This is a trap, as most of you guessed.
Specifically, it is a type of leghold muskrat trap in which, after the muskrat is caught in a regular leghold trap (see below), a clamshell mechanism springs up over the top and the trap is also raised up out of the marsh by a secondary spring mechanism.
The whole thing is pretty complex and I believe it was invented to deal with the fact that muskrats have very small front legs that are liable to break off if trapped in a dry land or very shallow water situation.
Of course, muskrats are rarely trapped in these kinds of conditions, and if they are, they are now killed instantly by using a small conibear (crush) trap invented in the late 1950s (see "How to get your dog out of a conibear trap").
The most common type of muskrat trap has always been a #1 leghold trap set up as a drowning set on a log or float or in an underwater run. Once the muskrat trips the leghold mechanism, the trap and attached muskrat slide into the water (if it is set above the water initially and not underwater) and the animal is promply drowned. A properly rigged drowning set is very humane, and if set underwater or far from a bank, it is likely to have zero by-catch.
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My husband, without looking at Google, says that he thinks it is a live catch trap with a spring load that jumps in the air once the quarry enters. It's either English or American, 19th century, and for something you'd want to live-catch (for fur?) like a mink or beaver.
ReplyDeleteDid you find this at your conference? ;-)
Dorene
Some kind of pre-industrial (or alternately: Steampunk) dental surgery device?
ReplyDeleteCould be a Nautilus trap..
ReplyDelete=)
I'll go for the obvious and say its an Armadillo trap.
ReplyDeleteIt is a "drop-down" live trap which once tripped leaves the animal trapped in a hemispherical (sort of) enclosure. -clutch ;^)
ReplyDeleteThe Covered Bridge to Nowhere?
ReplyDeleteUnderneath it looks like a triggering mechanism for a spring trap.
ReplyDeleteSo is it an animal trap meant to be wedged into a burrow, beaver lodge, or other tight place?
You've got me curious.
We think it's some kind of (over-engineered) live trap. Or the infant Hannibal Lector's bassinet ;)
ReplyDeletewho cares? I want to be first on my block to get one!
ReplyDeleteAn 18th century mechanical armadillo?
Looks like some sort of trap but I'm stumped.
It's what GW stores his brain in. And Cheney has the key to it on a gold chain around his neck.
ReplyDeleteIs it a trap of some type?
ReplyDeleteAmerican in Copenhagen - it appears to be empty. Oh. Now I understand.
ReplyDeleteOOOOhhhh!!!!!!!! I got it! Its a device to protect your womenfolk from the evil intentions of the Rigid Seesnake.
ReplyDeleteNo?
for castrating bulls?
how big is it?
Well at least I was close. :)
ReplyDeleteYeppers. Gibbs ~ If I remember correctly ~ Armadillo. Nice condition too.
ReplyDeleteOne of those, like that, on the Bay can cause major stress amongst US Trap Collectors. Mate of mine, over in UK, recently picked one up at a real auction of traps for a few quid.
Steve / Traps. Forgotten what name I have on this system.