It was ten years ago today that marked the beginning of what would in time become the patented Comstock swing bar wire trigger system, now successfully used with several different types of door systems on traps that contain powered, fast closing doors, which include the powered door and lock bar, the bifold door and angled lock ring. Besides having a completely new trigger system, this would be the first trap to actually power a door and use heavy springs on both the door and lock bar. Until this point all commercially made cage traps were merely powered by a lock bar with very light springs, pretty much gravity operated traps.
In the fall of 2009 I shared my plan with Judy to develop a new trigger system which would utilize the power in the doors and lock bar to stabilize the trigger components. If successful, this would simplify the unit by eliminating several parts, like springs and catches made obsolete with the creation of a Generation 2 trigger. Work began on January 1, 2010 to be completed by April 1, 90 days for the deadline on a new trap. Everything leading up to the new trigger system progressed smoothly, engineering each element of the trap one at a time, the cage body, frames, powered lock bar, powered door system and trip rod. With only hours remaining until the deadline, it was on March 30, actually Judy’s birthday, that I came in from the shop and announced that the trigger was complete and functional.
For several years prior to the development of the new trigger system, we had been using a conibear trigger setup. The conibear trigger was retro fitted onto cage traps, but was found to have a number of short comings. This new trigger was specifically designed to work with the power doors and trip rod, producing a superior trap all around, exceeding expectations. Not fully understanding what we had created, no one realized that not only would the trap work right side up on land, but worked just as well set upside down, sideways and even vertically, in water and under water too. On any angle or situation, there was “no wrong way” to set a powered door Comstock Cage Trap.
