Cage trap door-opening assembly and cage trap with the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11533903-B2
Application number	US-202016992262-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 13, 2020
Priority date	Aug 13, 2020
Publication date	Dec 27, 2022
Grant date	Dec 27, 2022

Abstract

A pre-tensioned door opening assembly and a lock plate releasing mechanism for an animal cage trap having an entry door operative with an animal access opening and a locking mechanism that is engaged upon door closure to prevent the door from being opened by a trapped animal. The pre-tensioned door opening assembly includes a plurality of cable routing elements, and an automatic-return retracting mechanism having a cable. The housing of the automatic-return retracting mechanism is mounted outside the enclosure with the cable being routed through the cable routing elements and operatively coupled with the door. The lock plate releasing mechanism is mounted on the trap roof in functional cooperation with the locking mechanism. The lock plate releasing mechanism disengages the locking mechanism to allow the pre-tensioned door opening assembly to open the entry door of the trap.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An animal trap comprising:
an animal enclosure having a roof and a front end with an access opening in communication with a vacant interior sized to receive an animal to be trapped;
a door movably mounted at the access opening, the door operative in an opened position to reveal the access opening and in a closed position to block the access opening;
a trigger mechanism for setting the trap;
a trigger plate for releasing the trigger mechanism to allow the door to close;
a pre-tensioned door opening assembly mounted on the trap and operatively engaged with the door;
a locking mechanism engaged when the door is in the closed position to prevent the door from being opened by an animal from inside the animal trap, said locking mechanism also preventing said pre-tensioned door opening assembly from opening the door until said locking mechanism is disengaged, said locking mechanism includes a locking wire yoke mounted on a lower edge of the door and a lock plate mounted on the roof, the locking wire yoke having an upper bar that slides rearwardly adjacent the roof when the door is moved to the opened position, the lock plate engaging with said upper bar to block said rearward sliding when the door has moved to the closed position; and
a lock plate releasing mechanism configured to disengage the locking mechanism to allow said pre-tensioned door opening assembly to pull the door open, said lock plate releasing mechanism acting to lift the lock plate to a non-blocking position with respect to the upper bar of the locking wire yoke, allowing the pre-tensioned door opening assembly to open the door.

2. The animal trap of claim 1 , wherein the door is a single entry door and the animal trap has no other doors.

3. The animal trap of claim 1 , wherein the lock plate releasing mechanism is remotely controlled by a user with a remote control unit.

4. The trap of claim 1 , wherein the door is a single door and the trap has no other doors.

5. The animal trap of claim 1 , wherein the lock plate releasing mechanism is a timed-release mechanism that disengages the locking mechanism after a time delay set by a user at the trap.

6. The animal trap of claim 5 , wherein said timed-release mechanism acts to lift the lock plate to non-blocking position with respect to the upper bar of the locking wire yoke after the time delay.

7. The animal trap of claim 6 , wherein said pre-tensioned door opening assembly includes a plurality of cable routing elements mounted on the animal trap and an automatic-return retracting mechanism mounted to the animal trap roof outside said animal enclosure and rearwardly of the access opening, said automatic-return retracting mechanism including a cable directed by the cable routing elements, a free end of said cable being coupled to said locking wire yoke upper bar.

8. The animal trap of claim 7 , wherein said plurality of cable routing elements includes a plurality of pulleys.

9. The animal trap of claim 8 , wherein said plurality of pulleys includes a door pulley mounted on a lower end of the door and first, second and third roof pulleys, said free end of said cable being run over the first roof pulley, then directed downwardly to pass over the door pulley, then directed upwardly and rearwardly to run over the second roof pulley, then forwardly to run under the third roof pulley, and then said free end being secured to the upper bar of the locking wire yoke.

10. An animal trap comprising:
an animal enclosure having a roof and a front end with an access opening into a vacant interior sized to receive an animal to be trapped;
a single entry door movably mounted at the access opening, the door operative in an opened position to reveal the access opening and in a closed position to block the access opening, the animal trap having no other doors through which an animal can enter or exit the animal trap other than the single entry door;
a trigger mechanism for setting the trap;
a trigger plate for releasing the trigger mechanism to allow the door to close;
a pre-tensioned door opening assembly mounted on the animal trap and operatively engaged with the single entry door, said pre-tensioned door opening assembly including an automatic-return retracting mechanism with a cable that is routed through a plurality of pulleys mounted on the animal enclosure and the single entry door;
a locking mechanism engaged when the single entry door is in the closed position to prevent the single entry door from being opened by an animal from inside the animal trap, said locking mechanism also preventing said pre-tensioned door opening assembly from opening the single entry door until said locking mechanism is disengaged, said locking mechanism including a locking wire yoke pivotally mounted on a lower edge of the single entry door and a lock plate mounted on the roof of the animal trap, the locking wire yoke having an upper bar that slides rearwardly adjacent the roof when the single entry door is moved to the opened position, the lock plate engaging with said upper bar to block said rearward sliding when the single entry door has moved to the closed position;
a lock plate releasing mechanism configured to disengage the lock plate to allow said pre-tensioned door opening assembly to pull the single entry door open by retracting the cable as routed over the plurality of pulleys.

11. The animal trap of claim 10 , wherein the lock plate releasing mechanism is a timed-release mechanism that lifts the lock plate out of engagement with the upper bar of the wire yoke after a time delay.

12. The animal trap of claim 10 , wherein the lock plate releasing mechanism is a remotely controlled mechanism that lifts the lock plate out of engagement with the upper bar of the wire yoke in response to a signal sent by a remote control unit.

13. The animal trap of claim 10 , wherein said plurality of pulleys includes a door pulley mounted on a lower end of the single entry door and first, second and third roof pulleys, said free end of said cable being run forwardly over the first roof pulley, then directed downwardly to pass over the door pulley, then directed upwardly and rearwardly to run over the second roof pulley, then forwardly to run under the third roof pulley, and then said free end being secured to the upper bar of the locking wire yoke.

14. The animal trap of claim 10 , wherein said automatic-return retracting mechanism is removable for use on another trap that is equipped with a plurality of pulleys.

15. A trap comprising: an enclosure having a roof and a front end with an access opening into a vacant interior sized to receive an animal to be trapped; a door movably mounted at the access opening, the door operative in an opened position to reveal the access opening and in a closed position to block the access opening; a trigger mechanism for setting the trap and including a hook; a trigger plate operatively connected to the trigger mechanism via a linkage for releasing the trigger mechanism to allow the door to close; a pre-tensioned door opening assembly mounted on the trap and operatively engaged with the door;
a locking mechanism including a locking wire yoke engaged when the door is in the closed position to prevent the entry door from being opened by an animal from inside the trap, the locking mechanism preventing the pre-tensioned door opening assembly from opening the door until the locking mechanism is disengaged; wherein the locking wire yoke is rigid and is attached to the door proximate a first end thereof; wherein the locking mechanism further includes a lock plate mounted on the roof of the trap; a lock plat

Assignees

• Woodstream Corp

Inventors

• Kletzli Paul M
• Lubic Marko K

Classifications

• A01M23/08 Primary

  with approaches permitting entry only · CPC title

• A01M23/18 Primary

  with pivoted closure flaps · CPC title