This invention relates to a method and apparatus for controlling pests. More specifically, it relates to an effective, environmentally safe, lightweight, inexpensive, versatile, easy to operate, portable apparatus and a method of use for killing, incapacitating, or eliminating pests.
Flying, burrowing and crawling pests can be annoying, threatening or damaging to persons, property and vegetation and are particularly bothersome when they inhabit building structures or the grounds of areas inhabited by humans. Many insects, such as flies, mosquitoes, cockroaches, moths, beetles, aphids, mites and ants, as well as burrowing animals, such as mice, moles and rats, are capable of disease transmission. Nesting bees, wasps, hornets and fire ants may attack and sting farm animals, domestic animals and humans and have been know to seriously injure or kill both animals and humans. Rats, mice and termites, for example, are capable of causing extensive property damage.
Fire ants, in particular, cause over one billion dollars in damage each year in the United States. They have been known to attack, injure and cause the death of humans, farm animals and domestic animals. They also have been known to cause the degradation and deter the harvesting of crops, damage and kill plant and animal life in national and city parks, cause damage to telephone boxes and electrical transformers, deter humans from fully enjoying the yards of their homes, damage building structures and cause the interruption of utility services to buildings. Governments and private citizens in the United States spend millions of dollars each year to eradicate fire ants with limited success. Imported fire ants continue to migrate northward in the United States, expanding the area of infestation.
Apparatuses and methods for controlling pests have existed for years. Toxic chemicals often have been applied to pests"" dwellings and the surrounding areas in order to exterminate the pests. While toxic chemicals can be very effective, exposing toxic chemicals to the environment is not safe for humans, animals, plants and desirable insects and therefore is often prohibited in the United States by the Environmental Protection Agency. Methods and apparatuses for applying freezing liquids, steam, intense heat, intensified solar radiation, anesthetics, foams, chemical fogs generated onsite, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and other heavier-than-air gases have also been used to control pests. An apparatus for flushing and vacuuming has been developed to remove pests from their dwelling places by injecting a flushing agent into the dwelling and vacuuming out the flushing agent together with the pests. The use of such apparatuses and methods to exterminate pests also can be effective, but they generally require special chemicals that are expensive and not readily available or special equipment that may be expensive, relatively heavy, relatively immobile, and not readily available.
Many of the apparatuses that have been developed utilize a hood or shroud that covers and encloses the surface surrounding the pests"" dwelling for application of the exterminating agent(s). The versatility of such apparatuses is limited, however, because oftentimes the pests"" dwelling may be located adjacent an obstruction such as a tree, a fence post, a telephone pole, a light pole, a lamp post, an air conditioner or an electrical device used in the provision of electricity or telephone service, and the hood or shroud may not cover the entire surrounding surface of the pests"" dwelling.
Other apparatuses and methods have been developed for specialized use in controlling pests. A specialized apparatus has been developed for exterminating insects in walls and ceilings of buildings using a disposable aerosol insecticide spraying canister, but the apparatus is designed only for the control of pests that inhabit buildings through insertion into an opening in a wall or ceiling. Additionally, conventional aerosol foggers have long been used in one or more enclosed rooms in buildings for eliminating pests such as fleas and ticks but generally have not been used to infuse outside pest dwellings such as ant hills, wasp nests, and so on. Such conventional aerosol foggers have, however, been used outside for releasing insecticides into the air for eliminating flying pests such as mosquitoes. Such applications, however, do not eliminate pests from their dwelling places and may be harmful to the environment.
Further, granules of solid insecticide have been used to exterminate ants by placing the granules on ant hills. The success of this method, however, can be limited because ant hills have multiple queen ants, and all queen ants must be eliminated in order to exterminate the entire ant colony. When this method is used, the worker ants take the granules inside the ant hill, where the granules are converted into liquid and consumed by the ants. Because the process is relatively slow, not all ants die at once. If a worker ant dies from consuming the granules, one or more of the queen ants will refuse to eat the granules and may relocate the ant colony. Therefore, this method may require frequent applications of the granules on existing ant hills and on new ant hills resulting from the ants"" relocation. The versatility and effectiveness of this method is therefore limited.
Still further, in several of the existing methods and apparatuses, an exterminating agent is introduced into a pests"" dwelling using a wand, a probe or a conduit that is inserted into the dwelling to ensure application of the agent in the proper location within the dwelling. Consequently, the pests are likely to be disturbed prior to the application of the agent, and many of the pests may escape the dwelling before they are affected by the agent being applied. Liquids sprayed on a surface of a pests"" dwelling have also been used to control pests. Such applications, however, only affect the pests that are outside of the dwelling or are in any areas of the subterranean tunnels that may be reached by the liquid that flows through the pest entrances.
Consequently, there has been a need for an effective, environmentally safe, lightweight, inexpensive, versatile, easy to operate, portable apparatus for controlling pests and a method for its use. Providing an apparatus that contains within an enclosed interior cavity of a housing a fluid used to kill, incapacitate or eliminate pests until such time as the fluid infuses the pests"" dwelling will protect the surrounding environment, the operator of the apparatus and any persons, animals, insects and vegetation that may be nearby. Providing a lightweight, inexpensive, easy to operate and portable apparatus will make the apparatus more readily available and affordable to users and will provide an incentive for more users to kill, incapacitate or eliminate the pests that threaten or annoy the users, their animals, their property and the environment. Providing an apparatus that rapidly infuses all areas of the pests"" dwelling and does not disturb the dwelling prior to infusion of the fluid into the dwelling, thus avoiding escape by the pests prior to infusion, will maximize the effectiveness of the apparatus and method. Providing an apparatus that can completely or partially surround obstructions adjacent the pests"" dwelling increases the versatility of the apparatus and method. It is to this end that the present invention has been developed.
According to one aspect of the invention, an apparatus is provided which includes a housing and a container of pressurized fluid formulated to eliminate pests. The housing has an open end, an open interior cavity and an inside surface and is adapted to sit on a surface surrounding a pest dwelling with pest entrances, thereby forming a closed interior cavity and enclosing the pest entrances. The housing also includes an upper wall connected to a continuous sidewall, the continuous sidewall having an upper surface. The housing further includes a first section housing, a second section housing, a first section flexible sealing member associated with the first section housing and a second section flexible sealing member associated with the second section housing. The first section housing includes a first section opening edge, and the second section housing includes a second section opening edge, the first section opening edge and the second section opening edge defining an upper surface opening in the upper surface of the continuous sidewall. The first section sealing member sealably engages the first section opening edge and a first outside surface of an interior obstruction extending upwardly from the surrounding surface through the upper surface opening, and the second section sealing member sealably engages the second section opening edge and a second outside surface of the interior obstruction, thereby sealably filling the upper surface opening. The housing also includes an activation mechanism including a sealable aperture in the housing, door guides adjacent the sealable aperture and a slidable door connected to and moveable along the door guides. The container has a spray release mechanism including a nozzle for releasing the pressurized fluid. The container is disposed on the surrounding surface such that the nozzle is located in spaced relation to the activation mechanism within the closed interior cavity. With the slidable door in an open position, a finger of an operator can be inserted into the closed interior cavity through the sealable aperture to operatively engage the spray release mechanism, causing the nozzle to release the pressurized fluid into the closed interior cavity.
According to a further aspect of the invention, the activation mechanism includes a sealable aperture and a hinged door which is pivotably connected to the inside surface of the housing adjacent an upper edge of the aperture. A finger of the operator can be inserted into the closed interior cavity through the sealable aperture by applying a force in an inward direction on the outside surface of the hinged door, causing the hinged door to swing inwardly within the closed interior cavity. The operator can operatively engage the inserted finger with the spray release mechanism, causing the nozzle to release the pressurized fluid into the closed interior cavity.
According to another aspect of the invention, the activation mechanism includes a container aperture located in the housing and an L-shaped lever mechanism connected at one end to the inside surface of the housing and projecting inwardly from the inside surface. The container is slidably inserted through the container aperture into the closed interior cavity. The distal end of the lever mechanism is spaced apart from and aligned with the container aperture to allow the spray release mechanism to operably engage the lever mechanism, thereby causing the nozzle to release the pressurized fluid into the closed interior cavity.
According to a further aspect of the invention, the lever mechanism includes an elongated lever member connected at one end to the inside surface of the housing and projecting inwardly from the inside surface. The distal end of the lever mechanism is spaced apart from and aligned with the container aperture to allow the spray release mechanism to operably engage the lever mechanism, thereby causing the nozzle to release the pressurized fluid into the closed interior cavity.
According to yet another aspect of the invention, the activation mechanism includes a plunger aperture located in the upper wall of the housing and an elongated plunger member slidably inserted through the plunger aperture and aligned with the spray release mechanism to allow an upper end of the plunger member to be located above the upper wall and a lower end of the plunger member to engage the spray release mechanism. Downward force can be applied to the upper end, causing the lower end to operably engage the spray release mechanism, thereby causing the nozzle to release the pressurized fluid into the closed interior cavity.
In operation, the first section housing and the second section housing are spaced apart and positioned so that the interior obstruction is located in a space between the first section housing and the second section housing. The first section housing and the second section housing are aligned and sealingly engaged such that the first section outer edge and the second section outer edge define the open end of the housing and the first section opening edge and the second section opening edge define the upper section opening. The open end contacts the surrounding surface, to thereby enclose the pest entrances, with the interior obstruction extending upwardly from the surrounding surface through the upper surface opening. The first sealing member sealably engages the first outside surface of the interior obstruction and the first section opening edge, and the second sealing member sealably engages the second outside surface of the interior obstruction and the second section opening edge, thereby sealably filling the upper surface opening.
According to a still further aspect of the invention, the housing may include at least one fluid guide adjacent and connected to the inside surface of the housing for allowing the pressurized fluid to flow in the direction of the surface containing the pest entrances.
According to an even further aspect of the invention, the housing may include removable sections for providing closeable openings in the housing, the closeable openings including closeable opening edges defining the closeable openings, to allow the closeable opening edges to be disposed against the surfaces of perimeter obstructions, thereby causing the pest entrances to be disposed within the closed interior cavity.
According to yet another aspect of the invention, the apparatus includes a housing, a container of pressurized fluid formulated to eliminate pests, a container positioning member and a trigger mechanism. The housing has an open end, an open interior cavity and an inside surface defined by a continuous sidewall connected to a closed end. The housing is adapted to sit on a surface surrounding a pest dwelling with pest entrances and to form a closed interior cavity enclosing the pest entrances. The container includes a spray release mechanism including a nozzle for releasing the pressurized fluid. The container positioning member includes a container holder and a guide member connected to the container holder. The container positioning member is positioned in a predetermined position on the surrounding surface and is adapted so that the container may be slidably inserted through an open end of, and into an open interior cavity of, the container holder, causing the nozzle to be located above the open end of the container holder. The trigger mechanism includes an attachment member connected to a cantilever member. The attachment member is removably connected to the housing so that the attachment member is disposed adjacent the inside surface of the housing, causing the cantilever member to project inwardly within the open interior cavity. The guide member is slidably inserted into a through bore in the cantilever member, the cantilever member operably engages the spray release mechanism, causing the pressurized fluid to be released, and the outer edge of the housing contacts the surrounding surface, thereby forming the closed interior cavity within which the pressurized fluid is released, the housing being positioned so that the pest entrances are enclosed within the closed interior cavity.