The mouse trap includes a small treadmill hooked up to a miniature dc generator. When the mouse runs on the treadmill, electricity is stored in a battery. The trick is getting the mouse to run on the treadmill. One idea is to poke an electrode into the pleasure center of its brain. Then you divert a small amount of electricity from the generator to the electrode. The mouse runs faster on the treadmill to get the electrical stimulation of the pleasure center. Granted, it's probably a bit tricky to get the electrode in the right place.-- dangerousdan, Feb 10 2002 [Unabubba] Don't go there again.
Like [PeterSealy], I thought this was a device to create better mousetraps.-- phoenix, Feb 11 2002 it could power more electric mice in more traps that in turn, power more electric mice in more traps etc. etc. lights up national grid eventually.-- po, Feb 11 2002 I thought like phoenix, but i hoped like the board game, that this would be a version of the Mousetrap boardgame where instead of constructing the same mousetrap each time, you would get to design and build an original mousetrap out of weird plastic bits.
(And surely a fox or tiger trap would give more energy. Or a mantrap.)-- pottedstu, Feb 11 2002 D'OH! Sorry [PeterSealy]. 'Course I was referring to [UnaBubba]'s annotation. And [UnaBubba], I was referencing an idea from last year when a number of us got into a debate about solar powered toys (and whether or not they should have rechargable batteries).-- phoenix, Feb 11 2002 You'd get even more energy from a cheetah or (better yet) a monster truck trap.-- prune, Feb 11 2002 An improvement might be to put the mouse on a mouse wheel, and place a cat on a treadmill behind it. And when you need even more electrical output, place a dog on a treadmill behind the cat. And if that's not enough, place a three-year-old child on a treadmill behind the dog (and to make the child run even faster, dress the dog in a funny clown costume).
We'll still need to work out the issue of whether this system generates enough power to support the production of food for a mouse, a cat, a dog, and a three-year-old child (and maintenance of the dog's clown costume).-- swimswim, Jun 21 2009 Seeing as how mousetraps normally are intended to be the end of the line for the mouse, feeding it may not be an issue.
As far as the other animal afterburners, I suspect that feeding will be required by law. I did a little research into the invention of a dog-generator, but it got such poor reviews that I eventually deleted it.
Perhaps some day, with more precise figures, and a better grasp of the Halfbakery humor, the world will be ready for my "Puppy Mill." idea.-- ye_river_xiv, Jun 21 2009 random, halfbakery