In 1882 on August 21, a man by the name of James Alexander Williams from San Saba County, Texas was filed a

United States patent Under United States law, a patent is a right granted to the inventor of a (1) process, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter, (2) that is new, useful, and non-obvious. A patent is the right to exclude others, for a limited ...

No.269,766. for a

mousetrap A mousetrap is a specialized type of animal trap designed primarily to catch and, usually, kill mice. Mousetraps are usually set in an indoor location where there is a suspected infestation of rodents. Larger traps are designed to catch other s ...

incorporating a

handgun A handgun is a short- barrelled gun, typically a firearm, that is designed to be usable with only one hand. It is distinguished from a long gun (i.e. rifle, shotgun or machine gun, etc.), which needs to be held by both hands and also braced ...

, "by which animals which burrow in the ground can be destroyed". The patent application suggests that the device might also be used to kill or injure "any person or thing" that makes the fatal decision to open the door or window that it is placed by. The patent application was approved on December 26 of 1882 and James Alexander Williams said "The object of my invention is to provide a means by which animals who burrow in the ground can be destroyed, and which the trap will give an alarm each time that it goes off, so that it can be reset."

Design

US Patent 269766, awarded December 26, 1882, to James A. Williams of

Fredonia, Mason County, Texas Fredonia is an unincorporated community in Mason County, Texas, United States. The community is located near the county line of Mason and San Saba counties, where State Highway 71 intersects with Ranch to Market Road 386. Fredonia has a post o ...

, describes a frame with a pistol or revolver secured to it, and a spring, levers and rod which would activate the gun's

trigger Trigger may refer to: Notable animals and people ;Mononym * Trigger (horse), owned by cowboy star Roy Rogers ;Nickname * Trigger Alpert (1916–2013), American jazz bassist * "Trigger Mike" Coppola (1900–1966), American gangster ;Surname * Bru ...

when an animal stepped on a

treadle A treadle (from oe, tredan, "to tread") is a mechanism operated with a pedal for converting reciprocating motion into rotating motion. Along with cranks, treadmills, and treadwheels, treadles allow human and animal machine power in the absenc ...

in front of the muzzle, killing the animal. Williams said that the invention could also be used to "kill any person or thing opening door or window to which it is attached". He compared it to other similar inventions which were used as burglar alarms. He stated in his patent application that another feature of the design was that the gunshot would act as an alarm: when the trap's gun was fired the gunshot noise would notify the user that the trap had been triggered.

Reception

The

United States Patent Office The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is an agency in the U.S. Department of Commerce that serves as the national patent office and trademark registration authority for the United States. The USPTO's headquarters are in Alexa ...

has issued more than 4,400 mousetrap patents. The gun-powered mouse trap proved inferior to spring-powered mousetraps descending from William C. Hooker's 1894 patent. However, the 1882 patent has continued to draw interest–including efforts to reconstruct a version of it–due to its unconventional design. In 2015 '' Vox'' listed Williams' device as Number 5 on its list of "7 horrifying attempts at building a better mousetrap", and in 2012 ''

Business Insider ''Insider'', previously named ''Business Insider'' (''BI''), is an American financial and business news website founded in 2007. Since 2015, a majority stake in ''Business Insider''s parent company Insider Inc. has been owned by the German publ ...

'' called it "the best mousetrap ever".

References

External links

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Youtube video: A Crazy 1882 Rodent Trap Design. "The World's Luckiest Rat"
{{Authority control Mammal pest control Home appliances Mice Pest trapping 1882 introductions 19th-century inventions Mason County, Texas Handguns Hunting in the United States Hunting equipment

Design

Reception

See also

References

External links