Mouse Trap

Description:

This mousetrap was manufactured by the Oneida Community, Ltd., know for producing silverware. It is a mouse-sized version of the company’s larger steel animal traps. Since the U.S. Patent Office was formally established in 1838, it has granted more than forty-four hundred mousetrap patents, more than any other invention. John Mast heeded Ralph Waldo Emerson’s advice to, “Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door” and in 1899 built the more familiar snap trap which received its patent in 1903. Simple and effective, Mast’s trap is the best-selling mousetrap of all time. However, inventors are still attempting to improve upon Mast’s design—the Patent Office grants about 40 patents for mousetraps a year, and it receives almost ten times as many patent requests!

The simple mousetrap is a testament to American ingenuity. Inventors and innovators have sought to deal with the mice in different ways - some traps are “beheaders,” some “imprisoners,” and some are “mashers.” No matter the design, the mousetrap has an undeniable grasp on the American imagination, with board games, gambling apparatus, and even movies being based on this pervasive mammal and the attempts to capture it.

Date Made: ca 1900

Location: Currently not on view

Place Made: United States: New York, Kenwood

Subject: AnimalsHousehold Tools and EquipmentPest Control

Subject:

See more items in: Home and Community Life: Domestic Life, Artifact Walls exhibit

Exhibition:

Exhibition Location:

Credit Line: Oneida Community, Ltd.

Data Source: National Museum of American History

Id Number: DL.210336Catalog Number: 210336Accession Number: 38088

Object Name: Mouse Trapmousetrap

Physical Description: steel (overall material)Measurements: overall: 1 1/2 in x 5 in x 1 3/4 in; 3.81 cm x 12.7 cm x 4.445 cm

Guid: http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a1-2686-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

Record Id: nmah_322314

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