A Virginia farmer was awarded a patent in 1932 for his Chicken Thief Man Trap. In his description, inventor John T. Helbert wrote: "A jaw trap which may be used to capture chicken thieves, being so constructed that the more the victim struggles the closer together the jaws move." Today the antique trap's value is about $1,500, according to Tom Parr, president of the North America Trap Collectors Association, who has his personal collection of traps on display at the association's museum in Galloway, Ohio. The Chicken Thief Man Trap is one of about 4,000 traps - from mousetraps to bear traps. The man trap is 17 by 15 in. and the jaws are offset by 2 in., and includes something animal traps don't need. "A true man trap usually has a lock mechanism built into the jaws to prevent escape," Parr says. "Once something is in it, it locks. It needs a special key or device to unlock it." The trap was usually set near a hen house and covered with dirt or straw. When someone stepped on the trigger assembly, the springs closed the offset jaws, designed not to overly injure a leg. A heavy chain that secured the trap to a fence post or stake held the thief until the landowner returned. Apparently, however, Helbert's trap never really caught on. Only about a dozen were ever made. Parr feels fortunate to have one of them; a friend purchased the trap for him at a Virginia antique store. Parr's museum has two other man traps. One that is 7 ft. long and 70 lbs., appears to be homemade out of old farm parts. Another is from Europe, where traps to catch men were made as early as 1770, when English aristocrats set them on their property to keep hungry peasants from stealing their wild game and fruit. Unlike traps for wild animals, the traps didn't close tight enough to break a leg, but those who were caught likely faced a worse punishment. Parr invites anyone interested in seeing the Chicken Thief Man Trap and thousands of other traps to come to the museum. Call ahead to set up a time."
Upload one or more videos to your post. Photo and video filesizes should be less than 5MB. Formats allowed are gif, jpg, png, ogg, mp4, mov, and avi. Be sure to use filenames without spaces or special characters, and filetypes of 3 digits lower case.
We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today. [ About Us ]
Today's Featured Article - Third Brush Generators - by Chris Pratt. While I love straightening sheet metal, cleaning, and painting old tractors, I use every excuse to avoid working on the on the electrics. I find the whole process sheer mystery. I have picked up and attempted to read every auto and farm electrics book with no improvement in the situation. They all seem to start with a chapter entitled "Theory of Electricity". After a few paragraphs I usually close the book and go back to banging out dents. A good friend and I were recently discussing our tractor electrical systems when he stated "I figure it all comes back to applying Ohms Law". At this point
... [Read Article]
Latest Ad:
1945 Farmall wide body gas with pto and front plow. Runs good but needs new points.
[More Ads]
All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of any part of this website, including design and content, without written permission is strictly prohibited. Trade Marks and Trade Names contained and used in this Website are those of others, and are used in this Website in a descriptive sense to refer to the products of others. Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy
TRADEMARK DISCLAIMER: Tradenames and Trademarks referred to within Yesterday's Tractor Co. products and within the Yesterday's Tractor Co. websites are the property of their respective trademark holders. None of these trademark holders are affiliated with Yesterday's Tractor Co., our products, or our website nor are we sponsored by them. John Deere and its logos are the registered trademarks of the John Deere Corporation. Agco, Agco Allis, White, Massey Ferguson and their logos are the registered trademarks of AGCO Corporation. Case, Case-IH, Farmall, International Harvester, New Holland and their logos are registered trademarks of CNH Global N.V.
