SNARE TYPE HUMANE ANIMAL TRAP

PIEGE DE TYPE COLLET POUR LA CAPTURE SANS SOUFFRANCE D'ANIMAUX

English Abstract

TITLE
SNARE TYPE HUMANE ANIMAL TRAP
INVENTOR
Reino Torkko
ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE
A snare type animal trap which has a pair of arms urged apart
by a spring. The upper one of the arms is in the form of a ring. A
cable passes through an eyelet on the ring to form a loop which is sup-
ported by the ring. The ends of the cable are secured to the end of the
lower arm. Trigger means on the lower arm holds the two arms together
when the trap is set. Operation of the trigger by an animal causes the
ring to fly up, thereby tightening the cable and trapping the animal.

Claims

CLAIMS:
1. An animal trap comprising a pair of arms, spring means between
said arms urging said arms apart an upper one of said arms being in the
form of a ring and a lower one of said arms having trigger means secured
thereto for holding said upper and lower arms together against the urging
of said spring means when said trap is set and a flexible member extend-
ing around said ring to form a snare, and through a guide on said ring,
said flexible member having its ends secured to said lower arm whereby
operation of said trigger mechanism by an animal releases said upper arm
for upward movement and causes said flexible member to be pulled through
said guide thereby tightening said snare.
2. A trap as claimed in claim 1 wherein said trigger means
comprises a lever having one end pivotally secured to said trap and being
adapted to extend over said upper member and engage a privotally mounted
pan on said trap whereby movement of said pan causes said lever to become
disengaged thereby releasing said upper arm.

Description

~3S~3
-- 1 --
This invention relates to animal Craps, and more particularly,
to snare-type animal traps.
~ nown snare-type traps are provided with a noose-like cable
positioned around the trlgger~ Spring biased arms are disengaged from
each other when the trigger is activated thus causing one of the arms to
~erk the noose tight around the leg or the body of the animal.
This type of trap suffers from at least one disadvantage in
that the cable may become frozen to the ground or be adversely effected
by snow and thus the noose will fail to close properly.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide
means for lifting the snare to ensure that the snare will close properly
regardless of snow or frozen ground conditions.
It is a fureher objece of this invention to provide means for
- lifting the snare to the height of the leg of the animal to be trapped.
Accordingly the present invention provides an animal trap com-
prising a pair of arms, spring means between said arms urging said arms
apart, an upper one of said arms being in the form of a ring and a lower
one of said arms having trigger means secured thereto for holding said
upper and lower arms together against the urging of said spring means
when said trap is set and a flexible member extending around said ring to
form a snare, and through a guide on said ring, said flexible member hav-
ing its ends secured to said lower arm whereby operation of said trigger
mechanism by an animal releases said upper arm for upward movement and
causes said flexible member to be pulled through said guide thereby
tightening said snare.
In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate an embodiment of
the present invention,
Figure 1 is a perspective view of the trap in the 'set" condi-
tion; and
Figure 2 is a perspective view of the trap in the "sprung" con-
dition.
Referring now in detail to the drawings a snare type trap is
shown generally at 10 and includes upper and lower spring arms 12 and 14
urged apart by an integrally formed coil spring 16. The lower arm 14 has
an exeension 20 secured thereto as by welding and is provided with

conventio-lal trigger means indicated generally at 22. ~ pan 24 ls plvot-
ally rnounted on one end of a base 28 which is in turn welded to the lower
arm extension 20 the other end of the base 28 has an upturned apertured
flange 30. A trigger lever 32 has one end retained in the apertured
flange and its other end is adapted to engage the underæide of the pan in
the "set" condition as shown in Figure 1.
The outer end of the lower arm extension 20 has a bracket 34
mounted thereon for anchoring the ends of a steel cable or other suitable
flexible means 36. Any suitable cable anchoring means could be used in
place of the bracket 34. In this case downwardly opening slots 38 are
provided in the bracket 34 to receive the ends of the cable 36. The
cable ends are retained in the slots by a plate 40 attached to the
bracket as by screws 42. The ends of the cable are prevented from pul-
ling through the slots 38 by retaining means (not shown) crimped to their
ends.
The upper arm 12 of the trap 10 has an extension in the form of
a ring 50 of sufficient diameter to encircle the trigger and provide a
! support for a snare of the required size. The ring 50 has a guide or
eyelet 52 through which the cable 36 extends. The cable 36 is retain~d
on the ring 50 by opposed triangular guides 54 carried by the cable 36.
The cable 36 is also received under a rod 58 welded to the arm 12.
The cable 36 also passes through two holes in a slidable member
56 which has a right angle bend and a depending portion 57 so that move-
ment of the depending portion 57 due to the struggling of the animal
causes the slidable member to bind on the cables thus keeping the snare
closed.
To avoid injury while setting the trap it is considered advis-
able to provide a safety hook 60 which has one end bent around the lower
arm 14 and one end capable of hooking onto the upper arm 12 when the trap
is in the "set" condition shown in Figure 1.
The trap 10 is "set" by urglng the arm 12 and 14 together so
that the hook 60 will engage the upper arm 12. The trigger lever 32 is
then placed over the ring 50 so that its free end engages the underside
of the pan 24. The safety hook 60 is disengaged only after the trap is
in positLon.

As can be seen wLCh reference to Figure 2 when an animal press-
es downwardly on the pan 24 the trigger will be released from engagement
with the pan 24 and the ring will move rapidly upwardly dwe to the force
exerted by the spring 16. This causes the cable 36 to be drawn through
the eyelet 52.
~ ovement of the ring 50 also causes the cable 36 to move 0l1t of
engagement with the rod 58 and slide over the guides 54 until the snare
has been drawn tight enough to encircle the leg of the animal.
It should be noted that because the ring 50 moves upwardly the
snare formed by the cable 36 will be lifted up the leg or over any other
part of the animal which is in the trap.
I~hen the trap has been used, it is advisable to replace t~le
cable 36 with a clean cable so that no scent of the trapped animal re-
mains. The provision of a quick release fastener for the cable end is
therefore desirable.