Object Details
- Description
- This large iron spring trap may have been fashioned by an unidentified blacksmith in the 19th century. 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.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Credit Line
- Myrtle Z. Hough
- 1800 - 1900
- ID Number
- DL.377834
- catalog number
- 377834
- accession number
- 136880
- Object Name
- Mousetrap
- mousetrap
- Physical Description
- iron, wrought (overall material)
- Measurements
- overall: 3 1/2 in x 7 in x 4 3/4 in; 8.89 cm x 17.78 cm x 12.065 cm
- place made
- United States
- See more items in
- Home and Community Life: Domestic Life
- Artifact Walls exhibit
- National Museum of American History
- Subject
- Animals
- Household Tools and Equipment
- Pest Control
- Record ID
- nmah_322315
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a1-2687-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa
