AU666631B2

AU666631B2 - Marsh fly trap

Info

Publication number: AU666631B2
Application number: AU75873/94A
Authority: AU
Inventors: George William Alexander
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1990-10-22
Filing date: 1994-10-18
Publication date: 1996-02-15
Anticipated expiration: 2011-10-22
Also published as: AU7587394A

Description

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AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT oo a o o a a Sort a oo o o o o0 o o Name of Applicant: Actual Inventor: Address for Service: GEORGE WILLIAM ALEXANDER GEORGE WILLIAM ALEXANDER CULLEN CO., Patent Trade Mark Attorneys, 240 Queen Street, Brisbane, Qld. 4000, Australia.

MARSH FLY TRAP 000 I n n t li Invention Title: The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me:

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2 THIS INVENTION relates to an insect trap and particularly to an insect trap to attract marsh flies.

Marsh flies are a blood lapping fly troublesome to all animal life in the tropical areas of the world.

The bite of the marsh fly is quite severe and painful.

In some areas, these pests are bound in thousands.

I have now developed a trap which can efficiently and simply trap marsh flies, and where the trap does not require expensive or complicated circuitry, toxic bates which can be ingested by children, moving parts or other complicated gadgetry.

In one form, my invention resides in a fly trap comprising a mirror base surrounded by an elevated border to form a liquid-tight reservoir, an aqueous solution located within the reservoir to trap flies and a fly attractant placed on the mirror base and extending upwardly from it, the attractant comprising a body coloured to attract the fly.

While not wishing to be bound by theory, it appears that flies and particularly marsh flies are attracted to certain colours, and the colour blue seems to be a particularly attractive colour to flies. By having the attractant coloured (for instance blue), the flies are attracted to it and fly onto it.

The mirror reflects the sky, and causes the fly to become disorientated, and I notice that when the fly Qii lands on the attractant, it positions itself such that if disturbed, it will fly upwardly and away. The mirror confuses the fly into thinking that the sky is towards the mirror, and I find that the fly turns itself around (ie. upside down). When disturbed, the fly flies towards the sky, which in fact is into the mirror and the fly is trapped by the aqueous solution.

Typically, the mirror is a square, flat mirror of 50cm x 50cr and can be bordered by any suitable border which forms a reservoir around the mirror.

The aqueous solution can comprise a 0±lute detergent solution which I find wets the fly and makes it

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3 impossible for the fly to fly out of the solution. I prefer to use biodegradable and non-toxic detergent solutions and I prefer to use a dilute solution such that the solution is non-toxic to children and also to birds which may swoop down to pick off the dead flies.

The attractant is typically of a hollow cylindrical design which extends upwardly approximately 12.5cm from the mirrored base and is approximately in diameter. The body can be hollow and can have cut outs spaced about the periphery of the wall. The portion of the cut out can be pushed inwardly to form a declining ramped louvre.

I find that having the attractant in this configuration, the fly finds it difficult to land on the attractant, but because of the mirror will still become disorientated and rather than land on the attractant for e eG t long periods of time, will fly towards the mirror and become entrapped by the solution.

ila I find that having a merely cylindrical extending body as the attractant, approximately 10% of the flies escape, while having the body formed as described above, almost all the flies are ultimately trapped by the solution.

Figure 1 illustrates an embodiment of the invention and all the parts can be readily identified.

The level of aqueous detergent solution placed on top of the mirror is preferably sufficient to minimise topping up due to evaporation, while not being sufficiently deep to make it difficult to move the device around, or to reduce the clarity of the mirror.

It should be appreciated that various other changes or modifications can be made to the embodiment without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed.

Claims

2. The trap of claim 1, wherein the attractant is a body coloured to attract the fly.
3. The trap as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the body includes angled louvres which are angled towards the mirror base.
4. The trap as claimed in claim i, claim 2 or claim 3, wherein the body is hollow and substantially cylindrical and where the louvres extend inwardly of the body and downwardly towards the mirror base.
5. The trap as claimed in any one of the preceding culaims, wherein the aqueous solution comprises a dilute detergent solution.
6. The trap as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the fly is marsh fly.
7. A marsh fly trap comprising a bordered mirror, an attractor located on the mirror, the attractor being coloured to attract the marsh fly and comprising a louvred cylindrical plastic body approximately diameter and 12.5cm high, an aqueous solution located within the border of the mirror.
8. A fly trap substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawing.
9. The trap of any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the attractant is coloured blue. DATED this Eighteenth day of October 1994 GEORGE WILLIAM ALEXANDER By His Patent Attorneys CULLEN CO ABSTRACT A flytrap comprises a mirror base filled with aqueous solution and a body extending above the base which is coloured to attract flies. i i -I