Thread: Crush pressures

Hello. I am in the process of designing a new type of rodent trap that uses constriction to dispatch it's target. The trouble is getting the pressure right so that the trap squeezes the target to death & not to paste. I don't want to disclose to much about the mechanism itself for fear of patent jumpers but this trap would not only adjust pressure based on the size of the animal caught but would eject the carcass & reset itself after each kill and thus would be effective for as long as there was power to operate the mechanism. I need to know, how much pressure, how hard can you squeeze a mouse without blood/innards squirting out? How about a rat? Ground squirrel?

It depends on the individual animal. How much pressure is needed to squeeze say betty white, how much is needed to squeeze Dwayne Johnson, how much is needed to squeeze bob next door.

Again without revealing too much lets just say that I plan on using conical springs that increase pressure based upon the size of the animal. I imagine springs that are thicker near the base and thinner near the top. I just don't know the size or pressure of the springs needed.

If the springs have enough pressure to kill large animals. That means the same pressure is applied to a small animal resulting in mush

Not if the rod the spring is made from is thinner on one end. Granted I've never seen such a spring but if it were possible to make a spring with a tapered rod then the spring would offer variable resistance based on the force applied to it.

Originally Posted by Soul_Venom

Not if the rod the spring is made from is thinner on one end. Granted I've never seen such a spring but if it were possible to make a spring with a tapered rod then the spring would offer variable resistance based on the force applied to it.

This idiotic and unpleasant discussion reminds me of Monty Python's "Spring Surprise": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puNT08o6jyE