This 1882 Patent for a 50-Caliber Mousetrap Is Probably Overkill

Ralph Waldo Emerson once advised, "Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door." The world would have been in for a bit of a shock if they'd found themselves at the door of one J.E. Bennett of Fredonia, Texas in 1882. That's the year he patented the mousetrap pictured above.