Don't forget, Rob noted it was only 9 inches tall.
I think it was a trap too, much like DoN. described.
What is it? Set 263
Dec 18, 2008
39 Replies
1491 - Is for maintaining/sharpening saws, like a cross-cut. I believe they called it a "jointer". Used for gauging the height of the teeth.
1490: I think it's a repeating mouse trap. There would have been a sliding door on the entrance, tied to the wire handle.
Initially the handle and door are up. The door weighs enough to pull the handle down, but it's latched. The mouse enters and trips the latch. The door comes down (probably fairly slowly), which pulls down the handle and raises the ramp.
Because the door closed slowly and he can see out, the mouse is more curious than scared. The perforations make the tube appealing, so he climbs, then explores the ramp. When his weight brings the ramp down, that dumps him and resets the door, ready for the next mouse who doesn't want to miss the fun. Soon you have enough for a pie.
Here is a nice page describing how to use the "jointer":
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And a nice warm winter hat.
Thanks, that's a great link, I just added it to the answer page:
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Rob
1490 : I just found a patent: 4 937 968. By golly, it is a drowning trap. I had a simpler tin trap that didn't drown mice. The advantage to leaving a mouse alive was that he could attract others. Lack of food and water would soon kill them. 1990! That's why I didn't find it sooner. If yours was really from 1908, it looks like the American patent is a knock-off.
Sorry about the previous accidental post.
I'm definitely surprised to see the 1990 patent for the trap, the first link below is to a publication from 1908, it has an ad for this device:
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The closest patent patent that I had found for it was the rat trap seen here:
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It doesn't look exactly like the one on my site, but I thought it was close enough for it to be the correct patent for it, although the patent was filed in 1914, at least six years after it was already on the market.
The 1990 patent does look to be a copy of earlier inventions, makes me wonder why the patent was granted.
Rob
"Rob H." fired this volley in news: snipped-for-privacy@news4.newsguy.com:
Rob,
About five years ago, I fought off a patent violation suit for a guy who had "patented" the concept of a fireworks "fan rack". That's an arrangement of fireworks mortars aimed at angles about vertical, so the fireworks are fired in a "fan" formation.
Well! First of all, it takes no special knowlege or talent to arrange common fireworks in an orientation other than vertical.
Second, we had been manufacturing "fan rack" arrangements for over ten years prior to his applying for the patent.
Last -- the killer. We proved from literature dating back to the
1700s that the "fan rack" was not only a common device, but even called that as early as 1818.Then, of course, there's the fact that we knew HE knew that such a device was already in the public domain -- so we could have pressed criminal charges against him for knowing false prosecution of a patent.
He demurred.
LLoyd
"Lloyd E. Sponenburgh" fired this volley in news:Xns9B79CFCCADE11lloydspmindspringcom@216.168.3.70:
No! I meant "against a guy".... he claimed patent violation against us.
LLoyd
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562 879 filed 1895
1 102 896 filed 1912 (slightly different)
It looks like the 1990 guy bought and patented the device shown in your
1908 catalog. I wonder if he told the attorney he had built it himself of if US law doesn't recognize old European patents.1490 looks like another "better mouse trap"
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>
In general the USPTO does not require that anything have been built.
The price on which -- the salesman's sample, or the full-scale furnace?
Enjoy, DoN.
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I was thinking about the patent attorney. I imagine an inventor of a mouse trap would show a working model to the lawyer, who would arrange for drawings and write up a description.
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page says
'One in particular, made by the German company Luchs, named the ?Capito Original? appears far too elaborate to do the job with any real efficiency. The advertising for this device featured a weeping cat ? presumably signifying its loss of status as a mouse-catcher.'
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The article says selling mousetraps depended more on advertising than original invention. I think the Capito got a name through advertising, and American inventors copied it.
Here are two photos and a description of a museum piece.
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went into production in 1880. The snap trap wasn't invented until
1894.
That's the price for the salesman's sample, I couldn't find a price for the full-scale one, I did see an ad for it but the price wasn't listed.
Rob
Rob, do you happen to remember how old the ad for the furnace was? Just curious, if you know, otherwise don't go to the trouble of looking it up again.
I really enjoy the weekly postings in RCM. This week I learned about the saw jointer, which a friend has and we didn't know what it was.
Every week is a learning experience, and the historical aspects are always interesting.
The ad was from 1920, I don't know if it's the exact same model or not, but it shows the metal shroud around it like someone mentioned. I was thinking about posting this on the answer page but I'll just post it here instead:
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Rob
Thanks, Rob. The catalog page "pipeless" model is different from the salesman's model on your page. The catalog ad furnace doesn't have the Radiator Cleanout door near the top, and the front casting is set back into the base circle.
The furnace I'm familiar with was identical to the salesman's model on your page. The front casting protrudes from/is outside of, the base circle. It had the Radiator Cleanout door and all the other features of the salesman's model on your page.
Thanks again for the weekly thought provoking pages.
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