Jake Easton's Better Mousetrap leaves no country for old mice (video)

If Cormac McCarthy was an inventor of gadgets instead of words then this better (measured in awesome) mousetrap might have been the result. Instead, honors go to Jack Easton, a man known to kill ordinary mice using compressed air. No, really. The device above feature a pneumatic cylinder that brings down the death hammer with a strike force of 102 pounds after it senses a nearby pest. Poor fake mouse: delivered a fortune that was not his own. See all the fun after the break.

[Ghen Posted Dec 15th 2009 9:03AM]

It's going to be hard keeping blood, guts, and claws out of the machinery. I prefer sticky traps. Anything you don't want gets stuck to it anyway and then just chuck it. The mouse squeals a little, but that's better than cleaning up guts any day.

[Uncontrol Posted Dec 15th 2009 9:03AM]

I sort of assumed it would be a mouse trap that could capture the mouse without killing it. :(

[MAS Posted Dec 15th 2009 9:09AM]

Mousetrap: yes
Better: no
Overly Complex: definitely
Lame: yes

It's really hard to beat what you can get for a few dollars and a bit of peanut butter.
http://www.victorpest.com/store/rodent-control/m007

[(Unverified) Posted Dec 15th 2009 9:32AM]

I can't see this working.

The alarm noise that goes off just before the trap springs will scare the mouse away.

They're very smart little creatures.

[Fireblade72 Posted Dec 15th 2009 10:15AM]

It needs to be able to Tweet when it catches a mouse.

[sirphunkee Posted Dec 15th 2009 10:26AM]

I don't care if it's practical as a mousetrap or not...

I just think any device that requires an arming key is inherently sexy

[evilspoons Posted Dec 15th 2009 10:29AM]

I'm not sure this would work on the mice around here. They're about the size of the head on the toy mouse used for demonstration, even if the noise did not scare them off, it would simply squash their tails.

Otherwise - haha, pretty awesome.

[Melvin Posted Dec 15th 2009 10:49AM]

Call it. Friendo.

[michaspi Posted Dec 15th 2009 10:54AM]

@Melvin
For what?

[Melvin Posted Dec 15th 2009 1:14PM]

@michaspi
IDK, I was just quoting Anton Chigurh lol

[michaspi Posted Dec 16th 2009 12:39AM]

@Melvin
And I was quoting the gas station attendant.

Oh well.

[duneleader Posted Dec 15th 2009 11:07AM]

I was hoping it would use Steorn Orbo Technology to teleport the mouse to a nice wooded area.

[R2D2 Posted Dec 15th 2009 11:08AM]

What, no automatic Twitter update when it catches a mouse? Fail. Besides, I much prefer the terminator electrocution mouse-harvester box:

http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/03/victor-multi-kill-trap-electrocutes-mice-hates-liberals/

[aphxtwn Posted Dec 15th 2009 12:00PM]

what happens if the mouse approaches from the side? the old-fashioned mouse trap works because if you're on the side of the bait, you're going to get stuck. there's a gap between the pivot point of the bar and the base plate.

[liquidmonkey Posted Dec 15th 2009 12:43PM]

the mouse will just get the cheese from the TOP of the unit.
even if it goes off then (as it should) the mouse will be harm free and the owner will be PWND!!!!

[RandomGuy Posted Dec 15th 2009 1:04PM]

Every homemade mouse trap I have ever built always relied on electrocution. It all started when we had a mouse living in a storage closet in high school, and our Electronics teacher challenged us to build an electronic mouse trap. Every mechanical device failed, but the electrocution method worked beautifully. Far simpler, and less messy. The trick is getting the home made mouse traps to dump the dead ones in a bin so that it can repeat the process (well that and it helps ensure the mouse doesn't get fried to a crisp by the current and start a fire).

[RandomGuy Posted Dec 15th 2009 1:32PM]

@RandomGuy But if I were to go mechanical and attempt a trap like this, I would nix the air, lower the pivot point to the base to ensure proper squishage, have a light spring pulling the trap bar up, and the an electromagnet under the base (or a solenoid inside the box) to pull the trap down on the mouse. I would also make the trigger a capacitive touch switch directly under the bar so when the mouse crosses over it would set it off.

It would be simple and easy, and would be far more portable than pneumatics.

[fourblades Posted Dec 15th 2009 2:20PM]

won't the light deter the mouse from even coming close?

[GuyWithDogs Posted Dec 15th 2009 2:25PM]

Does it make those sound effects, particularly the crunchy-squelchy one when the bar drops on the mouse?

[brolin Posted Dec 15th 2009 3:06PM]

Snap...then it says...............DROID!!!!!!!

[Majicebe Posted Dec 15th 2009 3:07PM]

You people are sick.

[SpeedyJDK Posted Dec 15th 2009 3:10PM]

This wouldn't work. If that thing puts a light in face of a mouse, it's gone. It's also too big, it might work better with rats.
I fight mice daily, and they are really small and smart buggers, so i have to change traps all the time, as they learn the trap after first one is caught in it.

[Wwhat Posted Dec 15th 2009 3:10PM]

Mice don't like shiny metalic slippery surfaces that spring up bright lights when they get near it.

I like it from an aesthetic view though, maybe it's a people trap cleverly disguised as a mousetrap, I smell a uhm .rat.

[Samurai Jack Posted Dec 15th 2009 3:52PM]

"Where's the kaboom? I was expecting an Earth-shattering kaboom!"

[zbot Posted Dec 15th 2009 5:31PM]

absolutely hysterical that Anton Shigur is in the reflection of the trap! bwahhahahahah

[manofchao5 Posted Dec 15th 2009 7:11PM]

love that *crunch* noise lol

[Tegdagne Posted Dec 16th 2009 7:01AM]

Just the thing to get rid of the latest Zhu Zhu infestation.

[AJFami Posted Dec 16th 2009 10:51AM]

hahahahahahahahahaha, this is like the funniest ultimate mouse capturing machine, it so funny im gonna but the machine and a rat, to see whts gonna happen live
im still laughing,

[postmasterSteve Posted Dec 16th 2009 3:57PM]

Wow, another CrunchPad design already? The first one isn't even out yet!