Friend of mine stopped by with this 4 1/2 Kenwood today, mismatched springs and the base ends have been peaned flat, it also seems to me the chain base link set up is wrong for this trap, but the neat thing is the repair link and the direction of the chain? 40 links with a ring on the end


What do you guys think?

Cool chain. I have heard of 4 1/2s with a ring but have never seen one. Looks legit.. 40 links would also be correct for a split chain with the repair link. Probably off one of the earlier model Oneida Community 4 1/2s, not Kenwood .. Does the swivel have a number 3 on it?

Hoping someone with more knowledge will chime in on this......

Looks like it might have the 3 on the swivel, I have the same one on a couple of mine. I haven’t seen one with a ring either but my first guess would be that it was reconfigured by someone back in the day since it has a Kenwood pan without the correct swivel and the springs are mismatched. If it is a correct chain that would be a nice piece of information. The repair link is nice - interesting trap for sure.

That is definitely a trapper modification, it has the wrong swivel and base link for a Kenwood. Starting in 1899, Oneida Community stated in their catalogs that if desired, they could furnish a #4 1/2 with a chain any length up to 6 foot with a ring and a snap on the end for the regular price. I have seen #4 1/2s with a straight chain and ring but not one that I thought was factory original.

Thinking about it,if a trapper would have modified the chain it seems to me the repair link would have to come apart to get the chain flipped around? I couldn't see where any links had been cut or altered, the ring appeared to be hammer forged maybe at a angle across the round stock? Was there by chance a picture of the Ring and snap in the description? Thanks

No, no illustration of the ring and snap on a strait chain. The repair links were sold separately by Oneida Community in their trap catalog. That link was likely installed by the trapper when all of the other modifications were done. The ring being forged, would not be factory either, it would have been a cast ring.

Anyone have info on the swivels with the 3 on them? To me they seem to be on the earlier 4 1/2s, between the Kenwood sheet metal swivels and the later smooth ones. I have one on a pre -patent date OC model (wolf trap pan) and a Canadian pat date trap. All my other pat dates with the loose twist drags have the unmarked swivels. Bumpy’s photo looks to have the same numbered swivel. Wondering if that particular swivel can help in dating a trap or chain rig?

The one I posted yesterday had a 3 on it, we all know it didn't belong on the Kenwood most likely Oneida community, here's one in my stuff
Another thing I was wondering,the chains with the repair link seem to have a lot heavier chain?

i have one identical to that Ed OC 41/ [img]http://[/img] 2 with the 3 on the swivel 13 links but the chain seems alot heavier than my other 4 1/2

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Good job posting pics ottertrap!!!!

From looking at a few chains I conclude that the heavy chain may have been used on late Kenwoods and Early OCs. But that is just from what i see in my inventory.

That #3 swivel has been used off and on since the Kenwood sheet metal style. Kind of hard to use it as a dating method. I think it was used on the canadian pat date because it was the only swivel that the sheet metal base link would fit through .

That makes sense on the Canadian base links. I was rooting around in one of my parts bins and found another one connected to a base ink. Judging from our photos they do seem pretty common on the early OC’s. I have heavy chains on a couple of early ones also but they’re attached to the swivels without the aid of a repair link.
Good looking traps and chains fellas!