Fluid sprinkling – spraying – and diffusing – Slow diffusers
Reexamination Certificate
1998-10-15
2001-04-17
Scherbel, David A. (Department: 3752)
Fluid sprinkling, spraying, and diffusing
Slow diffusers
C239S055000, C043S001000, C248S302000, C248S317000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06216960
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an annular sustained release pheromone-dispenser which can release a synthetic sex pheromone in the air to control the harmful insects by disturbing the copulative communication of the insects as well as a method for preparing the pheromone-dispenser and a tool for installing the pheromone-dispenser.
The control of a harmful insect through disturbance of the copulative communication thereof is carried out by releasing the synthetic sex pheromone of the insect to be controlled in the air to thus reduce the rate of copulation through the disturbance of their copulative communication and to thereby inhibit the breeding of the next generation. Therefore, a pheromone-dispenser for releasing a synthetic sex pheromone should satisfy such a requirement that it can stably release the sex pheromone over the entire term (2 to 6 months) of the occurrence of the corresponding harmful insect.
The pheromone-dispensers which have already been put on the market are designed in such a manner that a liquid synthetic sex pheromone is enclosed in, for instance, a tube type, bag type, bottle type or spiral tube type plastic container and the sex pheromone which diffuses and permeates through the wall of the container is evaporated and released into the air. Among these pheromone-dispensers, those generally referred to as the tube type ones employ a plastic tubular container (slender tube) and show the most excellent control effect as compared with the other type ones since they can release the sex pheromone vapor over a long period of time and can ensure a uniform release rate.
When using such pheromone-dispensers, they must be set up and distributed so as to uniformly release the synthetic sex pheromone in the field and must stably hold their set up condition over a long time period without imparting any harmful effect and/or damage to the growth of plants.
As conventional tubular type pheromone-dispensers which can satisfy these requirements, Japanese Patent Application Publication Nos. 61-16361 and 2-63017 disclose those in which a metal wire such as an aluminum wire is arranged parallel to the tube; Japanese Utility Model Provisional Publication No. 62-122801 discloses a pheromone-dispenser having a ring-like shape formed by bending a tube; and Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 63-722 discloses a pheromone-dispenser produced by bending a tube.
In the pheromone-dispenser in which a metal wire is arranged parallel to the tube, the tube shows excellent shape-retaining ability since it can easily be bent together with the metal wire. Accordingly, operations for installation such as hooking it on or winding it around a branch or trunk of a plant and the dispenser may stably hold its installed condition, but a problem arises such that the metal wire remains even after the use of the dispenser. The pheromone-dispensers obtained by bending a tube per se or by forming a tube into a ring not only require much expenses for shaping processes, but also the bent tube returns to its original shape, i.e., straight form due to the restoring effect of the plastic if the dispenser is installed over a long time period and it may sometimes fall down from, for instance, the branch on which it is hooked. Moreover, it is difficult to closely arrange a large number of these pheromone-dispensers for packaging and this makes the resulting package bulky and increases the expenses required for packaging and/or circulation.
On the other hand, to dispense with much labor for the installation of these pheromone-dispensers, there has been a need for increasing the amount of the synthetic sex pheromone released per one dispenser and reducing the number of the dispensers to be installed per unit area (installation density). The installation density of the dispenser may be reduced by increasing the capacity of the plastic tube of the pheromone-dispenser and correspondingly increasing the amount of the synthetic liquid pheromone enclosed therein. In this regard, the capacity of the plastic tube can be increased by extending the length of the tube, but such a long length of the tube may interfere with the operations for the installation thereof and may make the packaging and transportation thereof undesirable and quite troublesome. Alternatively, the amount of the liquid pheromone to be enclosed in the plastic tube can be improved by increasing the inner diameter of the plastic tube. However, the rate of diffusion and evaporation of the pheromone should be improved by properly adjusting the wall thickness of the plastic tube in order to ensure a release amount of the pheromone proportional to the amount thereof enclosed. For this reason, the fabrication of the plastic tube becomes difficult, the flexibility of the plastic tube is lowered and this in turn makes the bending thereof and its installation operations difficult.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention has been developed for solving these problems and accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a sustained release pheromone-dispenser which never impairs the release properties observed for the conventional tubular type pheromone-dispenser, which has a shape convenient for packaging and transportation, which makes the installation operations easy, which can stably hold its installed condition over a long time period after its installation and which can easily be handled without any trouble even after the use.
The gaseous sex pheromone released from the pheromone-dispenser is heavier than the air and downward diffuses. To uniformly distribute the sex pheromone in the space in which the harmful insect to be controlled lives, it is necessary to install the pheromone-dispenser at an elevated spot on a plant and therefore, an object of the present invention is to also provide a tool which permits the easy and rapid installation of the pheromone-dispenser at an elevated spot.
According to an aspect of the present invention, as shown in
FIG. 1
, developed for achieving the foregoing objects, there is provided an annular sustained release pheromone-dispenser 10 which comprises a plurality of plastic tubes
2
a
and
2
b
arranged in parallel and capable of being semi-resiliently deformed, whose ends
3
are connected to each other by fusion and whose central portions
4
(see
FIG. 2
(B)) are independent and can form an annular space therebetween by pulling them apart from one another; and a liquid synthetic sex pheromone
1
enclosed in each plastic tube
2
. Annular sustained release pheromone-dispensers can also be provided by closely arranging more than three plastic tubes.
According to another aspect of the present invention as shown in
FIG. 5
, there is provided an annular sustained release pheromone-dispenser
10
which comprises a plurality of plastic tubes
12
a
and
12
b
integrally connected to each other through a web
15
extending along the longitudinal direction of the plastic tubes; a cut
14
for pulling the plastic tubes apart from one another, which is formed on a part of the web
15
and arranged along the longitudinal direction of the plastic tubes; and a synthetic liquid sex pheromone
1
(see
FIG. 6
) enclosed in each of the plurality of plastic tubes
12
a
and
12
b,
the both ends
13
of each plastic tube
12
a
or
12
b
being closed.
The cut portion
14
of the annular sustained release pheromone-dispenser
10
can be realized, as shown in
FIG. 8
, by forming a groove extending along a direction in agreement with the longitudinal direction of the plastic tubes
12
a
and
12
b.
Similarly, the cut portion
14
can also be realized, as shown in
FIG. 9
, by forming a perforation extending along a direction in agreement with the longitudinal direction of the plastic tubes
12
a
and
12
b.
Annular sustained release pheromone-dispensers can also be provided by closely arranging more than three plastic tubes.
A method for preparing the annular sustained release pheromone-dispenser
10
according to the present invention comprises the steps of arr
Aiba Noboru
Mochizuki Fumiaki
Saguchi Ryuichi
Ganey Steven J.
Reed Smith LLP
Scherbel David A.
Shin - Etsu Chemical Co. Ltd.
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