CA1166006A

CA1166006A - Insect feeding station

Info

Publication number: CA1166006A
Application number: CA000397725A
Authority: CA
Inventors: Edward Morris
Original assignee: American Cyanamid Co
Current assignee: Wyeth Holdings LLC
Priority date: 1981-04-06
Filing date: 1982-03-05
Publication date: 1984-04-24
Also published as: NL8201447A; ZA822358B; AU8234582A; GB2095966A; DK156182A; BR8201936A; SE8202167L; DE3212860A1

Abstract

28,613 ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE
An insect feeding station having a base portion with inner walls spaced from outer walls to form a poision compartment, offest openings in said walls, offset opening means in the floor of said base, and transparent means in the cover to view said poison compartment. Thus the insect feeding station may be entered from the sides or the bottom and is useful for earth insects. The poison compartment may have a contrasting and luminous color under the poison to make removal of poison easily detectable.

Description

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This invention relates to a dev~ce for destroyiny insects. It more particularly relates to an insect feeding station whereby poison may be administered to crawling insects on or in the earth without endangeriny children or domestic animals.
Various types of devices have been known in the prior art for destroying insects. In some devices, the insects are trapped in the device after entering, either by mechanical construction, or by sticking to a gummy substance. In either instance, the device is soon full and useless. In devices which contained a poison, it was easy to shake out loose poison, or probe through openings to reach the poison, thus making them a danger to children or small domestic animals. In addition, prior devices are generall~ of a construction that the interior of the device is difficult to view so that it is not readily ascertainable whether insects are using the device or how much poison has been used.
The invention provides an insect feeding station for administering poison to insects comprising a base portion and a cover, said base portion comprising an outer floor containing at least one opening arld an inner floor sp~ced apart from sald outer floor, said inner floor having at least one openiny offset from said outer floor opening, outer walls having at least one opening therein, and inner walls spaced from said outer walls and contain-ing at least one opening offset from said opening in said outer wall, said inner wall forming an inner compartment for said poison.

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I 1 ~6006 The outer case of the base may be of any configurakion, e.g., round, square, or rectangular and the inner compartment may have a corresponding configuration. The outer case walls has at least one and preferably three or more openings, and the inner compartment is formed from walls spaced apart from the outer case walls, the inner walls having openings, which are offset so that a probe stuck into an outer wall opening, will not enter the openings of the inner compartment and contact the poison therein. The device further has an outer floor spaced apar-t from an inner floor with offset openings in each. Preferabl~ the cover of the device is permanently affixed to the base and has at least a part which is transparent so that the poison is visible through the cover.
The poison is preferably of the type known as bait, i.e., it is a mixture of slow acting poison and some food material attractive to insects, such as flour, molasses, peanut butter or the like. The bait is preferably of a paste like or solid con-sistency. ThuS, insects are attracted to the device, eat the bait and leave to die elsewhere. The bait may be a molded ~hape, e.g., a flat wafer afixed to the floor of the inner compartment.
It is also possible to coat the floor o~ the compartment with a contrasting colox before putting down the bait, and more desirably the contrasting color may be luminous so that it is readily visible in darkened areas, As bait, is removed by insects, the contrasting color underneath becomes visible and provides an indication whether insects are using the station and how much bait has been used.
The invention may be better understood by reference to the drawings in which .,,r,j 1 3 ~;~0~ &

Figure 1 is a perspective view o~ the base portion and cover Figure 2 is a view in elevation, and Figure 3 is a top plan view.
Referring to the Figures, the insect feeding station of the present invention comprises a base portion 10 and cover 12. The base portion may be of any sui~able material such as metal or plastic, and may be transparent plastic but need not be transparent. Base portion 10 has outer casing wall 14 with openings 16, an inner floor 18, an outer floor 19 with an opening 21, inner comapartment wall 20 with openings 22. Inner compartment wall 20 forms an inner compartment 24. Bait 26 i5 affixed to floor 18 in inner compartment 24. The floor of inner compartment may be coated with a contrasting color layer 28 before affixing the bait. Color layer 2~ is preferably a luminescent material. This may be a coating of liminescent paint, or a luminescent dyed paper or the like. If the bait contains an oleagenous ingredient, it is desirable to coat color layer 28 with a protective material, e.g., a resin, before affixing the bait so that the color layer is not soaked with oil or grease and discolored or inactivated. Inner floor 18 also contains openings 30 which are of~set from opening 21. A
tubular extension 32 may also extend rom opening 21, which may be thrust into the earth in use.
Cover 12 extends to the periphery of base portion 10 and forms outer casing walls 14 with openings 16 as des-cribed above, to close the base portion 10 and may also be of any suitable material. However, cover 12 should have at least a portion which is transparent so that bait 26 may be readily seen. Although the cover has been illustrated as forming the outer case walls 14, it will be readily apparent the case walls could be formed as a part of the base - portion 10. Cover 12 i5 permanently affixed to base 10 as by adhesive or any suitable means.
In a preferred embodiment, the~base pvrtion 10 and cover 12 are both of transparent plastic.

1 7~()06 As illustrated, the insect fe.eding s~ation may ~e -- used flat on the earth.with extens;on 32 thrust into the earth. Insects may enter the device through openings 16 and offset openings 22 to reach bait 26 in the inner compartment and leave through the same openings. Earth insects may enter through opening.. 34 of extension 32 then through opening 21 and offset openings30 to poison compartment 24. The consump-tion of bait 26 may be viewed through transparent cover 12, and be readily visible due to contrasting background 28 under the bait.
Although insects may easily reach the bait, it will be readily apparent in Figure 2 that a probe placed in any opening 16 in the outer casing wall 14 or opening 34 of extension 32 will not enter the inner compartment due to o~f-set of openings 22 in wall 20,and openings 30 in floor 18.
Thus the device is safe from inquisitive children.
It will be apparent that outer floor 19 could also be constructed without extension 32 and with a plurality of vpenings (not shown) which are offset from openings 30 in inner floor 18, and still be within the scope of the present invention.
It will be seen that the present invention provi.des - an insect feeding station for administering poison to insects, particularly earth crawling insects, whereby a ~ignal is provided allowing the ready detection of the removal o poisonous bait, even in dimly lit areas and without removing the device and which has an offset entry baffle system so that children cannot probe the bait containing compartment.

Claims

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:

1. An insect feeding station for administering poison to insects comprising a base portion and a cover, said base portion comprising an outer floor containing at least one opening and an inner floor spaced apart from said outer floor, said inner floor having at least one opening offset from said outer floor opening, outer walls having at least one opening therein, and inner walls spaced from said outer walls and containing at least one opening offset from said opening in said outer wall, said inner wall form-ing an inner compartment for said poison.

2. The insect feeding station of claim 1 having a plurality of openings in said outer and inner walls, and said inner floor, said openings in said inner walls being offset from said openings in said outer wall.

3. The insect feeding station of claim 1 wherein the opening in said outer floor has a tubular extension.

4. The insect feeding station of claim 1 wherein said poison is a bait mixture of food and poison.

5. The insect feeding station of claim 4 wherein said bait mixture is a solid mixture affixed to the floor of said inner com-partment.

6. The insect feeding station of claim 5 comprising color beneath said bait.

7. The insect feeding station of claim 6 wherein said con-trasting color is luminescent.

8. The insect feeding station of claim 1, 2 or 3 wherein at least a part of said cover is transparent whereby said poison may be visible.

9. The insect feeding station of claim 4, 5 or 6 wherein at least a part of said cover is transparent whereby said poison may be visible.