Woodstream Corporation

William E Askins

Gary H Roulston

Joseph Frank Fiore

Anthony J Souza

Clay E Tully

Michael W Stewart

Gerald A Thomas

John P Trauger

A collapsible pet home having a base, side walls, end walls and a roof can be converted into an exercise pen for the pet by folding the end walls down onto the base, setting the base on end and using the base, side walls and roof to form peripheral walls of the exercise pen. An additional pen-forming module is provided to connect with the roof one side and one of the side walls on the other side to complete the peripheral wall of the exercise pen. The base may have a compartment for storing the additional module when it is not in use. The entire structure folds down into a compact package.

Modular combination dog home and exercise pen

An animal trap of the type having a base, back wall and side walls made of metal mesh and a roof or lid made of metal sheet. A vertically sliding door is provided at the front of the trap which is held in an upper open position by a trigger mechanism until the trigger mechanism is released by an animal stepping on a bait pan inside the trap. The trap is provided with door slides snap-fitted on the opposite side walls at the front of the trap which improves the rigidity of the trap and the effectiveness of door operation. The slides are extrusions in metal or plastic, each having a first channel which snaps onto the respective side wall and a second perpendicular channel forming a guideway receiving one edge of the door. The roof is formed with inverted U-shaped flanges along its side edges defining a downwardly opening channel adapted to fit over the upper edges of the side walls of the trap housing with inwardly and upwardly extending resilient clip elements pressed into the channel so that the roof can be snap fit over the upper edges of the side walls with the free ends of the clip elements lockingly engaged under horizontal wires of the mesh side walls. The bait pan is supported by a pivot mounting which is spaced inwardly from the side walls of the trap housing and upwardly from the bottom to protect the same against damage causing distortion of the housing.

Cage trap with improved slide for door

A cage-like animal trap has a door mechanism at a front end of the trap which closes on an animal inside of the trap when the animal steps on an internal trip pan while going for bait positioned at the rear of the trap. The door mechanism has a main body panel pivoted to the roof of the trap and a reactor plate pivotally connected to the bottom edge of the body panel and urged away from the body panel by a spring. In the open position, the body panel and reactor plate are squeezed together and lie flat against the roof of the trap held in place by a hook-like trigger in the roof. When the trigger is released by an animal stepping on the trip pan, the body panel of the door is lowered by gravity and the reactor plate springs away from the body panel with its top edge sliding outwardly along the inside of the roof until it engages a stop at the front of the roof. A drop latch in the roof prevents the top edge of the reactor plate from sliding back to the open position of the door mechanism unless the catch is lifted from outside of the trap so that the trapped animal cannot open the door from inside the trap. The trap is disclosed in collapsible and non-collapsible versions.

Cage traps

Wire mesh cage with snap-on roof

A cage-type animal trap has side walls which fold inwardly concertina-wise and end frames with sliding doors which fold up against the roof of the trap so that the trap can be collapsed into a compact package for storage and transportation. When the trap is opened out for use the end frames form braces rigidly supporting the side walls. A trigger mechanism on the roof of the trap holds both doors open so that an animal can enter the trap from either end. A pivotal trip pan in the base of the trap is connected by cables to the trigger mechanism. When an animal steps on the trip pan from either end, the trigger mechanism releases both doors which slide closed under gravity. The trap can optionally be operated with one of the doors remaining closed and can be provided in a non-collapsible version.

Two door animal trap

A collapsible cage for dogs or rabbits has a rectangular base, fold-down end walls folding side walls and a roof. The walls and roof are made of metal grids. The end walls fold down onto the base one over the other. The side walls fold in the middle concertina-wise and are hinged at the top to opposite edges of the roof allowing the side walls and roof to collapse onto the base over the end walls. The base has a pull-out tray or pan and an access door is provided in one of the end walls. Releasable clips are provided to hold the walls and roof together in an elevated position of the structure.

Collapsible cage

An animal trap of a type having pivotal jaws operated by spring loaded actuators which embrace the jaws and which are pivotally mounted on the arms of a U-shaped retention pin is provided with a security device for preventing an animal caught in the trap from pulling out the pin with its teeth and thereby dismantling the trap. The security device is in the form of a tongue upset from a cross frame member of the trap over which the base portion of the pin extends. The tongue engages the outer surface of the pin and prevents axial withdrawal of the pin arms from the actuators.

Animal trap with improved security

A padded leghold trap of the pivoting jaw type includes recessed portions of the jaws in which respective pads are disposed. The pads each have concave facing surfaces with an inner edge that barely touches the inner edge of the other pad in the sprung position of the jaws, leaving the remainder of the concave facing surfaces mutually spaced. A trapped animal is held between the padded jaws which spring closed and traps the animal's leg without breaking the leg or causing edema. Attempts by the trapped animal to pull its trapped limb from between the jaws causes the radially inner pad edges to roll over toward the limb and thereby increase the retention forces. A retainer for the pad is disposed over an access slot in the pad, which access slot is provided to deploy the pad on the jaw. The retainer includes a bent lip which deforms the pad toward the jaw to prevent the pad from being pulled off the jaw by a trapped animal. An anchor chain is secured centrally of the trapped frame to assure that forces exerted by a trapped animal in trying to escape are directed generally perpendicular to the jaws to thereby minimize damage to the animal.

Padded leghold trap

Inadvertent actuation of a rotating jaw trap is eliminated by limiting the rotation of spring-loaded jaw actuators in the trap set position. The position-limited actuators prevent opening of the jaws beyond the set position if one of the jaws is stepped upon by an animal which would otherwise release the trap-setting dog member from the trap trigger pan. With this elimination of slack in the set jaws, the trap is only sprung when the trigger pan is stepped upon. In the preferred embodiment, the limitation of rotation by the actuators is effected by upturned flange members from the trap frame or frame-holding bracket. The flange members may be apertured to receive pivot rods for the actuator members.

Animal trap with improved immunity to false actuation

An improved rotating frame animal trap includes jaw-forming sides which, in the closed position of the trap, are projected toward one another from parallel sections of their supporting end members. This configuration provides the correct jaw spacing in the closed position of the trap to maximize the jaw pressure for a given spring force.

Jaw configuration for animal trap

An improved trigger mechanism for a rotating frame animal trap includes a single plate which is bent along its transversely extending center line and includes end portions which are contoured to rotatably engage one of the side portions of a trap frame. Spaced holes defined through the plate along the center line receive respective prongs of a two-prong bent wire trigger arm which is supported by the folded plate. A tab is cut in the plate and bent out of plane to serve as a wedge for securing the bent wire trigger arm along the center line. Cut-out portions from opposite ends of the plate in the region of the contoured portions provide exposure of the surrounded frame portion side to permit a latching mechanism, which is pivotally secured to another frame, to releasably engage the exposed portion of the frame on which the trigger mechanism is supported. The trigger mechanism is constructed for release when the trigger arm is engaged by an animal from any direction.

Trigger mechanism for rotating frame animal traps

A rotating frame animal trap has a specific form of frame design for insuring that the maximum clamping force between the jaws is developed at a jaw opening which corresponds to the dimension of a target animal. This frame design also produces generally increased clamping forces compared with known traps over a range of jaw openings smaller than the target opening.

Rotating frame animal trap

A portable escape ladder comprises a bracket for gripping over a building window ledge, a pair of chains suspended from the bracket and supporting a series of spaced transverse rungs therebetween and optional stand-off devices attached at least to some of the rungs to hold the ladder a fixed distance from the building wall. There is provided a form of connection between the rungs and the chains in which the ends of the rungs are pressed flat and formed with an opening in which the junction of a pair of chain links is captively held. The optional stand-off devices comprise substantially flat frames with upright extensions fitting in bores formed in the respective rungs and fastened in place by snap nuts on the ends of the uprights.

Growing community of inventors

Lititz, PA, United States of America

William E Askins