Pesticidal blanket

Abstract: A pesticidal blanket 10 for lining a building excavation to protect the building from infestation by termites and other pests, takes the form of a foraminous, fibrous membrane comprising an assembly of fibres or filaments 12, the assembly having an average void volume of less than 85% when measured under a pressure of 10kPa (1.45 psi). The fibres 12 in the assembly have an average fibre size of less than 6 denier, and are coated with an insecticidal substance when the blanket 10 is installed at the building site.

Description: The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for controlling the infestation of buildings by insect pests, and, more particularly, to a foraminous, fibrous membrane and the use of such a membrane as a liner in an excavation prior to the construction of a building therein. Insect pest control devices comprising some form of bonded textile fibres coated with an insecticide are known in the art. For example, U.S. Patent No. 4,103,450 to Whitcomb shows an insecticidal device, which uses a lofty bonded web of textile fibres as a scaffold for insecticidal materials, which may subsequently volatilize therefrom into the ambient air. The device purports to permit control over the location, distribution and dispersal of the volatile insecticide deployed therein, and may be simply discarded when the quantity of the insecticide remaining therein falls below an effective level. The device is said to have a number of advantages, particularly for household applications, because it may be deployed readily in small spaces behind appliances which may attract insects. Because the insects in question may actually crawl through the interstices between the textile fibres in the lofty assembly, thereby coming into prolonged direct physical contact with the insecticide being used, the Whitcomb device is highly efficient in its use of the insecticide. As may be observed, the emphasis in the Whitcomb patent is on a lofty, resilient, highly porous structure which provides an effective, but temporary, means of controlling domestic insect pests in the interior of a house. However, the solution to problems encountered in external, or outdoor, insect control requires a totally different approach. For example, in many parts of the world, termites are endemic, and, as cellulose forms their principal food material, the extent of the damage that they can cause to wooden structures is well-known. Typically, termite colonies form nests underground in the soil near ground level, in a stump or other source of timber, or in the trunk of a living tree. Colonies may persist for years and may attain populations running into millions. Termite attacks originate from the nest. Timber lying on or buried, partially or completely, in the ground may be reached by underground foraging galleries. Attacks may also be carried out well above the ground surface via access passages constructed by the termites from mud or earth on a concrete or brick building foundation. Both the building and its contents may be provided with significant protection by means of a chemical soil barrier which prevents the attacking termites from reaching wooden components. The conventional practice is to treat the soil surrounding a building foundation and footing with any one of a number of well-known chemicals. Chemicals such as aldrin, chlordane, dieldrin and heptachlor may be sprayed on the soil surface by low pressure spray equipment. Alternatively, vertical chemical barriers may be installed by excavating trenches, by treating the exposed trench and by refilling the trench with treated soil, or by rod injection. In addition to spraying soil with toxic chemicals, other practitioners in the field have proposed insecticidal barriers, including barriers against termites for use around building structures. For example, U.S. Patent No. 2,899, 771 discloses a flexible vapor barrier carrying a layer of water-emulsifiable insecticide. The insecticide in question is carried in a flexible, relatively thin, water-soluble substance, such as "Polyox". U.S. Patent No. 2,139,225 shows a paper which is coated with arsenate of lead mixed into a paint, whose base is mineral pitch or asphalt. A felt paper in sheet form is impregnated with the mixture by application to one or both surfaces thereof. After the paper has dried, it is packaged and thereafter may be used whenever desired in the same manner as ordinary felt paper, i.e., it can be laid under floors, or placed between foundations and superstructures, or between the walls of buildings and roofs. An interesting alternative approach to the provision of an effective termite barrier for a new construction is described in International Patent Publication No. WO 90/14004, which discloses all the features of the preamble of claim 1. This publication describes a method of preventing termite damage by providing at the building site a flexible, untreated blanket which is used, for example, to line a building excavation, and then is impregnated with a suitable insecticide. The new construction is then built over the impregnated blanket. The fibre assembly is not described in great detail in this publication. In particular, International Patent Publication No. WO 90/14004 teaches nothing about the fibre density of the fibre assembly, or about its void volume. The present invention provides a fibrous membrane intended for impregnation with an insecticide and subsequent burial in the soil at a building site as a barrier against subterranean pests, for example, termites, wherein the membrane comprises an assembly of fibres or filaments having an average size of less than 6 denier, characterised in that the membrane is foraminous and the assembly, when measured under a pressure of 10kPa (1.45 psi), has an average void volume of less than 85% and an average distance between the fibre crossing points of less than 100 microns (0.1 mm) so that, in use, subterranean pests, for example, termites are prevented from entering therein. Thus, the present invention relates to a foraminous, fibrous membrane or blanket intended for permanent burial in the soil as a barrier against termites or other subterranean pests. The membrane comprises an assembly of fibres or filaments, wherein the assembly has an average void volume of less than about 85% when measured under a pressure of 10kPa (1.45 psi), and the average fibre size is smaller than about 6 denier; the fibre surfaces within the assembly are coated with an insecticidal substance usually after the membrane has been deployed in an excavation or the like prior to the construction of a building therein. The fibre assembly may be made up of a web of staple fibres or of continuous filaments. It may be spun bonded or melt blown, and may be consolidated to the above-noted working density range (average void volume less than 85%) by needling, hydroentangling or simple calendering. Preferably, the fibres are of a synthetic polymeric resin, but ceramic or metallic fibres may be used to satisfy especially demanding environmental conditions. Assemblies of mixed fibre types are also embraced within the scope of the present invention which is defined by the claims, in order to permit management of web properties and to control the ultimate price. The foraminous, fibrous membrane (as yet untreated with insecticide) may be provided in the form of a kit, which also includes instructions for its deployment as a barrier against subterranean pests; the instructions may give details of the insecticide treatment and the kit may itself include a suitable insecticide. Furthermore, the invention provides the use of any membrane as described above in the soil at a building site as a barrier against subterranean pests, for example, termites. In addition, the invention provides a method of protecting a building in which a membrane as described above is installed in a building excavation prior to the construction of the building therein, the membrane being impregnated with insecticide either before, during or after its installation in the excavation. The present invention will now be described in more detail, by way of example only, with reference to the figures identified below. Figure 1 is a cross-sectional view of a foraminous, fibrous membrane or assembly constructed according to the present invention; Figure 2 is a semi-log plot of fibre denier against void volume for various fibre assemblies including those in accordance with the present invention; and, Figure 3 is a sectional view showing the foraminous, fibrous membrane or assembly of Figure 1 in its ultimate position of use beneath a building to be protected from subterranean insect pests. The invention described in International Patent Publication No. WO 90/14004 is said to include a blanket which may be of any material capable of absorbing liquid pesticide or pest repellant, and which is sufficiently durable to remain intact in situ for the life of the building or article to be protected. The blanket may be made of any of a number of absorbent materials of a generally fibrous nature, and should be rot-resistant. However, subsequent research into the issues that must be considered in the production of an optimally functional, durable, and economically producible fibre assembly has indicated that a workable foraminous, fibrous membrane is characterized by a narrow and specific set of design parameters. Such a membrane is the subject of the present invention. Figure 1 depicts a foraminous, fibrous membrane or assembly 10 according to the present invention. The assembly 10 comprises a plurality of fibres or filaments 12 consolidated by needling, hydroentangling or simple calendering. Some of the specific issues that arise in the design of an optimal membrane structure will be discussed below. The principal structural parameters that affect the mechanical properties of a fibre assembly are the fibre diameter and the assembly density. It is customary to express the size of textile fibres and filaments in terms of denier, which is defined as the weight, in grams, of 9000 meters of the fibre. The relationship between the denier, D, and the diameter, d, in centimeters, for a fibre with a density p f gms/cc is: D=(πd 2 x 9x10 5 x p f )/4 The assembly density is expressed as fibre volume fraction v f or as its related complement percentage void volume, V v . These parameters are related through the expression: v f = 1 -(V v /100) It is often revealing and informative to examine the performance requirements of fibre assemblies in terms of a mapping of these two parameters. Since the fibre denier can vary over several orders of magnitude, while the volume fraction is constrained to be within the range 0 < v f < 1, it is best to plot this map in a semi-logarithmic manner, with the axis representing fibre denier being logarithmic and the axis representing assembly fibre volume fraction being linear. A typical plot of this type is shown in Figure 2. The shaded area in the plot represents the parameters of the fibre assemblies in accordance with the present invention, that is, average fibre size smaller than 6 denier and average void volume less that 85%. The surface area of fibre per unit of assembly volume is of direct importance since it will determine the amount of insecticidal material that can be incorporated into the assembly. If the insecticidal material is deposited from solution or suspension to form a coating on some or all of the fibre surfaces, then the larger the assembly fibre surface area the more active ingredient can be deployed. In a device designed for temporary or short term use there is no particular virtue in incorporating sufficient insecticidal material to ensure longevity, but where a permanent barrier is required, as in the present membrane material, there is a strong motivation to increase the surface area of the assembly as much as is practical. The surface area/unit volume of assembly, A, is given by: A = 3.36 x 10 3 v f (p f /D) 1/2 In Figure 2, a family of curves indicating those assemblies having certain constant values of surface area have been plotted. It is immediately apparent that large surface area assemblies are found in the lower left hand portion of the plot. Note that these lines are for assemblies of constant area per given volume of assembly. Where one desires to maximize the available area for a given weight of fibre, in order to optimize the economics of the textile component of the product, one must move to the right across the lines of constant area. The second parameter that has been plotted is the average aperture dimension. It can be shown that the average distance L between crossing elements in a random assembly of fibres is given by: L = 6.23(D 1/2 /v f ) micrometer, and the dotted line in Figure 2 represents the family of assemblies having a constant value of 100 micrometers for this parameter, which is related closely to the average aperture dimension. As may be seen, the line for 100-micrometer sized apertures (1/10 mm) curves through the centre of the plot, and grazes the upper right hand corner of the rectangular area specified by the present invention. Any assembly lying above this line will have average apertures greater than this size, which is commensurate with the size of very small insect pests. The pesticidal blanket according to the present invention, in contrast, is specifically designed to offer resistance to penetration by insects, and the maximum aperture size limit of just above 1/10 mm (100 µ) at a pressure of 10 kPa (1.45 psi), which is set by the conditions in the upper right hand corner of the area defined by the current specification, guarantees such resistance, since the termites are considerably larger than such a maximum aperture. The mean aperture size has a profound influence on another important characteristic of the assembly, particularly if it is employed in the mode described in International Patent Publication No. WO 90/14004. There, the blanket is dry when it is deployed and is subsequently saturated with insecticidal solution or suspension. In order to avoid the immediate depletion of the saturated blanket by capillary transport to the adjacent soil layers, it is necessary to ensure that a considerable fraction of the interstices of the blanket are smaller than those of the soil, and this can best be achieved by utilizing fine fibres in a dense assembly that is, by moving down toward the lower left hand quadrant of the figure. It is also a matter of experience that such assemblies will show a beneficial combination of conformability and damage resistance, which will lead in turn to satisfactory performance on a building site. Figure 3 shows the foraminous, fibrous membrane or assembly 10 of Figure 1 in its ultimate position of use beneath a building 30 to be protected from subterranean insect pests. The assembly 10 is installed in an excavation prior to the construction of a building 30 therein. In Figure 3, the assembly 10 is placed on the soil 32 in the excavation. A sheet of plastic 34 is then placed atop the assembly 10, and a concrete foundation slab 36 poured thereon. The building 30 is then constructed on the slab 36.

Claims: A fibrous membrane intended for impregnation with an insecticide and subsequent burial in the soil at a building site as a barrier against subterranean pests, for example, termites, wherein the membrane comprises an assembly of fibres or filaments having an average size of less than 6 denier, characterised in that the membrane is foraminous and the assembly, when measured under a pressure of 10kPa (1.45 psi), has an average void volume of less than 85% and an average distance between the fibre crossing points of less than 100 microns (0.1 mm) so that, in use, subterranean pests, for example, termites are prevented from entering therein. A foraminous, fibrous membrane as claimed in claim 1, wherein said assembly comprises fibres of a synthetic, polymeric resin. A foraminous, fibrous membrane as claimed in claim 1, wherein said assembly comprises ceramic fibres. A foraminous, fibrous membrane as claimed in claim 1, wherein said assembly comprises metallic fibres. A foraminous, fibrous membrane as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein said membrane is impregnated with an insecticide. The use of a membrane as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5 in the soil at a building site as a barrier against subterranean pests, for example, termites. A method of protecting a building in which a membrane as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5 is installed in a building excavation prior to the construction of the building therein, the membrane being impregnated with insecticide either before, during or after its installation in the excavation.

Inventors: JEFFERY ANDREW BRUCE, SKELTON JOHN, JEFFERY, ANDREW BRUCE, SKELTON, JOHN
Applicants: ALBANY INT CORP, ALBANY INTERNATIONAL CORP.
Application year: 1993
Main classification: A01M1
IPC codes: A01N25, A01M1, E02D31, A01M29, E04B1