WO2001076363A1 - Animal trap - Google Patents

Abstract

Animal trap comprises trigger arrangement (26) associated with bait hook (25) positioned such that animal must engage head through noose (20) to gain access to bait on bait hook (25), noose tightening means applying tightening action to noose (20) after tripping by trigger arrangement (26), noose tightening means including spring loaded lever (21) pivotally connected to support structure whereby force applied by animal caught in noose (20) cannot cause return action of lever (21) to effect loosening of noose (20).

Description

ANIMAL TRAP

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION

This invention relates to traps and more particularly traps for

small animals such as possums or other like pests.

Over the years, many traps have been developed for trapping

possums and other small noxious animals . Many types and styles

have been devised all with differing measures of success in

use. One form of trap, however, incorporates a noose which upon the animal seeking to eat a bait trips the trap so that

the noose tightens around the neck of the animal. Such a trap

has to some degree provided an effective and useful means of

trapping animals such as mice but it does have a significant

drawback which has detracted from the widespread acceptance of

this type of trap for other animals . The drawback arises from

the fact that other animals like possums, being fairly strong

animals, can, in a number of situations in which the traps are

laid, apply sufficient leverage to lever that part of the

mechanism which controls the tightening of the noose such that the noose becomes loose thereby enabling the animal to become

free .

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide a trap for

small animals, especially possums which overcomes or goes some

way to overcoming the aforementioned problem with known traps

or at least provide the public with a useful choice.

Broadly according to one aspect of the invention there is

provided a trap for small animals especially possums, the trap

including a trigger arrangement associated with bait receiving

means positioned such that to gain access to the bait the

animal must engage its head through a noose means, tripping

means associated with the noose, the noose tightening means

applying a tightening action to the noose after tripping by the

trigger arrangement, the noose tightening means including a

lever action whereby force applied by an animal caught in the

noose cannot cause a return action of the lever to effect a

loosening of the noose . In a preferred form of the invention there is also provided

latching means for latching the trigger arrangement in a

^λ,safe" position whereby the trap cannot be tripped.

According to one preferred form the trap includes a body which

is stackable with the body of another of said traps.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a first form of the trap

according to the present invention,

Figures 2a and 2b are partially cut-away side elevation

views of the trap shown in Figure 1,

Figure 3 is a front elevation view of the first form as

illustrated by Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a plan view of a second form of the trap

incorporating the present invention, and

Figure 5 is a side elevation view of the trap according to

the second form as shown in Figure 3. DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring firstly to Figures 1, 2 and 3, the trap includes a

body 10 which in one form can be fabricated from sheet metal

preferably galvanised sheet metal . In a second form of the

invention the body can be moulded from a plastics material by,

say, injection moulding or rotational moulding. One advantage

of the body form of the trap is that a plurality of traps can

be stacked one partially with in the other. This makes it

easier for a plurality of traps to be carried by a trapper.

The body 10 has a pair of side walls 11 each of which has at a

lower end an outwardly extending flange 12. This flange can be

adapted by, say, the inclusion of apertures 14 for fasteners to

enable the trap to be secured to a support surface such as the

ground, tree branch, etc.

The flange 12 of an end wall 13 may also include a pair of lugs

13a. In use lugs 13a may provide an anchoring effect into a

soft ground surface . Alternatively lugs 13a, when the trap is placed on hard ground,

provide for a gap to be formed between the housing and the

ground. This is useful for enticing animals that may infact be

wary of the darkness formed within the housing, particularly

when trap 10 is used in conjunction with a shroud 15 as will be

hereinafter described.

The other and larger end wall 16 has an opening 17 through

which the animal can place its head and neck to gain access to

the bait 25 as will hereinafter be described. The upper end of

the opening 17 has a keyhole type arrangement 18. Located

either side of the lower end of the opening 17 is a pair of

flexible hooks 19 with which the noose element 20 is engaged

when the trap is in the "set" position.

A lever handle 21 is pivotally coupled near one end adjacent

the smaller end wall 13. The ends of the noose element 20

(which can be formed from a length of nylon) engage with the

distal end of the lever 21 at a connection point 20a. Thus, as

the lever 21 pivots about the pivot axis 22 upon the trap being

tripped (as will hereinafter be described) the noose 20 is

drawn tight about the animal's neck forcing the neck up into

the keyhole portion 18. The connection point 20a between the lever 21 and noose 20 is

preferably near a distal end as described, but not necessarily

so. The optimum connection point 20a is determined by the

length of the noose 20 required to be drawn and the resulting

mechanical advantage of the lever 21 when the trap 10 has been triggered.

One or preferably a pair of springs 23 are located within

housing 10 and anchored at one end adjacent the opening 17.

The other ends of springs 23 are fastened to a suitable anchor

24 which is provided at the end of the lever 21, i.e. beyond

pivot axis 22.

Pivotally mounted within the housing 10 is a bait hook 25.

This can be biased to a set position by a small spring. A trip

lever portion 26 is pivotally attached to a flange 27 in the

roof 28 at a point 27a of the housing 10 to engage through a

longitudinally extending slot 29 in the lever arm 21. The

distal end of the trip lever 26 which extends through slot 29 has an abutment 30 which when the trap is set engages with that

part of the lever arm 21 defining the end of the slot 29. The trap preferably includes a safety catch 31. The catch 31

has a projecting handle 32. The body of the catch 31 is

pivotable about a pivot axis 33. When the safety catch 31 is

in the position shown in Figure 1, it prevents the trip portion

26 of the bait hook 25 from moving along slot 29 thereby

ensuring that the abutment 30 always remains engaged with the

portion of the lever arm 21 adjacent the end of the slot 29.

However, if the safety catch is pivoted by handle 32 to a

position at right angles to the lever arm 21 then a force

applied to the bait hook 25 by an animal trying to eat or

remove the bait causes the bait hook to pivot about its pivot

axis 27a therefore moving the trip lever portion 26 along slot

29 so that the engagement between the abutment 30 and the lever

arm 21 ceases to exist. As a consequence the springs 23 pull

on the anchorage 24 which causes the lever arm 21 to pivot

about its pivot axis 22 which results in the noose 20 being

drawn around the animal's neck as previously described.

Because of the relative positions of the mounting of the noose

20 to the lever arm 21, the pivot axis 22 of the lever arm and

the line of action of the springs 23 on the lever arm anchorage

24 the lever arm 21 pivots through an angle of more than 90°

during the tripping of the trap. The 90° position is shown by dotted line A on Figure 2b. Consequently, even if a

significant force is applied to the lever arm 21 via the noose

20 by a struggling animal the mechanical advantage is not

sufficient to permit the lever arm to be moved to a position

where the noose becomes sufficiently loose for the animal to

struggle free. The ^,v sprung" position of lever 21 as

illustrated by figure 2b is preferably at least 20-30° beyond

the 90° mark (A) . Practically, the final position of lever 21

will be limited by the length of noose 20. However, in any

event, lever 21 should not be able to move beyond 180°.

The trap according to the present invention is thus of a simple

yet effective construction but is one whereby an animal after

being snared cannot apply enough force to move the lever and

hence loosen the noose and thereby free itself from the noose.

Also, by use of the safety catch 31 a person tending the trap

when it is in the set position can do so without fear of

tripping the trap. Thus, a typical problem which exists with

existing traps where the trap cannot be loaded with bait while

the trap is set (for fear of causing physical damage to the

user) is overcome. The animal is killed quickly, primarily by preventing arterial

blood flow to the brain. It is estimated that the animal is

unconscious in about 5 seconds .

A further advantage of the trap is the use of the flexible

hooks 19 to hold the noose 20 in an optimum position. The

flexibility of the hooks 19 enables the noose to readily move

away from engagement with the hooks when the trap is tripped

and therefore do not interfere with the snaring action of the

noose .

Yet a further advantage is that the lever handle 21 can be

manipulated by the trapper to loosen the noose sufficient to

free the now deceased animal. However, in doing so the lever

handle does not need to be moved to the ^,x reset" position.

This is unlike many known traps where resetting is required

before the animal can be released. The resetting of the trap

for such purposes can be hazardous .

Referring back to Figure 1, a shroud 15 is illustrated that

fits substantially over opening 17. Shroud 15 includes a

'tunnel' 15a for restricting the size of the animal that can access the trap. For example, in domestic use it may be

undesirable to risk the family cat being snared by trap 10.

The invention is open to modification as, for example, can be

seen with the version shown in Figures 4 and 5. Once again,

the elements which are common to the first embodiment carry the

same reference numerals .

In this second form, the trigger arm 21 also operates with an

action between the setting position and the ^,over 90°"

snaring position such that any mechanical advantage achieved by

pulling on the noose is not sufficient to enable an animal to

loosen the noose and escape. The safety catch 31 is formed in

a similar way to the first embodiment. Catch 31 may pivot about

pivot 33 180° where a notch 31a will align with slot 29 and

allow movement of trigger 30' and release of lever 21 when the

bait 25 is disturbed.

In this form of the invention the body 10' is not an enclosed

type as shown in Figures 1 and 2 but more in the form of a

hoop. Openings 37 are provided at the cross piece 39 of the

hoop 10' so that the hoop can be mounted to, say, a branch of a

tree. The trap is preferably mounted to the branch such that the hoop extends laterally in a more or less horizontal plane from the branch.

In the preferred form of use of the trap the possum will reach

out from the branch so that its head passes down into and

through the hoop 10' . This results in its head passing through

the noose 20 in order to gain access to the bait on the bait

hook 25. In this form a force applied to the bait hook will

cause an abutment 30' to rotate (rather than ^λ,slide")

relative to the elongate slot 29 so that when the abutment 30'

becomes aligned with the slot the trigger arm can release and

tighten the noose.

Once again, with this second embodiment of the invention

flexible hooks 19 are used to hold the noose 20 in an optimum

position. Also, the action of the lever arm 21 ensures that

the animal cannot struggle free because any leverage which the

animal can apply is insufficient to pull the lever arm back to

loosen the noose. Also, as with the first embodiment, the

safety catch enables the trap to be left in a set position even

when a user is placing bait on the bait hook.

Claims

CLAIMS :

1. A trap for animals, the trap (10) including a trigger

arrangement (20) associated with bait receiving means (25)

positioned such that to gain access to the bait the animal

must engage its head through a noose means (20) , noose

tightening means associated with the noose, the noose

tightening means applying a tightening action to the noose

after tripping by the trigger arrangement, the noose

tightening means including a lever (21) pivotally

connected to a support structure (10) whereby force

applied by an animal caught in the noose cannot cause a return action of the lever to effect a loosening of the

noose.

2. The trap of claim 1 wherein the lever is spring loaded by

virtue of a spring (23) .

3. The trap of claim 2 wherein the spring (23) is extended

when lever (25) is retained by trigger (26) .

4. The trap of any one of the preceding claims 1, 2 or 3

wherein the spring (23) is connected by one end to the support structure (10) and at the other end to the lever

(24), adjacent its pivotal connection (22) with the

support structure .

5. The trap of any one of the preceding claims wherein the

trigger arrangement includes a safety latch means (31) to

prevent movement of the trigger (26) .

6. The trap of any one of the preceding claims wherein the

noose means (20) is engaged with the lever (21) at an end

distant from the end pivotally connected (22) to the

support structure .

7. The trap of any one of the preceding claims wherein a

retention element (19) is provided to maintain the noose

(20) in an open position.

8. The trap of claim 7 wherein the retention element is a

hook (19) made from flexible material.

9. The trap of any one of the preceding claims wherein the

support structure (10) includes a flange (12) including

apertures (14) for receiving fasteners.

10. The trap according to any one of the preceding claims

wherein the support structure is a housing with an open

end (17) to receive the head of an animal.

11. The trap of claim 10 wherein the open end (17) includes a

key hole shape (18) .

12. The trap of claim 10 or 11 wherein the housing may be

substantially stacked within the housing of another trap

unit .

13. The trap of any one of the preceding claims wherein the

lever (21) pivots between 90-180° from when the trap is

tripped.

14. The trap of any one of the preceding claims wherein the

trigger arrangement (26) is pivotally connected to the

support structure (27a) .

15. The trap of claim 14 wherein the trigger arrangement

includes an abutment (30) engageable with a portion of the

lever (29) .

6. The trap of claim 15 wherein the bait receiving means (25)

is at a distal end of the trigger arrangement, separated

from the abutment (30) by the pivotal connection

therebetween (27a) .