In 1933, a chicken keeper and amateur photographer decided to find the culprit who was stealing his eggs.
Mr. Norbury used regular box camera mounted outside the coop with the lens peeking through a hole in the wall. A pulley system 
attached to the hut’s door at one end, and to sand bags at the other end to control the camera’s lever. This would trigger the camera to take a picture once the door was opened.
What’s more is that the chicken keeper wouldn’t settle for a bad photograph- so he created a second contraption. A cord attached to the door would rattle a piece of metal against the tin tub in which the eggs were kept. This rattle was intended to startle the thief, and prompt them to look up towards the tin- and into the eye of the camera.
The system proved to be effective in August of 1933 in court. The thief pleaded guilty and the magistrate complimented Norbury on his ingenuity.