I’ve used a conibear 330 trap a couple times, and want to know how much force the jaws snap shut with when the trap is triggered, and how tight they clamp once closed. I can’t measure the combined force of the jaws directly with the equipment I have, but I do know the two long springs each take about 75lbs of pressure/weight to compress fully.
I’ve already spent too many hours googling for someone who already has the answer with no real luck, but something tells me it should be fairly easy to estimate by someone who’s physics skills aren’t as rusty as mine.
Without knowing the precise technical specifications and measurements of the springs and the precise geometryof the trap mechanismsuch a estimate would be very difficult to do accurately.
If you can clamp one end of the trap to a fixed surface and use a spring gauge scale (ie like a fish or wildlife weight gravity scale) to measure the force necessary to pull the bar up that should give you a rough measure.
According to unpublished research cited in this paper (warning: PDF), an unmodified Conibear 330 generates a clamping force of up to 250 Newtons, which I believe corresponds to roughly 50 pounds.
