Patent Application
20140352199
Generally, an animal trap floatable in a body of water having an entry enclosure defining an entry opening having a trap door which by operation of a door latch including a door trip element and a door set element rotates about a door pivot axis between a set-closed condition and a tripped-open condition allowing an animal lured by a bait in a bait station to fall through a trap floor into an interior chamber defined by apertured walls of a container allowing serial capture of a plurality of animals.
Animal traps are used to catch animals for relocation or for euthanasia.
A wide variety of traps are known for trapping animals out of water; however, fewer traps are known which are floatable on a body of water. One difficulty in providing a trap floatable in a body of water for trapping more than one animal such as muskrats can be to provide a float adjustable in relation to the trap entry to establish the water level at a height in relation to the trap door to position the door trip element at a height trippable by an animal.
Additionally, most traps have a structure which allows only one animal to be trapped at one time. The trapped animal must then be removed and the trap reset before another animal can be caught with the trap. Particular configurations of resetting traps are known for use on land. Such traps typically included a trap door located on top of a cage, and a trigger mechanism that automatically resets itself after each animal drops into the cage. Trap that reset for use on land traps used in are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,763,092 issued to Sheridan, U.S. Pat. No. 2,733,541 issued to McKim, U.S. Pat. No. 2,163,577 issued to Allen, U.S. Pat. No. 1,856,980 issued to Weaver, U.S. Pat. No. 1,810,608 issued to Jacobs, and U.S. Pat. No. 1,798,717 issued to Baranski. However, it can be difficult to provide a reliable structure for a resetting trap for capture of more than one animal when the animal trap floats in a body of water in capture of a plurality of animals.
Moreover, most traps include a cage for holding a trapped animal, and a trigger mechanism designed to be tripped by an animal to cause a door to close behind the animal after it enters the cage. However, these animal traps allow the capture of only one animal at a time. The trapped animal must then be removed and the trap reset before another animal can be caught with the trap.
Accordingly, a broad object of the invention can be to provide an animal trap floatable in a body of water for the group capture of animals which provides a float configured to establish water level at a height in relation to an entry enclosure to provide a door trip element at a location trippable by an animal. As to particular embodiments, the float can further include a float height adjustment element which allows adjustment of the float in relation to the entry enclosure to provide buoyancy to float the animal trap in a body of water with a water level medially located between the entry bottom and the entry top to provide a door trip element at a location trippable by an animal.
Another broad object of the invention can be to provide a trap door rotationally coupled proximate the entry bottom of an entry enclosure with the trap door rotating about a trap door pivot axis between a set-closed condition and a tripped-open condition and having a door latch rotationally coupled to the trap door at location between a door trip element and a door set element to dispose said door trip element and said door set element on opposed sides of the trap door disposing the door set element in contact with the entry bottom and the door trip element in a position trippable by contact of an animal entering said entry enclosure in said set-closed condition of said trap door and which resets without human intervention between capture of each of a plurality of animals.
Another broad object of the invention can be to provide a trap floor located between the trap door and a bait station which allows ingress of the animal into a container and prevents egress of said animal from the container to the entry enclosure and resets without human intervention allowing serial capture of a plurality of animals even when floated in a body of water.
Generally, an animal trap (1) floatable in a body of water (2) having an entry enclosure (3) defining an entry opening (4) having a trap door (5) which by operation of a door latch (6) including a door trip element (7) and a door set element (8) rotates about a door pivot axis (9) between a set-closed condition (10) and a tripped-open condition (11) allowing an animal (12) lured by a bait (13) in a bait station (14) to fall through a trap floor (15) into an interior chamber (16) defined by apertured walls (17) of a container (18).
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The entry enclosure (3) can be produced from a wide variety of materials; and while the entry enclosure (3) shown in the figures is produced from cut and bent thin sheet metal; the invention is not so limited, and embodiments of the entry enclosure (3) can otherwise be produced from plastics such as polypropylene, polyethylene, polyvinylchloride; composite materials including layers of laminatable material which can include fibers which can be the same, similar, or different in the same piece or between pieces of laminatable material such as boron carbide, silicon carbide, alumina, alumina titanium, carbon, KEVLAR®, INEGRA®, DYNEEMA®, SPECTRA®, s-glass, e-glass, or the like, which can be impregnated with an amount of resin such as phenolic, epoxy, polyethylene terephtalate, vinylester, polyimides, bismaleimide/diallybisphenol A, cyanate esters, thermoplastics, polypropyelene, nylon, or the like, to bond the layers together under pressure, or similar materials or combinations thereof
The trap door (5) can be have a trap door height (24) and a trap door width (25) sufficient in dimension to prevent egress of an animal (12) through the entry opening (4) in the set-closed condition (10). Typically, the trap door (5) can be produced from an apertured material which enables the animal (12) to see and smell a bait (13) placed in a bait station (14) within the entry enclosure (3) distal from the trap door (5). A particular embodiment of the trap door (5) can be produced from a plurality of spaced apart wire members (26) each having a member length (27) disposed between a wire member first end (28) connected to or rotationally coupled to a door pivot element (23) and a wire member second end (29) terminating at the trap door height (24). A plurality of wire cross members (30) can be connected across the plurality of wire members (26) to reinforce the trap door (5). However, it is not intended that this illustrative example be limiting with respect to the numerous wide variety of apertured or unapertured materials that can be utilized to produce the trap door (5) such as perforated materials, screen mesh, sheet metal, or the like; or can be used to fabricate an apertured material such as wires, rods, cable stretched between frame members, or the like.
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Embodiments of the container (18) can have a generally rectangular configuration including two pairs of interconnected generally parallel vertical container side walls (50)(51) and a container bottom (52) formed of a mesh screen (53) which defines the configuration of the volume of the interior chamber (16). The mesh screen (53) can have screen openings (54) sufficient in open area to allow ingress of water (55) and insufficient in open area to allow egress of an animal (12) from within the interior chamber (16).
Typically, the mesh screen (53) will be produced from a metal mesh screen; however, the container side walls (50)(51) and container bottom (52) can be produced in a wide variety of configurations to which a correspondingly configured entry enclosure (3) can be secured above to define the interior chamber (16) which can have the volume of a cube, rectangle, cylinder, pyramid, cone or the like depending upon the application, and can be made from a wide variety of suitable apertured materials such as, a woven wire openwork, expanded sheet metal, perforated sheet metal, polymeric material, wood, reed, or the like. As to particular embodiments, the container walls (50)(51) can be discrete interconnected pieces or the general shape of the container (18) can be made from one sheet of apertured material provided with four 90 degree bends to form the container bottom (52) and the container side walls (50)(51). The container side walls (50)(51) can be connected by any suitable method, such as by welding, mechanical fasteners, or other method known by those skilled in the art.
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The trap floor first portion (58) and the trap floor second portion (59) can each have a trap floor length (66) and a trap floor width (67) sufficient in dimension to prevent egress of an animal (12) through the entry bottom opening (57) in the trap floor closed condition (64). The trap floor first portion (58) and the trap floor second portion (59) be produced in similar manner to the trap door (5) from a plurality of spaced apart wire floor members (68) each having a floor member length (69) disposed between a wire floor member first end (70) connected to or rotationally coupled to a trap floor pivot element (60) or (61) and a wire floor member second end (71) terminating at the trap floor length (69). A plurality of wire floor cross members (72) can be connected across the plurality of wire members (68) to reinforce the trap floor (15). However, it is not intended that this illustrative example be limiting with respect to the numerous wide variety of apertured or unapertured materials that can be utilized to produce the trap floor (15) such as perforated materials, screen mesh, sheet metal, or the like; or can be used to fabricate an apertured material such as wires, rods, cable stretched between frame members, or the like.
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The float (75) or pair of floats (76)(77) can further include a float height adjustment element (85) which allows the float (75) or pair of floats (76)(77) to be height adjusted in relation to the entry enclosure (3) to correspondingly adjust buoyancy of the animal trap (1) in a body of water (2) to correspondingly adjust a water level (86) in relation to the entry enclosure (3). As to the particular embodiment of the pair of floats (76)(77) shown in the illustrative example of
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however, certain inventive elements of the animal trap (1) can be utilized in a wide variety of animal traps (1) whether floated or otherwise disposed for the capture of other types of animals. An amount of bait (13) can be located in a bait station (14) within the entry enclosure (3). By influence of gravity on the trap floor counter balance (72) the trap floor (15), or first and second trap floor portions (58)(59) move to the trap floor closed condition (64). Similarly, by influence of gravity the trap door counter balance (31) moves the trap door (5) to the set-closed condition (10) and the door latch counter balance (47) moves the door set element (8) to the set position (48) and moves the door trip element (7) to the trippable condition (36).
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As can be easily understood from the foregoing, the basic concepts of the present invention may be embodied in a variety of ways. The invention involves numerous and varied embodiments of an animal trap and methods for making and using the animal trap including the best mode.
As such, the particular embodiments or elements of the invention disclosed by the description or shown in the figures or tables accompanying this application are not intended to be limiting, but rather exemplary of the numerous and varied embodiments generically encompassed by the invention or equivalents encompassed with respect to any particular element thereof. In addition, the specific description of a single embodiment or element of the invention may not explicitly describe all embodiments or elements possible; many alternatives are implicitly disclosed by the description and figures.
It should be understood that each element of an apparatus or each step of a method may be described by an apparatus term or method term. Such terms can be substituted where desired to make explicit the implicitly broad coverage to which this invention is entitled. As but one example, it should be understood that all steps of a method may be disclosed as an action, a means for taking that action, or as an element which causes that action. Similarly, each element of an apparatus may be disclosed as the physical element or the action which that physical element facilitates. As but one example, the disclosure of a “trap” should be understood to encompass disclosure of the act of “trapping”—whether explicitly discussed or not—and, conversely, were there effectively disclosure of the act of “trapping”, such a disclosure should be understood to encompass disclosure of a “trap” and even a “means for trapping.” Such alternative terms for each element or step are to be understood to be explicitly included in the description.
In addition, as to each term used it should be understood that unless its utilization in this application is inconsistent with such interpretation, common dictionary definitions should be understood to included in the description for each term as contained in the Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, second edition, each definition hereby incorporated by reference.
All numeric values herein are assumed to be modified by the term “about”, whether or not explicitly indicated. For the purposes of the present invention, ranges may be expressed as from “about” one particular value to “about” another particular value. When such a range is expressed, another embodiment includes from the one particular value to the other particular value. The recitation of numerical ranges by endpoints includes all the numeric values subsumed within that range. A numerical range of one to five includes for example the numeric values 1, 1.5, 2, 2.75, 3, 3.80, 4, 5, and so forth. It will be further understood that the endpoints of each of the ranges are significant both in relation to the other endpoint, and independently of the other endpoint. When a value is expressed as an approximation by use of the antecedent “about,” it will be understood that the particular value forms another embodiment. The term “about” generally refers to a range of numeric values that one of skill in the art would consider equivalent to the recited numeric value or having the same function or result. Similarly, the antecedent “substantially” means largely, but not wholly, the same form, manner or degree and the particular element will have a range of configurations as a person of ordinary skill in the art would consider as having the same function or result. When a particular element is expressed as an approximation by use of the antecedent “substantially,” it will be understood that the particular element forms another embodiment.
Moreover, for the purposes of the present invention, the term “a” or “an” entity refers to one or more of that entity unless otherwise limited. As such, the terms “a” or “an”, “one or more” and “at least one” can be used interchangeably herein.
Thus, the applicant(s) should be understood to claim at least: i) each of the animal traps herein disclosed and described, ii) the related methods disclosed and described, iii) similar, equivalent, and even implicit variations of each of these devices and methods, iv) those alternative embodiments which accomplish each of the functions shown, disclosed, or described, v) those alternative designs and methods which accomplish each of the functions shown as are implicit to accomplish that which is disclosed and described, vi) each feature, component, and step shown as separate and independent inventions, vii) the applications enhanced by the various systems or components disclosed, viii) the resulting products produced by such systems or components, ix) methods and apparatuses substantially as described hereinbefore and with reference to any of the accompanying examples, x) the various combinations and permutations of each of the previous elements disclosed.
The background section of this patent application provides a statement of the field of endeavor to which the invention pertains. This section may also incorporate or contain paraphrasing of certain United States patents, patent applications, publications, or subject matter of the claimed invention useful in relating information, problems, or concerns about the state of technology to which the invention is drawn toward. It is not intended that any United States patent, patent application, publication, statement or other information cited or incorporated herein be interpreted, construed or deemed to be admitted as prior art with respect to the invention.
The claims set forth in this specification, if any, are hereby incorporated by reference as part of this description of the invention, and the applicant expressly reserves the right to use all of or a portion of such incorporated content of such claims as additional description to support any of or all of the claims or any element or component thereof, and the applicant further expressly reserves the right to move any portion of or all of the incorporated content of such claims or any element or component thereof from the description into the claims or vice-versa as necessary to define the matter for which protection is sought by this application or by any subsequent application or continuation, division, or continuation-in-part application thereof, or to obtain any benefit of, reduction in fees pursuant to, or to comply with the patent laws, rules, or regulations of any country or treaty, and such content incorporated by reference shall survive during the entire pendency of this application including any subsequent continuation, division, or continuation-in-part application thereof or any reissue or extension thereon.
Additionally, the claims set forth in this specification, if any, are further intended to describe the metes and bounds of a limited number of the preferred embodiments of the invention and are not to be construed as the broadest embodiment of the invention or a complete listing of embodiments of the invention that may be claimed. The applicant does not waive any right to develop further claims based upon the description set forth above as a part of any continuation, division, or continuation-in-part, or similar application.
