Patent Application
20120266523
This invention relates generally to the field of fly swatters and more specifically to a rapidly firing disk shaped flying insect killing device.
Fly swatters of various shapes and sizes have been used for hundreds of years by people to kill annoying and potentially harmful small flying insects such as flies or mosquitoes. They usually consist of an elongate member terminating in a flat, semi-rigid sheet like member. The user holds one end of the elongate member at one end and, with a rotating wrist snap, causes the sheet-like member to rapidly move towards the insect and hopefully kill it before it has a chance to fly away.
M Martin Belokin, in his U.S. Pat. No. 4,386,478, now in the public domain, describes an insect killing gun that uses a spring biased disk shaped member to cause the disk to fly towards a fly or mosquito at rest on a wall.
However, there a some deficiencies in the prior technology. First, the gun type device requires that the user aim carefully and hope that the disk will fly in a straight line toward the fly or mosquito to be killed. Second, the retrieval of the disk and the resetting of the disk onto the gun shape is time consuming. This can potentially give enough time for the flying insect to fly out of the area. Finally, the gun type device is relatively expensive to manufacture in relationship to other simpler fly swatter designs.
The primary object of the invention is to provide an telescoping rigid tube and elastic cord device that causes a flat disc shaped member to accurately shoot towards a fly in rapid manner so that the flat portion of the disk lands on the body of a flying insect for the purpose of killing the flying insect.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following descriptions, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein, by way of illustration and example, an embodiment of the present invention is disclosed.
In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, there is disclosed fly killing device comprising: a flat disk shaped member, an outer rigid tube, an inner rigid tube, an elastic cord, a pull knob, said inner rigid tube slidably and telecopically engaged within said outer rigid tube, said elastic cord slidably and telescopicically engaged within said rigid inner tube member, said elastic cord centrally attached at one end to said flat disk shaped member, said elastic cord attached at the opposite end to said pull knob, so that when a user pulls back on said pull knob, said elastic cord is stretched and, and when said pull knob is released by said user said elastic cord retracts rapidly causing said inner rigid tube and said disk member to shoot forward rapidly for the purpose of killing a small insect such as a fly or mosquito.
The drawings constitute a part of this specification and include exemplary embodiments to the invention, which may be embodied in various forms. It is to be understood that in some instances various aspects of the invention may be shown exaggerated or enlarged to facilitate an understanding of the invention.
Detailed descriptions of the preferred embodiment are provided herein. It is to be understood, however, that the present invention may be embodied in various forms. Therefore, specific details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but rather as a basis for the claims and as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to employ the present invention in virtually any appropriately detailed system, structure or manner.
Referring now to
The entire assembly of the present invention is very simple and relatively inexpensive to manufacture thereby allowing is to sell at a competitive price in relation to other more standard fly swatters on the market today.
While the invention has been described in connection with a preferred embodiment, it is not intended to limit the scope of the invention to the particular form set forth, but on the contrary, it is intended to cover such alternatives, modifications, and equivalents as may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
