Oneida Victor #1 1/2 Animal Trap

Oneida Victor #1 1/2 Animal Trap

Approximately 9 1/2" in length
Jaws Approximately 4 1/2" wide

Picked this up today at a garage sale down the street. This is a #1 1/2 model. I included a picture next to my #0 model(smallest size). The trigger pad has the cut out "V" and wording "Oneida Victor animal trap co., Lititz Pa,, made in USA". This trap has the owner's name tag, "Harold Cooper Martin" required by law when hunting/trapping. Note the figure 8 shape of the trap ring.

This is one of the smaller traps, but I can tell you the kinetic energy this thing produces is scary! It could easily break your fingers if you are not careful. I oiled it up and tested it for function.

***The company history is extensive and fascinating. From a religious community to traps to silverware and mouse traps. Here is a brief glimpse. I will add links in comments for further reading.***

ONEIDA COMMUNITY
"Trap-making began with the Oneida Community (1848-1880) as a famous experiment in harmonious group living. Believing in the possibility of human perfection, this religiously based group of about 250 people lived as one family dedicated to selfless behavior. They had little money at first and traps came to the rescue in their hour of greatest need."

NEWHOUSE
"One of their members was Sewell Newhouse, a blacksmith who had learned to hand-forge traps better than anyone else around. When the Oneida Community began making these traps, they improved Newhouse’s design and mechanized the manufacturing process. They named their product Newhouse, and the traps quickly earned the reputation of being the best."

HOW MANY?
"The Oneida Community began making traps in 1852. By the early 1860s, they were making over 200,000 a year and then, in the 1870s, over 400,000. Production on that scale demanded hiring scores of employees and building a factory. Completed in 1864, their trap facility was the largest in the country and it put them in the mainstream of American industrial development."

"In just over 70 years, under the brand names of Newhouse and Victor, about 120 million game traps were manufactured in Sherrill, New York.

"In the early 1900s, two of every three traps around the globe came from Oneida’s Hardware Department building in Sherrill."

TRAPS TO SILVERWARE
"In 1910, Oneida enjoyed record sales of more than seven million traps. That same year, however, traps ceased to be the most profitable product. The company had already begun to phase out traps in favor of high quality silverware — a product with a better future. The changeover required new factories, new technologies and new advertising strategies — all paid for by trap sales.

The switch to silverware was successful. As Oneida Community, Ltd. (Oneida Ltd. after 1935) became renowned for its table products, traps faded into the past. Oneida trap-making ended in 1925 when the company sold the last of the business to a group of former employees."

TIPS FOR COLLECTORS:
"The original Victor traps were called "The Victor" and were made from 1886 thru around 1889 by Oneida Community. They had cast jaws with bolted jaw posts like a Newhouse or Hawley & Norton. They were also made in a dog less model. Around 1889 the Oneida Community dropped the "The" and called them "Victor" traps. Oneida Community continued to use cast jaws on Victor traps until around 1918 when they started to make the jaws from pressed steel for the smaller sizes #0 thru #2. In 1920 they went to what they called the "ribbed" jaw on the same smaller size #0 thru #2 traps. Oneida Community continued to use cast jaws on the #3 and #4 size Victor traps until Feb. 1925 when they sold the trap business to what would be called Animal Trap Comp. of America. Animal Trap Comp. used steel jaws on all of their Victor trap except the #3N and #4N."