Patent Application
20240130353
The invention relates to pest control, and more specifically to an improved glue trap for humanely euthanizing a captured pest.
A “glue trap” and a “glue board” are traps used to catch rats, mice, and other crawling pests. They may be constructed of paperboard, cardboard, fiberboard, or plastic. Both are commonly rectangular shaped and include a top surface area that is covered by an adhesive layer (commonly referred to as “glue”). This adhesive area traps pests that crawl onto it.
The adhesive area of a glue trap is surrounded by low walls to create a pen. The walls end in a narrow rim that is either higher than the adhesive area (a “high rim”), or substantially level with the adhesive area (a “low rim”).
Glue traps are usually sold in pairs, with each pair snapped together face-to-face by mating male-to-female attachment points. Pairs are snapped together at the rim when the trap has a high rim, or at the top of the walls that surround the pen area when the trap has a low rim.
Unlike a glue trap, glue board traps have no walls. However, some glue boards have sections that can be folded to partially cover the adhesive area. The adhesive area of a glue board is covered with a non-stick sheet that is removed before use.
The problems that will be discussed apply to a glue trap and a glue board, and each will be referred to collectively as a “glue trap”, or “glue traps”, hereinafter, unless specified otherwise. Also, examples will be discussed involving a “rat”, but it should be understood to include other crawling pests (e.g., mice).
In related art (CA 2430632), Riad M. Anani discloses a holding device for “an adhesive object” that a user can grip to “take the initiative to target flying insects.” In addition to requiring assembly (i.e., attaching an adhesive object to the device for use), another problem with it, and other glue traps, is that they are not an “instant kill” trap and do not provide a means, or instructions, on how to euthanize (i.e., humanely kill) a captured rat.
Glue trap instructions merely advise users to dispose of the trap and a captured rat into a trash receptacle. This encourages a user to allow a rat to die of stress and/or dehydration. This is a cruelty problem and has caused many jurisdictions to outlaw, or greatly limit, the use of glue traps.
Another problem with glue traps is that their narrow rim makes it easy for a user to get glue on his/her fingers and difficult to hold onto when disposing of a live rat. A user that finds a captured rat thrashing on the adhesive area will pinch the trap's rim at the point farthest away from the rat to avoid getting bit or scratched. This minimal trap control increases the risk of the user dropping the trap and having the rat dislodge and escape. To avoid these risks, a user will sometimes leave the rat on the trap to die before disposing of it. Again, a cruel death for the rat.
Yet, another problem with glue traps is that since they are light weight, a rat whose upper body is free of the trap's adhesive may drag it away, making the rat and the attached trap difficult to find. When the rat dies hidden away, it results in an inhumane death for the rat. Some glue trap makers provide “putty” to prevent a rat from dragging a glue trap away, but the putty may leave a residue that a user has to clean up after disposing of the trap.
Another problem of glue traps is the way they are packaged and displayed. Glue traps are packaged in a cardboard box, or a plastic bag, and hung from the package's reinforced hole on a display rack hook. The packaging material is not used to capture a rat and so is superfluous and results in needless expense.
Therefore, there remains a need to address the peculiar challenges in the prior art to provide a glue trap that can be used to humanely euthanize a captured rat, that cannot be dragged away, and displayed without wasting packaging material.
To overcome the aforesaid problems of inhumanely disposing of a live rat caught on a glue trap, preventing a rat from dragging a glue trap away from the trap's original placement, and providing an efficient way of packaging and displaying a glue trap for sale, disclosed is an improved glue trap with a multiuse handle and method for humanely euthanizing a crawling pest.
Without limiting the scope of this invention as expressed by the claims that follow, its more prominent features will now be discussed briefly. After considering this discussion, and particularly after reading the section entitled “DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION”, one will understand how the features of this invention provide advantages that include the improved handling and humane euthanizing of a pest caught on a glue trap.
Although the following description of exemplary embodiments will be presented in the context of a captured “rat”, other crawling pests (e.g., mice, snakes) are included.
In a preferred embodiment, the invention includes a glue trap, comprising a glue trap tray, an adhesive on a top surface of the glue trap tray, and a handle that is a unitary, one-piece construction with the glue trap tray.
In an alternate embodiment, the invention includes a glue trap, comprising a glue trap, that further includes a glue trap tray, an adhesive on a top surface of the glue trap tray; and an attached handle that is moveable from a first position to a second position. The handle in the second position is preferably fixable to keep it in place when euthanizing a captured pest.
In another alternate embodiment, the invention comprises a board for a glue board trap and a handle that is a one-piece, unitary construction with the board. The board and handle are preferably of an equal thickness and/or density. The handle is preferably opposite a length side of the glue board so that in use, the longest segment of the board's adhesive area will be placed in a rat's path when the length side, opposite the handle, is placed against a wall. This alternate embodiment may be a production blank for glue board trap. A manufacturer/user can apply their desired adhesive directly onto the adhesive area.
In yet another alternate embodiment, the invention comprises a mini-glue trap (including a mini-glue board). The mini-glue trap includes a mini-glue trap tray and handle of a one-piece, unitary construction. The mini-glue trap is preferably small enough to fit on one half of the top surface of a snap bar rodent trap. For example, if the snap bar trap is a rat trap, then the length of the mini-glue trap may be 2 inches long×1.5 inches wide to fit on the half of the trap where the bait pedal is located. The handle includes a hole that can be opened and closed to attach it to the top surface of a snap bar rodent trap. For example, the hole may have a perpendicular slit to twist open and closed to attach it to a bait pedal staple. When a rat becomes attached to the trap, and tries to pull free, it will jostle and release the snap bar. Further, the mini-glue trap will delay the rat for the snap bar to kill it.
In yet another alternate embodiment, the invention includes a method to humanely euthanize a crawling pest, including the steps of a user grasping a handle of a glue trap after a crawling pest has become attached to the glue trap. Next, striking the crawling pest against a hard surface while grasping the handle of the glue trap to euthanize it. Next, disposing of the crawling pest and trap when the crawling pest is dead.
In yet another alternate embodiment, the invention includes a package of two glue traps, each including an integral one-piece handle, that are joined face to face. The glue traps are separated by a user who pulls the respective handles away from each other. The user can then layout the separated traps for a rat. Separating the traps by handles allows the user to avoid getting glue on his fingers as they may when separating prior art glue traps.
In yet another alternate embodiment, the invention includes a glue trap package that utilizes a trap's multiuse handle to display the package. The glue trap package includes a tray and a handle of a unitary, one-piece construction, wherein the handle further includes a hole. The package further includes an opening in its top to allow the handle to protrude from the top to hang the package from a display hook.
The invention, now having been briefly summarized, may be better visualized by turning to the following drawings wherein like elements are referenced by like numerals.
To the accomplishment of the above and related objects, the present invention may be embodied in the form illustrated in the accompanying drawings. However, the drawings are illustrative only, and changes may be made in the specific construction(s) illustrated and described that are within the scope of the claims.
Although, the invention is described herein in terms of various exemplary embodiments and implementations, the various features, aspects, and functionality described in one or more of the individual embodiments are not limited in their applicability to the embodiment with which they are described. Instead, they can be applied, alone or in various combinations, to one or more of the other embodiments of the invention, whether such embodiments are explicitly described and whether such features are presented as being a part of a described embodiment. Thus, the breadth and scope of the present invention should not be limited by any of the above-described exemplary embodiments.
The presence of broadening words and phrases such as “one or more,” “at least,” “but not limited to”, or other like phrases, shall not be read to mean that the narrower case is intended, or required, where such broadening phrases may be absent.
The objects and features of the present invention will become more fully apparent from the following description and appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Understanding that these drawings depict only typical embodiments of the invention and are not to be considered limiting of its scope, the invention will be described and explained with additional specificity and detail using the accompanying drawings.
The following detailed description is directed to certain specific embodiments of the invention. However, the invention can be embodied in a multitude of diverse ways as defined and covered by the claims. In this description, reference is made to the drawings wherein like parts are designated with like numerals throughout. As used herein, the term “glue trap” includes both a “glue trap” and a “glue board”, unless specified otherwise.
The present invention solves the aforesaid problems by providing a glue trap that includes a glue trap tray and a multiuse handle that are a unitary, one-piece construction to support a method of humanely euthanizing a pest, as will be discussed below.
The multiuse handle is preferably at least as rigid as the glue trap tray rim from which it extends, but it may be more rigid or less rigid, and/or extend from a location other than the glue trap tray's rim (e.g., from an exterior wall, a structure attached to the wall and/or rim, etc.). The multiuse handle may be made more rigid by using different and/or additional material(s), or by reinforcing it with a structure projecting from the tray (e.g., a buttress from an exterior tray wall). A hole in the multiuse handle may be used to hang the glue trap on a display hook, and in use, as a location for a string to thread through and tie down the glue trap to prevent it from being dragged away by a rat.
The glue trap tray may include walls that are a unitary construction with the glue trap tray, and surround part, or all of the adhesive area, to create a pen area. When a wall partitions the adhesive area from the rim, the rim will be substantially level with the adhesive area (i.e., a “low rim”), so that in use, the rim's bottom surface will rest on whatever surface the trap is placed. Alternatively, the rim may be higher than the adhesive area. (i.e., a “high rim”).
In a preferred embodiment, the rim (low or high) is a unified, one-piece construction with a tray wall. When the tray includes a wall that ends in a rim, the multiuse handle is preferably formed as an extension of the rim. The handle is contemplated to be gripped by a user to accelerate a trap against a hard surface to euthanize a rat that has been captured on the adhesive area.
However, with or without a rim, the handle may connect and/or extend from a different part (e.g., a hinge structure), or parts (e.g., rim and wall), of the trap. A manufacturer can use additional material, different material, or a combination of materials and/or structures (e.g., a buttress), as well as different processes (e.g., forming, molding, etc.) to create the desired handle rigidity (e.g., more rigid than the rim, or tray).
In a preferred embodiment, the handle will extend away from the tray in an approximate perpendicular angle to create the maximum distance between a user's hand that is grasping the handle's end and the tray. Likewise, when the handle is moveable into a second position it preferably extends away from the tray in an approximate perpendicular angle. In an alternate kit embodiment, when a removably attachable handle is joined to the tray, the handle may join at an approximate perpendicular angle to the tray.
In an alternate embodiment, the multiuse handle may be less rigid than the rim when the handle is used as a tether to tie the trap to a location. For example, when the handle's hole is an elongated slit that is large enough, or can be stretched large enough, to thread the entire tray through to tie the handle around an object that a rat cannot move (e.g., a table leg).
Since rats often run along a room's baseboards, it is effective for a user to place a length side of a glue trap against a room's baseboard to maximize the distance the rat must travel when running over the trap's adhesive area. A rectangularly shaped glue trap may include a handle that extends from the center of the glue trap tray's first length side and is opposite to a second parallel length side. The second length side may be placed against a wall/baseboard to position the greatest amount of adhesive in a rat's path. Also, the handle being centered on a first length side will give the user the best chance of having a rat captured away from the handle when the rat is caught coming onto a width side of the trap.
In a preferred embodiment, the handle will include a length to accommodate an adult's grip. For example, a handbreadth's length of approximately four inches or greater. Alternatively, the handle may be at least as long as the width of the tray. However, the handle may be shorter or longer, depending on the manufacturer's shipping concerns (e.g., the longer the handle, the less traps that will fit inside of a shipping container when the handle is not moveable).
When the glue trap tray has a low rim and a handle of a one-piece unified construction, the handle will lay substantially flat on whatever surface the tray is placed. A benefit of a low rim handle is that the handle will act like an outrigger, or extended base, to prevent a rat from flipping the trap over, and/or dragging the trap away from its original placement when it tries to escape.
A hole in the tray's handle can be used to secure the glue trap to an object incapable of being moved by a rat. For example, a user can thread one end of a string through the hole and tie a knot around the handle and tie the other end of the string to a table leg.
Additionally, the hole in the handle can be used to display a trap (or a pair of traps) for sale, by hanging it on a display hook, when the glue trap's packaging allows the handle (s) to protrude from the top of a package. In this way, a manufacturer will save money on packaging by using the trap as part of the package. Indeed, when the glue trap is sold in pairs of two, they may be snapped together face-to-face, to align their handle holes. Labeling (e.g., instructions, bar codes, etc.) can be attached to the bottom of a pair of trays. This can be done either by having information directly printed, etched, etc. on the bottom surface of the trays, or by affixing labels with information to the bottom of the trays.
In alternate embodiment, the handle may be removably attachable to a glue trap tray as part of a kit. In this embodiment, the tray may have multiple locations to attach a handle, so that a user can attach the handle at the point farthest away from a trapped rat when it comes time to euthanize and dispose of it.
In yet another alternate embodiment, the trap's handle is not of a unitary construction with the tray, but instead is attached to the tray in such a way that the handle is moveable from a first (stored) position to a second (extended/in use) position. For example, the handle may be connected to the tray via a structure, such as a hinge or rivet, to allow the handle to fold around, or next to, the body of the tray, so that a glue trap can be conventionally packaged (i.e., no part of the glue trap protrudes from a package). When the trap is unpackaged, the handle may then be unfolded into an extended position that is preferably fixable.
The moveable handle may be made of wire, plastic, or other suitable material, or combination of them. In this alternate embodiment, the tray may include a plurality of handles. For example, the trap may have two handles joined to the tray's rim that fold underneath the rim in a first position to allow the trap to be conventionally packaged and may be manually fanned out into a second position to use to strike the trap against a hard surface to euthanize a captured rat. In a preferred embodiment, the movable handle will be fixable in a second position to allow a user to better control the trap and captured rat. However, the handle need not be fixable.
In yet another alternate embodiment, the invention includes a miniature glue trap (mini-glue trap), with an integral handle of a unified one-piece construction. The handle includes a hole with a perpendicular slit in it, to allow it to be opened and closed to attach the trap to the top surface of a snap bar rodent trap component (e.g., a pedal, a staple, etc.). In this way a second way is provided for a rat to release the catch that holds the snap bar in place (the first way is for a rat to depress the snap bar trap's bait pedal). A rat that attempts to pull its paw free of the mini-glue trap will jostle the catch free and release the snap bar killing the rat. Further, the mini-glue trap/board will delay the rat's escape when the snap bar is released, increasing the probability that the snap bar will instantly kill the rat. In this embodiment, the mini-glue trap becomes a “euthanizing multiplier”, the very opposite of prior art glue traps that are targeted as “inhumane”.
These and other features, aspects and embodiments of the invention will be described in more detail below.
The multiuse handle 12 preferably extends from the center of a first length side 13 of the tray 11 in an approximate perpendicular angle 14. Alternatively, the multiuse handle 12 may protrude from another part of the glue trap tray 11 (e.g., a wall's 18 exterior). Further, the multiuse handle 12 may be opposite a second length side 15 of the tray 11 (e.g. when the trap 10 has a pair of parallel sides, such as a rectangle, trapezoid, or parallelogram shape), so that the second length side 15 may be placed against a wall's base/baseboard, in a suspected rat's path to maximize the distance a rat must travel across the trap's 10 surface.
The multiuse handle 12 includes a hole 16 configured to receive a hook to hang the glue trap 10 on a display. In addition to using the hole 16 to hang the trap 10, the hole 16 may be used to thread a string through, to tie the trap 10 to an object that a rat cannot move. For example, the user may tie a string from the hole 16 to a table leg (not shown).
The trap 10 includes an adhesive area 17 on the top surface of the tray 11 that is covered by a layer of adhesive, that may be surrounded by one or more walls 18 that end in a rim 19. The adhesive will have a strength (as measured by a tensile strength test, a shear strength test, or a peel strength test) sufficient to hold a struggling rat (e.g., a large brown rat or Indian bandicoot rat). In an alternate embodiments, the trap 10 may be sold without adhesive 17 (for a user to add their own), or with a weaker adhesive.
When the rim 19 is higher than the adhesive area 17, the tray 11 has a high rim 19, and when the rim 19 is substantially level with the adhesive area 17, the tray 11 has a low rim 19.
The method next proceeds to block 40 where the user grasps the trap's 10 multiuse handle 12 after a crawling pest has been captured on the adhesive area 17 of the trap's 10 tray 11. The method next proceeds to block 41 where the user strikes the tray 11 (and crawling pest) against a hard surface (e.g., the inside of a garbage can) to euthanize (i.e., kill) the rat/pest.
The method then next proceeds to block 42 where the user determines if the crawling pest is euthanized (i.e., dead). If “no” at block 43 the rat is still alive, the method repeats block 41, until the answer is “yes” at block 44. Once the rat is euthanized, the method next proceeds to block 45 where the user disposes of the dead crawling pest and the trap 10 into a trash receptacle. Where the method then ends at block 46.
By providing a method
The disclosed invention teaches a new glue trap, and alternate embodiments, that unlike prior art glue traps, may be used to humanely euthanize a trapped rat, or other crawling pest. Many alterations and modifications may be made by those having ordinary skill in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
Therefore, it must be understood that the illustrated embodiments have been set forth only for the purposes of examples and that they should not be taken as limiting the invention as defined by the following claims. For example, notwithstanding the fact that the elements of a claim are set forth below in certain combination, it must be expressly understood that the invention includes other combinations of fewer, more, or different ones of the disclosed elements.
Insubstantial changes from the claimed subject matter as viewed by a person with ordinary skill in the art, now known or later devised, are expressly contemplated as being equivalently within the scope of the claims. Therefore, obvious substitutions now or later known to one with ordinary skill in the art are defined to be within the scope of the defined elements.
The claims are thus to be understood to include what is specifically illustrated and described above, what is conceptually equivalent, what can be obviously substituted, and what incorporates the essential idea of the invention.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63417595 | Oct 2022 | US | |
| 63445893 | Feb 2023 | US |
