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History · A series in 30 parts

A Better Mousetrap

Almost every trap ever made has to be reset after it catches. People kept solving that, and the answer kept getting lost. This is the history of the mousetrap, one part a day, from the first villages to a book printed in 1590.

William C. Hooker's 1894 patent drawing, Fig. 1: a flat wooden base with a coiled wire spring across the middle, a wire jaw held back by a locking bar, and a small trigger plate with a bait hole at the front.

Latest · Part 19

One piece of wire, 1894

In 1894 William C. Hooker of Abingdon, Illinois, patented a trap whose spring and jaw were bent from one piece of wire. Here's what his patent says, and the one thing it didn't fix.

Read part 19 →

Act I: The problem

  1. 1 A Better Mousetrap: the history of the mousetrap in 30 parts October 28, 2026
  2. 2 How the mouse moved in, 15,000 years ago October 29, 2026
  3. 3 The first trap had whiskers, 9,500 years ago October 30, 2026
  4. 4 A clay box with a door, nearly 4,000 years ago October 31, 2026
  5. 5 The Greeks fear it, the Romans name it November 1, 2026
  6. 6 The devil's mousetrap November 3, 2026
  7. 7 Joseph's workshop November 3, 2026
  8. 8 No rats, 1284 November 4, 2026
  9. 9 The wanted list, 1566 November 7, 2026

Act II: The mill

  1. 10 The clerk of the kitchen November 7, 2026
  2. 11 A mill to take mice, 1590 November 7, 2026

Act III: Four hundred years of resetting

  1. 12 The Mousetrap, c.1600 November 7, 2026
  2. 13 The Dutch paint one, 1660 November 8, 2026
  3. 14 Under the floor, 1700s November 12, 2026
  4. 15 The village of trap makers, 1830s November 12, 2026
  5. 16 The Perpetual, 1861 November 12, 2026
  6. 17 Wind it up, 1861 November 12, 2026
  7. 18 Emerson never wrote it November 13, 2026
  8. 19 One piece of wire, 1894 November 14, 2026