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A really useful and fascinating book which classifies, describes and illustrates more than 500 British traps for mammals.   It is crammed with illustrations including 150 line drawings done by the author specifically for this book.

It is one of the best accumulations of historic trap images that we’ve come across and is an essential guide for anyone interested in vintage traps.

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Another self built trap from 1940s America.  Frustratingly there are no details on how it works, other than that it is a drowning trap.  I’d love to have seen a photo of the insides.

The caption on the reverse reads:

“John Gawron (2014 w. 19th St) points to where the rat enters the trap while Joyce Maravec (aged 6) points to the container of water into which the rat falls into and is drowned, container is built so that rat cannot escape — trap is home built and considered to be a good repeater due to the fact no blood is spilled ..”

Also interesting to note that there is more than a passing resemblance to the German Bender Automatic mouse trap of 1902.

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These traps are made from oak and are a faithful copy of an early 19th Century original.

Although intended as a display pieces the mechanism is fully functional so that the traps can be set and fired.

These would make an interesting talking point in any trap collection or even in a school, museum or period home.

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We’ve managed to get our hands of a few of these classic glass fly traps.  

These are a classic example of the ‘funnel’ principle at work and would have been hung in trees and around the home to catch many types of insects.

A bung or cork is placed in the top and the inside ‘ring’ of the trap baited with a sweet liquid to attract the insects.  These would find their way up through the centre hole in the bottom of the trap, but then be unable to escape.

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Runway Trap - set

This is a great little mouse trap from the USA which uses a sideways set of jaws.

When set the two sides of the trap are held open at ground level, hinged and sprung at the top.  They are kept apart by a short bait lever, with a tiny raised ‘bump’ that the moving door rests against.

This lever can be baited or the trap just placed on a known run along the edge of a room.  The trigger can be approached from either side of the trap and works just as well.  The slightest touch will dislodge the finely balanced trigger causing the trap to snap closed.

Trigger Detail

First patented in 1933, the one pictured here is the modified version patented in 1940.    Despite this revised patent, the new traps were still stamped with the old reference.

Runway Trap - fired

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By David Drummond

Another excellent pocket guide to mouse traps and their history – a useful book for anyone and an ideal book for someone new to trap collecting.

Packed full with colour photographs and illustrations this book features mouse traps through history and from across the world.

The same clear and accessible style makes it an easy guide to identify a trap that you may have already or see at a car boot or auction.  And it’s a convenient size to have in your pocket too !

80 pages

215mm by 140mm

Very many diagrams and colour photographs.

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This is another example of the classic funnel mouse trap, but this one is an example of the principle applied to adapt an everyday object.   It works in exactly the same way as the John Dee Auto Mouse Box and many others before and since.

There is a small hole cut in the lid of the jar and long pins have been pushed through to form a tapered and flexible cone.  The fact that the pins are pointed is misleading and make the trap look much more vicious than it really is.

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This is another of my favourite traps – not sure of the exact age or nationality but it’s a carefully crafted, well made and functional piece.

Single Catch Mouse Cage

The box is straightforward, with a wire rod ‘cage’ at one end and a single sprung wooden door.

The 'Cage' end

Part of the reason it appeals to me so much is that despite it being so simple, the attention to detail is very strong, no more so that in the trigger mechanism.  You’ll notice that one of the wires in the top of the ‘cage’ sticks through the side, is bent upwards and the end twisted into a neat spiral handle.  A nice touch in itself, but surely more than decoration ?

This is in fact a brilliantly simple means of adjusting the sensitivity of the trigger.

The Adjustable Trigger

The wire rod connected to this ‘handle’ is bent very slightly making the middle of the wire, there the trigger is mounted, noticeably off centre.   By turning the handle, the rod is rotated and so moves the trigger closer or further form where it hooks on the back of the door.  Brilliant.

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The Open end of the 'One Fall' Mouse Trap

This is another very simple trap, mass produced during the late 1800′s and very early 1900′s.  It measures 4 1/4 inches long by just over 2 inches wide and 1 1/2 inches high.

One trap history book refers to it as the ‘penny trap’ suggesting that it was the common household mousetrap of it’s day.

The Closed end of the 'One Fall' Mouse Trap

It has the classic wood and wire construction with a single sprung door held by a bait hook trigger.

The One Fall Mouse Trap - an artists view

1 July 2011

One of the things that we have enjoyed most about the Vintage Gallery is the level of interest it’s created with our customers.

I am indebted to Nigel who has sent me a copy of book of  English Composition exercises for Children, dated 1910. The book is filled with pictures of events and scenarios that children would be familiar with, each accompanied by a series of questions and tasks for children to write about.

Included in the book is this illustration; clearly a trap of the same design and what must have been a common site during this period.

28 August 2011

There is even more follow up on this, from Alan Lancashire who posted on our Facebook page.  Alan wrote “the story of a penny mouse trap maker can be found in Henry Mayhew’s London Labour And The London Poor, Volume 3.   The description of the traps he makes match this trap almost perfectly.”

Having followed it up I completely agree with Alan  - there’s an online copy of the full text which you can read in Tufts Digital Library but I’ve included the most relevant excerpt below.

“I think I have made, altogether, about one hundred and six gross of mouse-traps for the master whose account I have given you, and as many more for other employers, in the course of the last year. I calculate that I made more than thirty thousand mouse-traps from January to December, 1849 . There are three or four other people in London making penny mouse-traps, besides myself. I reckon they may make among them near upon half as many as I do; and that would give about forty-five or fifty thousand penny mouse-traps made in London in the course of the year. I myself brought out the penny mouse-trap in its improved shape, and with the improved lever spring. I have no calculations as to the number of mice in the country, or how soon we should have caught them if we go on at this rate; but I think my traps have to do with that. They are bought more for toys than for use, though they are good for mice as well as children; and though we have so many dozen mousetraps about the house, I can assure you we are more troubled with mice here than most people. The four of us here can make twenty-four dozen traps in the day, but that is all we can get through comfortable. For eighteen dozen we get about 10 s. at the warehouse, and out of that I reckon our clear gains are near upon 4 s., or a little less than 1 s. a head. Take one with the other, we can earn about a penny an hour; and if it wasn”t for me having been a tailor originally, and applying some of my old tools to the business, we shouldn”t get on so quick as we do. With my shears I can cut twenty-four wires at a time, and with my thimble I thread the wires through the holes in the sides. I make the springs, cut the wires, and put them in the traps. My daughter planes the wood and gauges out the sides and bottom, bores the wire-holes and makes the door as well. My wife nails the frames ready for wiring, and my son fixes the wires in their places when I have entered them; then the wife springs them, after which the daughter puts in the doors and so completes them. I can”t form an idea as to how many penny and halfpenny money-boxes I made last year. I might have made, altogether, eight thousand, or five thousand halfpenny and three thousand penny ones.”

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This must be the definitive UK guide to the history of commercially made traps and people that designed and manufactured them.

Originally published in just 1,000 numbered copies, this revised and extended Second Edition goes well beyond the ‘brief guide’ suggested in the book’s subtitle.  The 425 pages are filled with photographs, drawings and copies of original adverts which together with a comprehensive narrative tell the story of the development of traps and trapping.

The scope of the book is not just limited to Traps either, it covers many of the tools and game-keeping equipment that were once in common use and now are eagerly sought collectors items.

More than just a catalogue of trap designs, Rural Reflections is an interesting read as well as an essential reference book.

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This is another great example of people adapting a familiar, basic principle to create a practical working trap from what they can lay their hands on.  This photo was taken during 1944 in Cape Gloucester, on New Britain Island, just off the coast of Papua New Guinea, during WWII.

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An excellent pocket guide for anyone with an interest in the design and history of traps. Packed full with colour photographs and illustrations this book charts the development of the humble mouse trap from Medieval times to the present day.
Paperback 96 pages.

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A late twentieth century version of a classic funnel mouse trap. The tunnel is just large enough to allow the mouse to squeeze through, but they are unable to find the end of the tube to get back out again.

With the top removed to shop the vertical tube and the secondary horizontal tube.

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There’s already a link in the Related Links page that will take you to an electronic copy of this fascinating book, first published in 1881.  But sometimes you just want to have a printed copy which you can take down from the shelf any time you want.

I’ve managed to source a few copies of this in paperback form – I’ve kept one for myself but have made the rest available here.

• Paperback: 312 pages
• Published by Lyons Press (Sep 2009)
• ISBN-13: 9781599218038

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A quite different but complementary book, covering a much wider range of traps but without detailed measurements, cutting lists or assembly instructions.

The subjects covered include: Lever action traps, foot hold traps, box traps of various designs, barrel traps, cage traps, fishing pole snares, basic snares, box snares and many others.

Every page is full of large, clear illustrations often supported with detail on triggers and mechanisms.

• Softback, Approx 60 pages.

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