forced to slide downwards.

Simultaneously, the intermediate or outer side arm 22 of the pedal 2 is tilted upwards pushing the trap door upwards to its second position and jamming the free end of the trap door in a hook 4 hiddenly located in the upper part of the housing wall, consequently the inlet to the housing is thus closed.

Therefore, the rat is frightened by a part of the trap door on its trail, caused by an impulsive force produced when the trap door is tilted upwards, and rushes forward into the trap chamber 12. As soon as the rat enters the trap chamber 12, the pedal returns to its balanced state and thus the opening 131 is closed. Even if the rat doesn't fall down into the trap chamber and remains in the bait chamber 11, the rat still cannot escape therefrom and becomes exhausted by running about in the bait chamber owing to the fact that the trap door 3 is still jammed in the hook 4, thereby closing the inlet 14. A rat which remains in the narrow bait chamber must inevitably step on the pedal 2 again, since the pedal occupies a larger area of the bait chamber, and would eventually fall into the trap chamber. Thus the present invention is a very effective trap with a double closing system.

The inner end of the trap chamber 12 is connected to the cage 5 spaced from the housing by a passageway 51. The cage 4 may be made of iron wire. A one-way inlet or non-return gate 52 is provided at the connecting part between the cage 5 and passageway 51, and preferably another one way inlet or non-return gate 53 is also provided near the trap chamber 12 in the passageway 51 to prevent a rat that has rushed into the passageway from turning back to the trap chamber.

At the inner-most end of the trap chamber 12 at the inlet of the passageway, there is located a pivotally mounted pedal 41 of which the free end is connected with the rear end of the hook apparatus 4, in the upper end of the side wall of the housing 1, by means of a rope hidden in the side wall of-the housing 1. The hook 4 is pivotally mounted on a suitable part in the upper end of the side wall of the housing 1, and the front end of the hook is located in the region of the upper end of the inlet 14 so as to hook the trap door 3 (whenever the rat enters the trap chamber 12).

Having entered the trap chamber 12, the rat must step on the pedal 41 before entering the passageway 51. Once the pedal 41 is stepped on, the rope 42 will pivot the hook 4, thus moving the front end of the hook slightly upwards and releasing the trap door 3.

Consequently, the trap door 3 pivots downwards returning to the original position, that is the trap set condition.

Being trapped in the trap chamber 12, the rat will run along the passageway into the cage 5 by bumping through the one way inlets 53 and 52 owing to the fact the only outlet from the trap chamber exists in the passageway. Due to the one way inlets, the rat cannot return to the trap chamber 12. Therefore, a rat trapped in the trap chamber remains there for a time which is too short to seriously frighten the rat. The rat therefore does not leave its characteristic odor and thus does not alert other rats. Furthermore, since the rat in the cage is not able to give any alarm to other rats due to the long distance between the cage and trap chamber, the other rats will enter the trap for bait thus enabling the automatically returnable trap of the present invention to be reset continuously to catch rats.

Another embodiment of the present invention is a trap as shown in Figures 4 and 5. The construction of the trap of this embodiment is similar to that just described above except for the construction of pedal 2' and trap door 3'. In spite of the similarity of the pedal 2' and trap door 3' to the pedal 2 and trap door 3, respectively, of the embodiment of Figures 1 to 3 the differences between the two embodiments are as follows: the pivotal axis 31 of the embodiment of Figures 1 to 3 is shown in those figures to be located in suitable recesses in the housing wall. However, in the present embodiment the axis 31' is located on the pedal 2' at the free end of the outer side arm 22'.

The trap door 3' is provided with arms extending oppositely on either side of the axis 31' and due to the fact that the inner side arm 32 of the trap door 3' is shorter than that of outer side arm 33, a weighted body 34, for example an iron body, is provided under the bottom of the inner side arm 32 to maintain the trap door 3' in horizontal equilibrium. The trap door 3' is pivotally mounted so that it will only pivot upwardly in orderto close the inlet 14to the trap.

The operation of the pedal 2' and trap door 3' is similar to that of pedal 2 and trap door 3 as described in the embodiment of Figures 1 to 3 with the exception that when the trap door 3' is tilted upwards, it will not be hooked by the retaining apparatus because no hook is provided in this embodiment, that is when the pedal 2' returns to its horizontal state, so does the trap door 3'.

Another embodiment of the present invention is the trap shown in Figure 6. The trap of this embodiment is constructed by connecting the two of the traps as described in the embodiment of Figures 4 and 5 except that the rear walls of both housings are dispensed with and only a single passageway and cage are used.

Any of the traps described herein may be used indoors or outdoors and may be of any suitable size depending upon the types of animals to be trapped.

Therefore, there has been described an animal trap which in its preferred form comprising a housing, a balanced pedal or platform, a trap door, a hook arrangement and a cage, the housing comprising two chambers, an upper bait chamber and a lower trap chamber; a horizontal trap door which is pivot mounted and located near the inlet of the housing and may be tilted upwards, and the balanced pedal is pivotally located in the region of the housing dividing or bait plate. The principle for catching an animal, particularly rats, is based on the following: when a rat is attracted by the smell of bait placed in the upper chamber of the housing and steps on the balanced pedal, across which the rat must pass, the balanced pedal pivots owing to the added body weight of the rat, making the inner side end of the pedal tilt downwards and consequently the rat is forced to slide downwards.Simultaneously, the outer side end of the pedal is tilted upwards forcing one end of the trap door to tilt upwards and to jam in the hook hiddenly located in the inner upper part of the bait chamber near the in let to the trap, so as to close, the inlet of the housing. The rat is frightened by a pat of the trap door on its tail, caused by an impulsive force produced when the trap door is tilted upwards, and runs forward into the trap chamber, and finally passes through the passageway into the cage which is spaced some distance from the housing.Before a rat moves through the passageway to the cage, the rat must step on a pedal which is near the entrance to the passageway and which is connected with a rope to the hook to move the hook upwards slightly, thus releasing the trap door of the inlet, which trap door returns to its orginal position ready for catching rats, thus auto- matically resetting the trap.

The effectiveness of the present trap is far greater than that of conventional rat-traps, the advantages of the present trap lie in the fact that no poison, or poisonous bait is needed, thus no human being or domestic animal would be endangered; no further bait need be supplied due to the fact that the rat cannot each the bait away; because of the time duration for a rat to pass through the present trap is very short and because of the internal construction and operation which makes a rat rush forward into the cage by instinct for survival, no characteristic odour of a rat remains in the present trap and the trap may be used without the limitation of the number of rats caught.

Claims (13)

1. An animal trap comprising a housing having an animal inlet opening, two eievated platforms, both having a first position extending substantially parallel with respect to the housing base, the platforms being sequentially situated from the animal inlet opening, said platforms each being pivotally mounted in the housing with one of said platforms being located adjacent the animal inlet opening, an intermediate member between said one platform and the further platform being arranged such that pressure applied downwardly with respect to the housing base to the said further platform causes the further platform to adopt a second position which is effective to pivot said one platform upwardly to its second position to close the animal inlet opening, biassing means for biasing said further platform towards its first position and resetting means for automatically resetting said one platform to its first position when pressure is removed from said further platform.

2. A trap as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the pivots for said platforms lie in the same plane with the platforms extending parallel to said plane in opposite directions with respect to each other, said further platforms having said intermediate member extending therefrom to beyond the pivot of said one platform to contact the surface of the one platform facing the housing base, so that upon pivotal movement of said further platform in response to downward pressure applied thereto the intermediate member moves said one platform upwardly about its pivot to close the animal inlet opening.

3. A trap as claimed in Claim 2, wherein the intermediate member is arcuate, serves as a counter balance to said further platform and also constitutes said biasing means.

4. A trap as claimed in Claims 1,2 or 3, further comprising a pivotally mounted lever with a hook at one end for securing said one platform in the closed position of the animal inlet opening, the opposite end of the lever from the hook being interconnected with a pivotally mounted plate which together with the lever constitute said resetting means, wherein pressure applied to the plate disengages the hook from the said one platform to allow said one platform to return to its first position.

5. A trap as claimed in Claims 1,2 or 3, wherein the said one platform is pivotally mounted on the intermediate member between said platforms.

6. A trap as claimed in Claim 5, wherein the resetting means comprises the pivotal mounting on the intermediate member and a counter balance on said one platform to maintain said one platform in its first position when the animal inlet opening is open.

7. A trap as claimed in any of the preceding Claims, further comprising an apertured plate which devides the housing into upper and lower chambers.

8. A trap as claimed in Claim 7, wherein one aperture of said apertured plate comprises a lower chamber animal inlet which is closed by said further platform in its first position.

9. A trap as claimed in Claim 7 or 8, further comprising a cage connected to the housing by a passageway, an animal outlet being provided from the lower chamber to communicate with the passageway.

10. A trap as claimed in Claim 9, when dependent on Claim 4, wherein the pivotally mounted plate is located in the lower chamber adjacent the entrance to said passageway.

11. Atrap as claimed in Claim 9 or 10, further comprising a non-return gate at the junction of the cage and passageway.

12. A trap as claimed in Claim 11, further com prising a non-return gate in the region of the junction of the passageway and housing.

13. An animal trap substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to, and as illustrated in figures 1 to 3, figures 4 and 5, or figure 6 of the accompanying drawings.