James Henry Atkinson
{{Short description|British ironmonger}}
{{for|the Australian politician|James Atkinson (Australian politician)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2024}}
James Henry Atkinson (c. 1849–1942) was a British ironmonger from Leeds, Yorkshire who is best known for his 1899 patent of the Little Nipper mousetrap.{{cite web|url=http://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/biblio?DB=EPODOC&II=3&ND=3&adjacent=true&locale=en_EP&FT=D&date=19000428&CC=GB&NR=189913277A&KC=A|title=An Improved Bait Trap for Mice, Rats, and the like}} He is cited by some as the inventor of the classic spring-loaded mousetrap,{{cite news|url=http://www.discoveringyorkshire.net/Page.aspx?PageId=3 |publisher=DiscoveringYorkshire.org |title=The Patents |date=24 October 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721185731/http://www.discoveringyorkshire.net/Page.aspx?PageId=3 |archive-date=21 July 2011 }}{{cite news|url=http://www.mylearning.org/jpage.asp?jpageid=720&journeyid=200 |publisher=MyLearning.org |title=James Henry Atkinson and the 'Little Nipper´. |date=14 January 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928130055/http://www.mylearning.org/jpage.asp?jpageid=720&journeyid=200 |archive-date=28 September 2007 }} but this basic style of mousetrap was patented a few years earlier in the United States by William Chauncey Hooker in 1894.[https://patents.google.com/patent/US528671 Patent of William C. Hooker's animal-trap] in Google Patents.
Little Nipper
Atkinson patented various inventions including a number of mousetrap mechanisms (GB189827488, GB189913277, GB190002503, GB190008317, GB190820769, GB191022542).{{cite web|url=http://worldwide.espacenet.com/searchResults?DB=EPODOC&IN=James+Henry+Atkinson&ST=advanced&compact=false&locale=en_EP&sortField=prd&ascending=true|title=Espacenet - results}} The mousetrap patents included a number of variations of the now classic snapping mousetrap consisting of a spring-loaded hinged metal bar mounted on a small flat wooden base. It slams shut in 38/1000{{citation needed|date=March 2014}} of a second, killing the mouse by breaking its spine and causing shock and internal bleeding. Although some of his designs were more sophisticated (for example treadle activated triggers{{cite web|url=http://worldwide.espacenet.com/publicationDetails/biblio?DB=EPODOC&II=2&ND=3&adjacent=true&locale=en_EP&FT=D&date=18990304&CC=GB&NR=189827488A&KC=A|title=Improved Treadle Trap for Mice, Rats and the like}}) it is the simple ‘Little Nipper´ that was the most successful. The spring-on-board mousetrap design has captured a sixty-percent share of the British mousetrap market alone, and an estimated equal share of the international market.{{citation needed|date=March 2014}}
In 1913, James Atkinson sold his mousetrap patent for 1,000 pounds to Procter, the company that has been producing the "Little Nipper" ever since. Additionally, Procter has established a mousetrap museum with 150 exhibits at its factory headquarters.