Patent Application
20200138003
Flies have been a major nuisance to humans and animals for thousands of years. Many transmit disease causing organisms and are linked directly to typhoid, cholera, dysentery, diarrhea, pinworms, roundworms, whipworms, hookworms and tapeworms. Most flies have filthy habits that make them efficient disease transmitters. Disease causing organisms are picked up by flies from garbage, sewage, rotting debris, dead animal carcasses, animal excrement, etc. and are directly transmitted to surfaces such as food and our food preparation surfaces. This is a particular concern for restaurants and certain retail establishments.
During the summer and fall months, controlling flies can be a never ending task. Any flying insect can travel hundreds of feet or yards, even miles in some cases away from their breeding areas. Caught up in a wind current, flies can literally travel the from region to region or State to State in some cases. This is why taking a few extra precautions against flies can save stores and restaurants from a big fly headache down the road.
Prevention concerns how to inhibit flies from entering a business or home, Treatment strategies focus on reducing the attraction if at possible. For example, elimination of odors that attract flies is one way to control flies. Making sure that doors and windows are screened and sealed is another way to reduce flies. Outdoor sprays work well to kill and repel flies, but may conflict with certain establishments such as restaurants.
Commercial kitchens and bars are aware that fruit flies love the smell and taste of beer. Beer spilled on floors should be mopped or rinsed off every night to prevent fruit fly infestations. The use of a commercial floor cleaner/sanitizer also helps. Fruit fly traps can be very effective at catching fruit flies and can be placed directly on bar tops and other food preparation surfaces where regular pesticides cannot be placed. Also, fly paper and glue strips are somewhat effective at capturing flies, but in most cases do not attract them and depend on an attractant of some sort or a shiny surface. Fly paper is messy and not very sanitary. For this reason, fly paper has traditionally not recommended for use in kitchens or other indoor sanitary areas.
There is still a need in the art for a sanitary, reliable method to reduce flies from entering a building that otherwise attracts flies. The present invention is directed to this objective.
The present invention is an improved fly trap in the form of a sign that can attract and trap flies before they enter an establishment or once the flies are inside of an establishment. The invention uses an attractive element in the form of a plurality of LED lights, preferably blue LED lights, to coax flies to enter the sign. Adjacent the LED lights is a roller on which adhesive paper, or fly paper, is mounted. Flies that land on the fly paper are captured, and when the paper is full or need to be changed, the roller is actuated to present fresh fly paper. In this manner, all that need be touched is a handle or crank to rotate the fly paper on the roller, and the flies are collected in a place where they are not in view of patrons who may be turned off by the sight of the flies. These and other features of the invention may best be understood with reference to the Detailed Description of the Invention below, along with the accompanying figures of which the description is presented here.
The front panel 135 of the housing 105 preferably includes a plurality of LEDs 150 to attract the flies to the fly paper 110. The LEDs 150 may be mounted on a printed circuit board 160 that lights the LEDs, in either a constant or blinking pattern. In a preferred embodiment, the LEDs emit light in the blue wavelength spectrum to increase the attraction. This is because it has been discovered that insects are more highly attracted to UV light and blue light. These insects do not readily see light in the red wavelengths, which correspond with warmer colors. The LEDs 150 may be located on alphanumeric characters such as letters “O” “P” “E” “N” that serve as the function of the sign. The fly paper 110 is inside the housing 105 and adjacent the letters carrying the LEDs 150, such that flies will become attracted to the LEDs, enter the housing 105, and become trapped on the fly paper 110.
The fly trap 100 of the present invention can be modified from the foregoing description and depictions without departing from the scope of the present invention. A person of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate that there are certain substitutions and modifications to the foregoing, and the scope of the invention is intended to include all such substitutions and modifications. Therefore, unless expressly specified, the invention is not to be limited to any figure or description, but rather the scope of the invention is measured by the appended claims using their customary and ordinary meanings.
