US738184A - Insect-trap. - Google Patents

Description

PATENTED SEPT. 8, 1908.

H. L. GOODWIN.

INSECT TRAP.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 18, 1902. RENEWED MAB. e, 1903.

N0 MODEL.

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UNiTED STATES Patented September 8, 196

HENRY L. GOODWIN, OF SUMMIT, NEW JERSEY.

INS ECT-T RAP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 738,184, dated September 8, 1903. Application filed January 18,1902. Renewed March 6,1903. Serial No. 146,588. (No model.)

To all whom it may, concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY L. GOODWIN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Summit, county of Union, and State of New Jersey, am the inventor of a certain new and useful Improvementin Insect-Traps, of which the following is such a full, clear, and exact description as will enable any one skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the acconipanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

Myinvention relates to apparatus for catching or trapping winged insectssuch, for instance, as mosquitoes-and the particular object of the invention is to provide a simple and efficient form of device by means of which the insects when attracted to the vicinity of the device may he at once drawn into it and either killed by the force of the airuction or caused to betrapped in a compartment, where they are confined for subsequent extermination. V

I have illustrated types of myinvention in the accompanying drawings, wherein- Figure 1 is a central vertical section of one form of my improved device, the same being shown as arranged in an ordinary window of a house, a portion of the sill and lower sash of such window being also shown in vertical section. Fig. 2 is a similar view of a modified form of the device.

Referring to the drawings, in which like numbers of reference designate like parts throughout, 2 is a compartment or cage into which the air-currents carry the insects and where they may be confined for extermination. This compartment may be made portable or not, and in the form shown in Fig. 1 it is provided with an opening in the back, which is covered with a translucent material 3, through which an artificial light may be thrown, so as to shine into and through the compartment.

At the front of the compartment 2 is an unobstructed opening 4, through which the outer air may be drawn or sucked into the compartment to convey therein any winged insects that may be attracted to the vicinity of the opening by the light shining therefrom. The opening 4 is provided with a door or gate 5, which is hinged at 6 and is provided with a catch 7, located upon the exte= rior of the compartment 2 for holding the door open during the operation of the device. When the apparatus is put out of operation, the door 5 is closed to confine within the compartment 2 all the insects that have been drawn therein.

In the back wall of the compartment 2 is an opening 8, which is covered with wiregauze 9 of such fine mesh that the ordinary small winged insects cannot pass through it. This gauze-covered opening 8 is preferably arranged in a door 10, hinged at 11 and having a fastening device 12, by means of which door access may be readily had to the interior of the compartment 2 for any desired purpose.

A suction-fan 13 is arranged within the compartment 2, and likewise a motor 14 for driving the fan. The motor shown is an electric one, and the fan is so constructed that when it rotates it sucks the exterior air through the opening 4 into the compartment 2, from whence it passes through the gauze 9 to the exterior of the compartment. The openings is provided with a funnel-shaped piece 15 for increasing the suction effect when the fan is in action.

The casing or compartment 2 is made of such size as to be readily portable and is adapted to be placed upon the sill 16 of an ordinary window, so that the sliding windowsash 17 may be drawn down into contact with the upper side thereof to hold the structure in the window with the funnel-like part 15 projeotingoutwardlytherefrom. Whenthus placed in an ordinary window, the artificial light shining from the interior of the building through the window may be cut off by a curtain 18 in order to prevent the light from shining from the interior of the building outwardly from any other place than through the transparent material 3 in the compartment 2. The light coming from the interior of the building through the glass 3 shines through the compartment 2 and thence through the opening 4," so as to illuminate the funnel-like part 15, and this serves to attract to the vicinity of the month of the funnelshaped part 15 winged insects, which upon coming within the range of the air-suction created by the fan 13 are at once drawn in through the funnel or hood into the compartment 2, where they are either killed or maimed by be. ing forcibly thrown against the walls of the compartment or are kept confined by the current of air which passes into the compartment through the opening 4, thence through the wire-gauze 9 at the back of the compartment into the surrounding air, the air-currents thus passing through the compartment being indicated by the arrows, and this suction is maintained during the action of the fan 13. When it is desired to stop the operation of the apparatus, the door or gate 5 is closed over the opening 4 by releasing the hook 7 and letting the door gravitate into closed position, and then the fan 13 is thrown out of action.

In the modified construction of the device shown in Fig. 2 the fan 13, used with the apparatus, is placed forwardly of the compartment 2 in a forward extension or passage-way 19 of the compartment, which at its outer en (1 is provided with the hood or funnel-shaped piece 15, leading to the opening 4: of the passage-way 19. A suitable light 20-such, for instance as an electric lamp or an oil-lampis placed within the passage-way 19 in front of the fan, and back of this light is arranged a suitable reflector 21 for increasing the efiect of the light in shining outwardly from the apparatus. A sliding door or gate 22, having suitable guideways 23, is arranged to cut off or to open the communication between the interior of the compartment 2 and the passage-way 19, such gate being shown in the drawings as raised in open position. The bottom of the compartment is provided with a door 24, hinged at 25 and provided with a suitable catch 26, by means of which access may be gained to the interior of the compartment. The top of this compartment 2 has an Y opening therein which is covered with fine wire-gauze 27, and the back wall thereof is also formed with a suitable opening covered with wire-gauze 28. When the fan 13 is in motion, the air is sucked in through the hood 15, passing through the openinget in the passage-way 19, is forced through the compartment out of both of the gauze-covered openings, so that the insects when drawn in at the mouth of the funnel are carried thence, as per the arrows, into the compartment 2, where they are confined. When it is desired to stop the operation of the device, the door readily exterminated by subjecting the interior of the compartment 2 to the fumes from kerosene-oil.

At a suitable point within the compartment 2 I place a guard 30,which in the construction shown in Fig. 1 consists of a member shaped like a truncated cone with the larger end placed outwardly and the small end thereof encircling the lower part of the motor 14 with an annular space 31 between the small end of the cone and the motor. The air-currents carrying the insects forcibly through this' guard drive them through the small annular space 31 into the chamber back of the guard. This space 31 being comparatively small the guard serves as a further means of entrapping and confining the insects back of the same, and when the fan is stopped the chances are that very few of the insects which are carried into the chamber back of the guard will find their way out through the small end of the guard In Fig. 2 this guard is made of two plane surfaces 32, which are inclined toward each other and converge inwardly with a small space 33 between the inner ends of the two members. The air-currents passing into the large end of the guard carry the insects through the guard and drive them through the opening 32 thereof into the chamher back of the same where they are confined by the guard.

\Vhere the apparatus is used by being" placed in the window or other opening-ofa house, the fan serves as a ventilator in addi-" tion to doing the work of sucking the air nto the trap, and the screen in the apparatus also serves to prevent dust from being carried into the house through the apparatus.

1 wish to be understood as not limiting my invention to the specific cpnstructions of the apparatus herewith shown, as it is evident that modifications may be made in the various parts thereof without, however, making a material departure from the spirit of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. An insect-trap comprising the combination of a compartment having an opening communicating with the outer air for admitting the insects, a suitable light arranged to shine into or through said compartment for attracting the insects to said opening, and means for creating a current ofair through said opening and into said compartment, whereby the insects upon coming near to or into said opening may be carried by the air into said compartment, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. An insect-trap comprising the combination of a compartment having an opening communicating with the outer air for admitting the insects, a suitable light arranged to shine into or through said compartment for attracting the insects to said opening, and a vesusa fan for drawing the exterior air through said opening into the compartment to convey the insects therein, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. A portable insect-trap consisting in the combination of a compartment having an opening communicating with the outer air for admitting the insects, a translucent opening in the back of said compartment through which a light may shine into said compartment, and means for creating a current of air through said opening and into said compartment, whereby the insects upon coming near to or into said opening may be carried by the air into said compartment, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

4. An insect-trap comprising the combination of a compartment having an opening communicating with the outer air for admitting the insects, a suitable light arranged to shine into or through said compartment for attracting the insects to said opening, the said compartment being provided with one or more air-outlets through which the insects cannot pass, and a fan or air-suction device located in said compartment for drawing the air through the said opening into said compartment, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

5. An insect-trap comprising the combina tion of a compartment having an opening communicating with the outer air for admitting the insects, a suitable light arranged to shine into or through said compartment for attracting the insects to said opening, one or more of the sides of said compartment being provided with fine gauze for the exit of the air but not permitting the insects to pass out, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

6. An insect-trap comprising the combination of a compartment having an opening communicating with the outer air for admitting the insects, means for creating a current of air through said opening and into said compartment, whereby the insects upon coming near to or intosaid opening may be forcibly carried by the air into said compartment, and a guard having inwardly -converging walls against which the insects may be driven by the air-currents and provided with a comparatively small opening at the inner end thereof and placed within the path of the aircurrent so as to confine back of the guard any insects that may be carried past the guard, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

7. An insect-trap comprising the combination of a compartment having an opening communicating with the outer air for admitting the insects, means for attracting the in sects toward or near to said opening, and means for creating a current of air through said opening and into said compartment, whereby the insects upon coming near to or into said opening may be carried by the aircurrent into said compartment, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HENRY L. GOODWIN.

Witnesses:

WILLIS FOWLER, SAMUEL M. OHEsNU'r.

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