This design sounds worthy of making...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-35503613

A number of unique and intriguing mousetraps have been designed
throughout history. The best are true marvels of engineering, beautiful
in their mechanical simplicity. One of the greatest has to be
the Perpetual Mouse Trap patented by Colin Pullinger & Sons in 1861.
The model that the Museum of English Rural Life (MERL) in Berkshire, UK
has on display just caught a mouse without any bait.

The staff at MERL came in Wednesday morning to an email
from an assistant curator that read: "There appears to be a
dead mouse in this mousetrap, which is not described as
being there on the database." As Pullinger & Sons claim right on the trap,
it will indeed "last a lifetime."

   BugBear

Paul,
 
Where would we get enough information to make a dimensioned drawing?  I'm not
familiar with British patents - would there be patent drawings ?
 
John Ruth

There are some good pictures on the web, one with the side removed.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/a19298/museums-19th-century-
mousetrap-is-still-catching-
mice/">http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/a19298/museums-19th-century-
mousetrap-is-still-catching-mice/

Pete

-----Original Message-----
From: OldTools [mailto:oldtools-bounces@s...] On Behalf Of John Ruth
Sent: 10 February 2016 16:03
To: paul womack ; oldtools@s...
Subject: Re: [OldTools] Idea for a project

Paul,

Where would we get enough information to make a dimensioned drawing?  I'm not
familiar with British patents - would there be patent drawings ?

John Ruth



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Here is a article in the Sussex Industrial History journal that has about
everything you would ever want to know about Pullinger's mouse trap.

No dimensioned drawings however.

sias2.pastfinder.org.uk/sih_1970_2008/24-1994.pdf

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bob Page
in da U.P. of Michigan
________________________________
From: paul womack 
To: oldtools@s... 
Sent: Wednesday, February 10, 2016 7:38 AM
Subject: [OldTools] Idea for a project


This design sounds worthy of making...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-35503613

A number of unique and intriguing mousetraps have been designed
throughout history. The best are true marvels of engineering, beautiful
in their mechanical simplicity. One of the greatest has to be
the Perpetual Mouse Trap patented by Colin Pullinger & Sons in 1861.
The model that the Museum of English Rural Life (MERL) in Berkshire, UK
has on display just caught a mouse without any bait.

The staff at MERL came in Wednesday morning to an email
from an assistant curator that read: "There appears to be a
dead mouse in this mousetrap, which is not described as
being there on the database." As Pullinger & Sons claim right on the trap,
it will indeed "last a lifetime."

   BugBear

Nothing in the European Patent Database

http://worldwide.espacenet.com/searchResults?ST=singleline&locale=en_EP
&submitted=true&DB=worldwide.espacenet.com&query=colin+pullinger">http://worldwi
de.espacenet.com/searchResults?ST=singleline&locale=en_EP&submitted=true&DB=worl
dwide.espacenet.com&query=colin+pullinger

Might be a bit too old.

On Wed, Feb 10, 2016 at 8:02 AM, John Ruth  wrote:

> Paul,
>
> Where would we get enough information to make a dimensioned drawing?  I'm
> not familiar with British patents - would there be patent drawings ?
>
> John Ruth
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> OldTools is a mailing list catering to the interests of hand tool
> aficionados, both collectors and users, to discuss the history, usage,
> value, location, availability, collectibility, and restoration of
> traditional handtools, especially woodworking tools.
>
> To change your subscription options:
> https://oldtools.swingleydev.com/mailman/listinfo/oldtools
>
> To read the FAQ:
> https://swingleydev.com/archive/faq.html
>
> OldTools archive: https://swingleydev.com/ot/
>
> OldTools@s...
>



-- 
Kirk Eppler
Principal Engineer
PP&TD or PTDUP-PD
eppler.kirk@g...
650 225-3911

On Wed, Feb 10, 2016 at 8:17 AM, Bob Page via OldTools <
oldtools@s...> wrote:

> Here is a article in the Sussex Industrial History journal that has about
> everything you would ever want to know about Pullinger's mouse trap.
>
> No dimensioned drawings however.
>
> sias2.pastfinder.org.uk/sih_1970_2008/24-1994.pdf
>
>
https://books.google.com/books?id=0tvrFDZSrOwC&pg=PA62&lpg=PA62&dq=pate
nt+pullinger+colin&source=bl&ots=kxiPtU5lj0&sig=O7LyTwO7sJ_JjuNHX4Ll3zDVs7Y&hl=e
n&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi35fq60O3KAhVR_mMKHR1QDcUQ6AEIQDAH#v=onepage&q=patent%20pullin
ger%20colin&f=false">https://books.google.com/books?id=0tvrFDZSrOwC&pg=PA62&lpg=
PA62&dq=patent+pullinger+colin&source=bl&ots=kxiPtU5lj0&sig=O7LyTwO7sJ_JjuNHX4Ll
3zDVs7Y&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi35fq60O3KAhVR_mMKHR1QDcUQ6AEIQDAH#v=onepage&q=pat
ent%20pullinger%20colin&f=false

A few dimensions here.

Got this by googling
patent pullinger colin

And bypassing all the current news.

Also, it has not been digitized apparently.
http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C14036653

Kirk in HMB, CA

paul womack wrote:
> This design sounds worthy of making...

The book Kirk linked to (Animal Traps and Trapping, by James A. Bateman, 2003)
has a worrying statement;

"When the patent for this trap expired, many imitations appear to
have been marketed, but mostly these were inefficient compared with
the original. An acceptable variation was made for a number of
years by the firm of Duke, Waring, Crisp & Co, at the Soho wireworks,
in London."

Now, the makers of the the "inefficient versions" presumably
had access to the originals, ad could make a close copy,
and yet they still failed.

This leads to me to suspect two possibilities

* they cheapened the manufacture by cutting corners that lessened
   the operational quality

* the original is simple in principle, but the the details, sizes
   weights etc all need fine tuning to work well.

It could be both, of course. The second reason would be a strong objection
to creating a reproduction based on diagrams "in principle",
and an overall shot from the web.

Which is all the information we currently have :-(

  BugBear