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Sure Grip No.4 #6576085
07/18/19 07:12 AM
07/18/19 07:12 AM
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 6,364
east central WI
K
k snow Offline OP
trapper
k snow  Offline OP
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K

Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 6,364
east central WI
I picked up this trap and am curious about the history of it. My searches here and elsewhere on the web aren't turning up much. I am not sure if the chain is original at all.


20190717_214211[1].jpg20190717_214306[1].jpg
Last edited by k snow; 07/18/19 07:13 AM.
Re: Sure Grip No.4 [Re: k snow] #6576086
07/18/19 07:13 AM
07/18/19 07:13 AM
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 6,364
east central WI
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k snow Offline OP
trapper
k snow  Offline OP
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Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 6,364
east central WI
Hmm, apparently I didn't get the pics rotated correctly.

Re: Sure Grip No.4 [Re: k snow] #6577250
07/19/19 08:48 PM
07/19/19 08:48 PM
Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 4,820
Frazee, MN
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backroadsarcher Offline
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This Sure grip trap was made 1886 - 1910 by the Belmont Steel Co.. I would say the chain and connection is not right for the trap. Looks like a modern quick link on the base. The trap does have some collector value. IMO

Re: Sure Grip No.4 [Re: k snow] #6577476
07/20/19 05:59 AM
07/20/19 05:59 AM
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 2,445
revillo, sd
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cohunt Offline
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revillo, sd
Was hoping that snakecollector would answer this but no luck so far so I will add what I know. The trap pictured is stamped THE SURE GRIP BELMONT STEEL CO. It is a dogged variety and there is a dogless variety as well. The trap was made by the Oneida Community during the late 1800s and early 1900s in 6 sizes from 0 through 4 in each variety(total of 12 different traps plus some additional dogless sizes that I will describe later). Gerstells book on North American traps states that he found no records of a Belmont Steel Co and I think we can be sure from construction details that the trap was made for rather than by an establishment of that name. I have found records of only a small eastern Canadian firm by that name and doubt it is the firm for which these traps were made but that is possible.

All of the traps with this name are collectible with moderate to substantial value. Those with dogs are much more common than those that are dogless and the 0 size traps are much scarcer than are the larger sizes. The dogged traps I have seen are made like typical Oneida Community VICTOR traps with flat jaws hooked into turned up bases. Chains would be wire twin loop hooked onto the spring. Dogless variety traps are mostly made similar to an Oneida Community trap named ALL STEEL which have very unusual angular jaws that attach to a turned up base with projections from the base through holes near the ends of the jaws. Even more unusual are a very few dogless traps that have flat steel jaws(as do a few ALL STEEL) that have typical jaw to turned up base connections. In the dogged variety, the pans are riveted to a shank that has a hole near the end that is clamped into an early vertical post that is riveted through the cross piece and there is a later hump cross version that has the shank clamped into the early pinched hump cross. The dogless pans are riveted to a pan post that is formed much like the earlier THE VICTOR pan posts made by The Oneida Community and these posts are pinched onto a slotted hole in the flat cross pieces.

There are more details but this sums most of my knowledge about traps with this name.

Last edited by cohunt; 07/21/19 09:10 AM.
Re: Sure Grip No.4 [Re: k snow] #6578859
07/22/19 07:19 AM
07/22/19 07:19 AM
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 6,364
east central WI
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k snow Offline OP
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k snow  Offline OP
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east central WI
backroadsarcher - the link is a small loop and one end is passed into a hole in the other and peened over. Definitely not a modern quick link, but I don't think it's original at all to the trap. There is no loop at the end of the chain at all, just doubled back and two links wired together to form a loop.

cohunt - than you for all the details. I paid a touch more than I wanted to for it, but sounds like it may not have been a bad idea. Its in pretty danged good shape for a trap that's about 130 years old.

Thanks guys.

Re: Sure Grip No.4 [Re: k snow] #6580778
07/25/19 10:46 AM
07/25/19 10:46 AM
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 2,445
revillo, sd
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cohunt Offline
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In response to several who have questioned how these traps could have been produced and distributed, I offer the following scenario based on my knowledge of American manufacturing during the relevant period in our history. It is conjecture while the earlier descriptions of the "THE SURE GRIP" traps were factual.

In about 1890, a large jobber in the northeastern area of the US decided to add animal traps to the hardware lines that he distributed wholesale to hardware stores in the region. He wanted a trap with a distinctive name so that he could develop a following for the trap. He contacted The Oneida Community who was the largest manufacturer of animal traps and they were willing to work with him to provide the traps he wanted. The lines offered were the more expensive S Newhouse and Hawley Norton lines as well as the less expensive Victor(dogged) and All Steel(dogless) lines. The latter less expensive lines were chosen and the traps ordered were produced as basic Victor and All Steel traps with pans struck with the stamping "THE SURE GRIP BELMONT STEEL CO" in place of the pans that OC would have used if distributed directly. The only additional expense incurred would have been production of the six dies used to strike the pans. During the following period of about 15 years(based on known changes in the Victor traps), the jobber made several, perhaps numerous orders which were filled with Victor and All Steel traps that were experiencing numerous modifications made to increase production efficiency or trapping effectiveness. The traps coming off the Oneida Community lines at the time of each order were used with substitution of an appropriate pan so the "THE SURE GRIP" traps produced and distributed show all the changes seen in Victor and All Steel traps made during that time. If someone could pinpoint the dates when the All Steel traps switched from angular to flat jaws and when the trap was then abandoned by Oneida Community, we could likely also surmise the period when production of "THE SURE GRIP" traps ended.


I

Last edited by cohunt; 07/25/19 10:55 AM.
Re: Sure Grip No.4 [Re: k snow] #6580873
07/25/19 02:15 PM
07/25/19 02:15 PM
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 6,364
east central WI
K
k snow Offline OP
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east central WI
Sounds quite plausible, cohunt. Just like today's contract manufacturing, aka "store brands."

Now that I know more about the base trap, I am more curious about the chain modifications. Why was the setup changed to center chain? Was it even done by a trapper? If only these old traps could talk to us.

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