Will The Real Le Trap Bank Robber Please Stand Up!

[FIRETIP]

A tale of two bank robbers.  Where is the original Le Trap Bank Robber sluice box factory mold and does anybody know who created it ?  My Le Trap Bank Robber sluce came from Jobe whoesale in Apple Valley California.  So did Jobe buy the Le Trap from the creator?  

[Gold Seeker]

I'm not sure why you thought you had  to create 4 topics just to ask this question, but it is what it is!!!

That being said/complained about, I think the Trademark for the Le Trap sluice is now owned by Geo Sluice Mining/ Jeff Davis, or at least he did last I heard.

https://www.geosluicemining.com/products/le-trap-sluice-box-gold-sluice-stream-river-robber-sluice-gold-prospecting

[FIRETIP]

Maybe I have no clue what I'm doing!  So maybe thats what it is... My Bad!  But make no mistake thoe.  I'm trying to make a point here.  The Geo Sluce Mining Le Trap Bank Robber and subsequent River Robbers are not the origional Le Trap from the origional Le Trap mold. 

The Geo Sluce Mining Le Trap Bank Robber (Which by the way is a good fine gold catcher like the origional Le Trap)... is a counterfit fake of the Le Trap Bank Robber and all be it... a decient fake copy of the origional, but its not an exact copy of the origional.  

My Le Trap River Robber purchased from a Jobe Whoesale vendor in Riverton, Wyoming has 19 gold stopping riffles.  The Geo Sluce Le Trap is shorter with only 15 riffles.  A wopping 4 riffles short of the real Le Trap sluice box. 

So instead of the Geo Sluice, sluice box widening at the end of the sluce like the origional the counterfit geo sluce box is cropped off loosing the purposed widening affect at the end of the box.  This widening effect causes larger pieces of gold to drop out as the water velocity slows down.  (Ninety-nine percent (99%) of the gold is caught in the first eight (8) riffles so the last four (4) riffles are a luxury most people can live without.  

The trademark could be easily owned now by Geo Sluce Mining, because the origional Le TrapBank Robber was never patented by the creator/inventor.  The Jobe Whoesale Le Trap logo indicates a copyright and when Jobe went poof 3 years ago the copyright could have transfered to a new owner or  it could have never existed.  My guess is the creator of the Le Trap Bank Robber is  none other than Jay J. Litrap creator of the Le Trap gold pan, but I don't know this.

But whoever created the Le Trap Bank Robber is a skilled master at the art and science of catching fine gold and probably was a degreed mining engineer who worked in the Canadian mining industry his whole life.  

The origional Le Trap Bank Robber can be found at The Prospect Channel.com... Adventures in Mining store. I run mine below my 10"  metal sluce box and the combo catches ultra fine gold and black sand.  

 

[Hard Prospector]

Jobe, Wilson and CA Sluice Co  got mopped up  by Geo Sluice (Jeff).  He sort of picked up the pieces from several defunct companies recently so I would just call him and see whats up. Talked to him recently,  very approachable and likes to talk.

[Hard Prospector]

BTW;  his mini high banker works well and the best portable high banker I've ever used.

[Steve Herschbach]

The original LeTrap sluice was made in Canada, and I’d have to bet it’s the same guy as designed the LeTrap pan. Then Jobe took over, and now the new guys. There have been design changes. If you think the original is better, that’s fine. Accusations of counterfeiting are uncalled for however.

[GollyMrScience]

The Original Le Trap was created and designed by Jay LeTrap (sp?) (Sorry Jay it has been decades) as was the LeTrap "Square" gold pan. Jay was (if memory serves) from the USA and linked up with Del and Doris Walters - the owners of Bedrock Supply in Edmonton Canada. The original mold for square pan and the sluice were brought to Edmonton and there were some refinements on it though a big part of early production focused on getting the right plastic formulation that would properly hold up to use and would form properly to the mold. We spent a lot of time researching and testing before we got it all to work. I was involved with Del during early testing of the designs and in the product development as well as field testing the products. After Doris and then Del died things changed at Bedrock and the company made the decision to sell the LeTrap rights to JOBE. After that I lost track though still use the LeTrap sluice and pan to this day.

The design had several features that were felt to be important- these would include the pinch and the flare as well as a strange lip along one side and not the other which was there so you could turn the sluice on its side and use the lip as a trough to wash the cons out easier.

I cannot comment on the newer iteration on the design without actually seeing and playing with one but so long as the critical design of the step and the drop riffle were kept you could probably make changes to length and flare and still have a great gold catcher. The very first River Robbers were black plastic but Bedrock switched to green in the early design process so if you come across an older black one I guess it is now Vintage, just like those of us who first played with them.

[rexhavoc]

Thank you GMS, you are a wealth of knowledge, as always. 

Now, speaking of Vintage - if only we could resurrect the gpex.ca web site.  That was a real loss to the prospecting community.

[Jim in Idaho]

2 hours ago, rexhavoc said:

Thank you GMS, you are a wealth of knowledge, as always. 

Now, speaking of Vintage - if only we could resurrect the gpex.ca web site.  That was a real loss to the prospecting community.

Yup...I really miss that forum. Great to see GMS posting, too!

Jim

[OFS]

Hey there GMS it's good to see you up on the forum, hope to catch up with you the next time you get together with Rexhavoc.

Cheers

Shane