Fishing – trapping – and vermin destroying – Traps – Insect
Reexamination Certificate
1999-08-17
2001-04-03
Rowan, Kurt (Department: 3643)
Fishing, trapping, and vermin destroying
Traps
Insect
C043S122000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06209256
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an insect-trapping device using carbon dioxide as the main attractant to draw insects into a trapping liquid. The insect trap specifically focuses on, but is not limited to, the attraction and containment of mosquitoes.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The push for “environmentally friendly” insect traps correlates with the public's increased awareness of the health and environmental effects of insecticide use. The basic principle is to attract an insect to the trap where the insect is subsequently contained or destroyed. Such traps include the electrified UV lamp (where an insect is drawn toward the lamp where it is electrified) and the “lobster pot” trap (where an insect is drawn into a container which is difficult, by design, for the insect to escape). Most variances in these “environmentally friendly” insect traps regard a modification in either the attractant or the trapping mechanism used.
Attractants vary in effectiveness and in their specificity to certain insects. The attractant most used is color. Different insects are attracted to different colors. Flies have been found to be attracted to a yellow to yellow-green hue, while mosquitoes have an affinity to a white hue. By modifying the color of the container used for the trapping mechanism, a specificity may be obtained for a certain insect.
Another productive attractant is the use of odor. Odiferous attractants usually mimic those smells associated with an insect's feeding or reproductive cycle. Therefore, such stimuli prove to be highly effective. One such odor-emitting trap exhausts an odiferous mixture resembling the decomposition of matter from within its container. Although effective, the odor emitted from such traps is often repugnant to humans making them ill suited for certain applications.
Other insects are naturally attracted to odors which are non-offensive to humans. Mosquitoes, for instance, are attracted to carbon dioxide. This non-offensive gas is emitted from the human body, as well as other natural sources. Some prior art traps are designed utilizing this attractant. One trap utilizes a separate carbon dioxide source to naturally lure insects into the container of the trap. Once inside the container, the insect is trapped by the container's design. Subsequently, the insect flies until exhausted from trying to escape the confines of the container, whereby the insect finally succumbs falling into the entrapping liquid.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention uses a means for attracting an insect directly to the entrapping liquid, whereby the insect breaks the surface layer of the liquid, due to the treatment of the liquid with a surfactant, and subsequently drowns. The present invention does not rely heavily on the design of the containment vessel in trapping the insects. Rather, the present invention relies on the properties of the entrapping liquid, itself, in combination with emitting the attractant from the liquid surface, as by bubbling the attractant into the liquid or generating it within the liquid. Thus, this method of direct attraction embodied in the present invention allows for a less confining container.
The principle objective of the invention is to draw the insect immediately to the entrapping liquid where the insect meets its demise directly, either through drowning or adhesion. This objective is possible because the carbon dioxide attractant is dispensed through or generated within the entrapping liquid. Thus, the carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere at the surface level of the entrapping liquid. Preferably, the carbon dioxide is dispersed within the liquid so that numerous small bubbles are emitted over the surface area of the liquid. Therefore, when the insect is drawn to the source of the carbon dioxide, the insect will seek out the entrapping liquid. There the insect will land and subsequently drown.
There are several methods of generating or dispensing the carbon dioxide through the entrapping liquid so as to allow for its release at the surface of the liquid. A preferred embodiment uses a chemical reaction within the entrapping liquid to generate the carbon dioxide. A further preferred embodiment uses a dispersion nozzle in connection with an exterior carbon dioxide source to dispense carbon dioxide into the entrapping liquid.
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Arford Charles R.
Brittin Richard J.
Johnston Daniel P.
ABJ Group, LLC
Crompton Seager & Tufte LLC
Rowan Kurt
LandOfFree
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