Improved Device for Trapping Flies or like Insects or for Preventing them Passing in one Direction whilst Allowing of their Passing in another Direction.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 12th June, 1894-Accepted, 14th July, 1894
L
Improved Device for Trapping Flies or like Insects, or for Preventing
them Passing in one Direction whilst Allowing of their Passing
in another Direction.
I JAMES YATE JOHNSON of 47 Lincoln's Inn Fields in the County of London,
Gentleman do hereby declare the nature of this invention (which has been
communicated to me from abroad by Everett Hayden of Washington, District of
Columbia, United States of America, Ensign in U.S. Navy, retired) and in what
manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement :-
This invention has reference to a gate or device applicable principally to
fly-screens for doors and windows (though susceptible of other useful applications)
and which permits the free passage of flies or other insects in one direction through
the screen or wall to which it is applied but preventing their return or passage in
the opposite direction.
The device or gate consists essentially of a small tube or casing of metal or
other suitable material, herein termed the thimble, preferably in the form of a
frustum of a cone, provided with a series of bristles, filaments, fine wires or the
like, fixed at one end to the interior of the thimble near its base, and at their free
ends converging towards the middle of the other end of the thimble. These
filaments or the like are sufficiently yielding or are far enough apart at their free
ends to oppose no obstacle to the passage of the fly or insect from the base towards
the mouth of the thimble, but oppose an impassible obstacle to its return, in the
opposite direction, since the presence of the thimble surrounding the filaments or
the like compels the insect to meet the sharp ends of the latter.
It is a matter of common observation that at certain times of the day flies in an
apartment will congregate upon the inside of the screens and walk over the wire-
mesh seeking to escape. At such times the screens defeat the purpose for which
they are designed. By inserting at convenient places in the screens a number of
these gates, the insects will avail themselves of the means thus afforded to pass
through the screen, but owing to the arrangement of the filaments or the like they
cannot return.
The gate may, of course, be applied to panels, shutters, window panes, or other
surfaces, or put to boxes or enclosures of any sort which may thus serve as an
insect trap, and can be quickly put in place by inserting it in an opening of proper
size, the tapering form of the thimble facilitating this application. The invention
can also be applied to wire dish-covers as will be hereafter described.
The size, material employed and other matters of detail may be varied according
to the intended use. For application to fly-screens the thimble should be from
about of an inch to of an inch long, and have an interior diameter at the small
end of about ths of an inch.
Referring to the accompanying drawings which form part of this Specification,
Figure is a vertical section on an enlarged scale of an insect-gate constructed
according to this invention.
Figure 2 is a sectional view of the same applied to a wire screen.
Figure 3 is an elevation of the inside of a portion of a screen, and
Figure 4 illustrates the application of the invention to a wire dish-cover.
The thimble may be made in many different ways and of different materials.
As shown in Figure 1 it is composed of two tubes a a', having the ends of the
filaments or the like b clamped between them, this being a simple mode of
constructing the device. The thimble at the right hand end of Figure 2 is composed

page_text: of a single piece a, the filaments or the like 6 being soldered or otherwise' secured
to the interior wall thereof near the base.
The thimble is preferably formed with a flange c at its base, and also with an
annular grooved (Figure 1) for convenience in securing the device in a web f of
wire-gauze or other material.
In Figure 4 the gate is shewn applied to wire dish-covers to protect edibles, the
cover being in this case composed of two screens or sheets of wire gauze ff. The
thimble is applied to the outer sheet with its month pointing inward. The contents
of the dish will in this case serve as a bait to attract the flies, who will be trapped
between the two sheets ff and can be drowned or otherwise disposed of. The
inner sheet is removeable.
It is not necessary to describe other applications of the invention, which will
readily suggest themselves.
The gates can be sold as articles of manufacture complete in themselves to be
applied to any purpose for which they may be useful.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is
1. The combination with a sheet or web of wire-cloth or other material impassible
to flies and other insects, of a gate inserted in the said sheet or web and composed
of a thimble tube or casing surrounding or enclosing a series of filaments or the
like fixed at one end to the inner wall of the thimble, and converging at their free
ends, substantially as herein before described.
2. The combination with a fly screen, of a gate for permitting flies or other
insects to pass through the screen in one direction only, the said gate being
composed of a thimble tube or casing surrounding or enclosing a series of filaments
or the like fixed at one end to the thimble tube or casing and converging at their
free ends substantially as herein before described.
3. The described gate or device for permitting flies or other insects to pass freely
in one direction only, the said gate or device being composed of a thimble tube or
casing surrounding or enclosing a series of filaments or the like fixed at one end to
the inner wall of the thimble tube or casing and converging at their free ends,
substantially as herein before described.
4. The combination of the thimble tube or casing of tapering form provided with
a flange at its base, and the filaments or the like fixed at one end to the inner wall
of the thimble tube or casing and converging at their free ends towards it mouth,
substantially as hereinbefore described.
Dated this 12th day of June 1894.
JOHNSONS & WILLCOX,
Agents.