Patent Application: US-201414456101-A

Abstract:
a trap for spiders and other insects is provided . the trap is especially useful for catching brown recluse spiders , whose bites are extremely harmful . the trap need not utilize chemical attractants or other behavior - modifying environmentally harmful chemicals , or food bait or lights to attract the spiders . in embodiments , the internal volume of the trap is shaped as a triangular prism with open triangular faces and openings in the front . at least a portion of the floor is coated with bug adhesive . the trap can be packaged as a kit including a flat sheet that can be folded a three - dimensional shape . in a useful embodiment the front includes spaced vertical struts . methods and kits for making using the traps are also provided .

Description:
a prism is a shape made of two parallel faces that are polygons of the same shape and sides that are parallelograms . a triangular prism is a prism with triangular faces , e . g ., as shown in fig1 . a pyramid is a shape with a base that is a polygon and triangular sides . the term “ vertical ” as used herein with respect to trap walls means extending in an upward direction from the floor at any angle . the term “ back ” as used herein with respect to the traps hereof refers to a wall having the least number of openings of any other wall of the trap . the term “ front ” as used with respect to the traps hereof refers to a vertical wall which is approximately or directly opposite to the back wall if the trap has four or more faces , or if the trap has three faces , it can refer to either adjacent wall . the term “ floor ” as used with respect to the traps hereof refers to a horizontal portion of the bottom of the trap . the term “ top ” “ bottom ,” “ upward ,” “ downward ,” “ above ” and “ below ” are used herein in their usual meaning relative to the force of gravity when a trap is placed with its floor perpendicular to the force of gravity . the term “ side ” as used with respect to the traps hereof refers to any face of the internal volume of the trap that is not a front , back or floor . the term “ open ” as used with respect to a face of the trap means that there is no wall on that face . “ substantially open ” as used herein with respect to the front of the trap means that solid portions of the front of the trap are disposed so as to be directly over no more than about 50 % to about 75 % of the area of the floor . the “ internal volume ” of the trap is the three - dimensional shape enclosed by the walls of the trap , and if one or more sides are “ open ,” that is , are without walls , the internal volume of the trap is defined by the edges of the walls adjoining the “ open ” walls . the term “ substantially preventing disengagement of a spider leg ” as used with respect to the capability of bug adhesives used herein means that in at least about 75 % of cases in which a brown recluse spider &# 39 ; s leg is stuck to the adhesive , the spider will not be able to pull the leg free . the brown recluse spider , l . reclusa , is sometimes referred to as the violin or fiddleback spider because of the violin - shaped marking on its dorsum . although bites are rare , the venom can cause serious wounds and infestations should be taken seriously . the brown recluse spider is most common in the south and central states of the united states , especially in missouri , kansas , arkansas , louisiana , eastern texas , and oklahoma . however , the spider has been found in several large cities outside this range . brown recluse ( l . reclusa ) spiders prefer dry , dark , undisturbed places , although they do wander in search of mates and prey items . although reclusive and shy , they have shown a preference for certain surfaces , such as cardboard , newspaper , and lumber , and other loxosceles species have shown similar preferences ( fischer et al . 2005 ). of these choices , cardboard was used in the example hereof as the most practical and most inexpensive choice for trap construction . while there are limited options for chemical - free arachnid pest control , glue - traps are one suitable alternative to pesticides . four novel trap shape designs and one popular glue trap already on the market were tested to determine if one ( or more ) of the new designs were more likely to catch brown recluse spiders than the existing design . although this type of trap was most efficient for capturing l . reclusa , it can pose risks in homes with children and pets for obvious reasons . among the traps with coverings , the vertical strut trap was most preferred by the spiders , and recommended for homeowners with children and pets . in the specific embodiments depicted in the figures , it is to be understood that the specific dimensions and relative dimensions of the traps are not essential features of the traps . the specific and relative dimensions can be feely varied to form a wide range of embodiments within the general parameters specified herein . in embodiments , a kit for making a trap for spiders and other insects is provided comprising the following components : a flat sheet of a foldable wood product comprising : a back section optionally comprising a slit ; a floor section integral with said back section at least partially coated with bug adhesive covered with peel - off paper ; a front section integral with said floor section , said floor section comprising openings therein ; a tab section integral with said front section sized and shaped , in use , to be folded over the top of the back section , said tab section optionally comprising at least a partial coating of contact adhesive covered with peel - off paper ; or said tab section optionally being sized and shaped so as , in use , to fit into said slit in said back section ; and instructions for configuring said flat sheet into a three - dimensional spider trap . a method of making the kit is also comprising : providing a flat sheet comprising front , floor , back and tab sections ; coating at least a portion of said floor section with bug adhesive ; covering at least said coated floor section with peel - off paper ; optionally coating said tab section with contact adhesive and covering said coated tab section with peel - off paper ; preparing instructions for peeling off said peel - off paper and folding said flat sheet into a three - dimensional spider trap , wherein said instructions are printed on said flat sheet or provided separately ; and packaging said flat sheet and instructions for sale . a method for making a three - dimensional spider trap from such a kit is also provided comprising : removing said peel - off paper from said bug adhesive on said floor section ; folding said back section upward and inward with respect to said floor section to form the trap back ; folding said front section upward and inward with respect to said floor section to form the trap front ; folding said tab section inward and downward with respect to said trap front to fold over the top of said trap back ; and securing said tab to the top of said trap back by : inserting it into said optional slit on the trap back ; or peeling said optional contact adhesive from said tab and sticking said tab to the top of the back edge of said front . further provided herein is a method for catching a brown recluse spider comprising : identifying a location where brown recluse spiders are likely to be living ; disposing a trap of claim 1 in said area ; and allowing said trap to remain in said area until one or more spiders have become stuck to the bug adhesive coating on said trap . to determine whether brown recluse spiders are likely to be living in an area , the following factors should be considered : the area should be defined as the approximate area a brown recluse spider will typically roam over ; whether or not a brown recluse spider has been spotted in the area ; whether a bite suspected of being a brown recluse spider bite has been experienced by a person in the area ; whether the area is located in a geographical region known to be a brown recluse spider habitat ; whether the area is an area where humans are likely to go ; whether the area provides wood - derived materials as likely brown recluse spider habitats ; whether the area provides piles of clothing or rubble likely to provide suitable habitats for brown recluse spiders , and other factors known to the art . the traps can be left in the area until brown recluse spiders have been captured , or if no spiders are captured within a period of about 14 days , it can be assumed the area is not a significant brown recluse spider habitat . the traps hereof can also be used to estimate the brown recluse spider population in an area by placing them in an area and counting the number of spiders caught therein over a selected period of time . fig1 shows a generalized side view of spider traps 10 hereof shown in fig2 - 4 . in the embodiment shown in fig1 , back 12 has a height of 6 . 83 inches . floor 16 has a width of 6 . 99 inches . sides 14 can be present as solid walls , or can be completely or partially open or absent . they are triangular in shape and have a height of 6 . 83 and a width of 6 . 99 inches . the angle α between back 12 and front 18 , and the angle φ between floor 16 and front 18 in the embodiment illustrated are about 45 °, and the angle θ between floor 16 and back 12 is about 90 °. front 18 lies on a plane extending from the top of back 12 to the front of floor 16 . fig2 - 4 depict traps hereof in which fronts 18 comprise openings of varying shapes and sizes . the solid portions of front 18 can be formed as a single piece or made from separate pieces attached to each other . sides 14 are open rather than being walls in the embodiments depicted in fig2 - 4 . fig2 shows a perspective view of spider trap 10 hereof having an x - shaped or hourglass strut design . the hourglass design is one embodiment of the x - shaped design that includes narrow vertical struts 25 along each vertical edge of front 18 . the x - shaped design can include vertical struts 24 , or such vertical struts can be absent . in the embodiment depicted , back 12 has a height of 6 . 67 inches , a length of 13 . 49 inches and a width of 6 . 99 inches . front 18 , which is rectangular in shape , has a length of 13 . 49 inches and a width of 9 . 53 inches . floor 16 , coated with a bug adhesive 28 , is visible in this view . solid portion 22 of front 18 comprises triangular openings 20 bounded by solid portions 22 . in the embodiment shown , the solid portions forming the “ x ” have a width of 0 . 795 inches and are connected to or integral with narrow vertical struts 25 . fig3 shows a perspective view of spider trap 10 hereof having a vertical strut design . floor 16 , coated with bug adhesive 28 ( shown as dotted lines ) is visible in this view . vertical openings 20 a are defined by the solid portion of front 18 which is composed of separate full - length vertical struts 24 . in the embodiment shown , back 12 has a height of 6 . 67 inches and a length of 13 . 49 inches . floor 16 has a width of 6 . 99 inches and a length of 13 . 49 inches . in the embodiment shown , two narrow vertical struts 25 are disposed at the left and right ends of trap 10 , and three wider vertical struts 24 are evenly spaced between them , defining vertical openings 20 a . the vertical struts 24 depicted have a length of 8 . 26 inches and a width of 0 . 25 inches and extend from the top of back 12 to the front of floor 16 . fig4 shows a perspective view of spider trap 10 hereof in which front 18 comprises partial - length vertical struts 24 a , connected at their lower ends to horizontal bar 26 . floor 16 , coated with bug adhesive 28 is visible in this view . partial - length vertical struts 24 a define vertical openings 20 a . horizontal bar 26 is disposed along the bottom of vertical slates 24 a , and spaced apart from the front edge of floor 16 so as to define horizontal opening 20 b . in the embodiment shown , back 12 has a height of 6 . 66 inches and a width of 13 . 49 inches . floor 16 has a width of 6 . 99 inches and a length of 13 . 49 inches . front 18 has a length of 13 . 49 inches and a width of 9 . 53 inches . horizontal bar 26 has a width of 0 . 795 inches and horizontal opening 20 b has a width ( vertical height ) of 2 . 54 inches . fig5 shows a perspective view of a prior art catchmaster ™ flat trap design comprising a flat , rectangular substrate 30 on which bug adhesive 28 is coated . in the embodiment shown , substrate 30 has a length of 13 . 49 inches and a width of 6 . 99 inches . fig6 shows a perspective view of a prior art catchmaster ™ box trap design used as a control for evaluating the trap designs depicted in fig2 - 4 . in the embodiment shown , the back of the trap has a height of 3 . 49 inches , a length of 13 . 34 inches . the front of the trap has a height of 2 . 54 inches and a length of 13 . 54 inches . fig7 illustrates a commercial version of trap 10 hereof that can be packaged and sold in the form of a flat sheet and folded by the customer into a three - dimensional conformation along the horizontal lines depicted between the trap sections . trap 10 can be mounted on a packaging board 36 for sale . the trap comprises a back section 12 , a floor section 16 , and a front section 18 . floor section 16 is coated with bug adhesive 28 , depicted by dotted lines , and then covered with peel - off paper 32 . front section 18 comprises full - length vertical struts 24 separated by vertical openings 20 a . fold - over tab 34 runs horizontally along the bottom of vertical struts 24 and is coated with contact adhesive 29 and covered with peel - off paper 32 . to use trap 10 shown in fig1 , the customer removes it from packaging board 36 , and removes peel - off paper 32 from floor 16 and fold - over tab 34 . the customer folds back 12 upward and inward to about a 90 ° angle and folds front 18 inward and upward so that the top of front 18 is adjacent to the top of back 12 , leaving floor 16 horizontal and allowing tab 34 to extend beyond the top of back 12 . the customer then folds tab 34 down so that contact adhesive 29 thereon secures it to the top of the outside edge of back 12 . this creates a three - dimensional trap structure which can be placed in a suitable area for trapping spiders . it was hypothesized that glue traps employing cardboard would be suitable for attracting and trapping loxosceles reclusa spiders . the motivation of this study was to determine improved three - dimensional shape ( s ) of cardboard traps for catching brown recluse spiders . although reclusive and shy , l . reclusa have shown a preference for certain surfaces , such as cardboard , newspaper , lumber , and other loxosceles species have shown similar preferences ( fischer et al . 2005 ). of these choices , cardboard was chosen as the most practical and inexpensive choice for trap construction . the effectiveness of several three - dimensional glue - trap shapes for trapping loxosceles reclusa gertsch and mulaik ( araneae : sicariidae ), was investigated using four novel glue - trap shape designs , which were compared to an existing design currently on the market . these four novel and one standard shape designs were tested using pairwise comparisons . the most effective trap design was a flat glue - trap with no covering . the next most - effective trap was a trap with a front face comprising full - length parallel vertical struts . the trap comprising partial - length vertical struts with a horizontal bar was the third most effective embodiment . all l . reclusa used in this study were caught in central or south - central missouri , usa . while in the laboratory , they were fed a diet consisting of domestic house crickets ( achetus domesticus ) and various species of shorthorned grasshoppers . a mixture of adult and juveniles spiders were used . glue - trap designs were made using modified catchmaster ™ glue traps ( catchmaster . com ) cut into 6 . 67 × 13 . 49 cm rectangles and laser - produced cardboard cutouts from the center for rapid product realization at western carolina university . the experimental roofed traps used 0 . 03 ″ non - corrugated chipboard pad cardboard ( uline , uline . com ) laser cut to the specifications shown in fig1 - 4 . there were a total of five trap designs : flat ( 6 . 67 × 13 . 49 cm rectangle with no cardboard attached , fig5 ), and traps with fronts having x - shaped ( hourglass ) struts ( fig2 ) full - length vertical struts ( fig3 ), partial - length vertical struts with a horizontal bar near the bottom ( fig4 ), and regular catchmaster ™ traps ( fig6 ), which were used as the control . the base of the trap was the same ( 6 . 67 × 13 . 49 cm rectangle ) in each of the five designs . for a paired comparison of traps , two spiders of the same gender and / or age group ( males with males , females with females , juveniles with juveniles ) were placed into a plastic bin measuring 30 . 48 × 45 . 72 × 30 . 48 cm and left to acclimate for approximately 12 hours . at that point , two traps of different designs were placed in the bin , one on either end , about 2 . 54 cm from the wall . spiders were left for another 12 hours , and at the conclusion of that period , it was noted in which trap , if any , the spiders were caught . each trap pairing was tested at least 50 times . only spiders that did not choose a trap during their first experiment were used again . the experimental comparisons were performed in a laboratory setting to cut down on external stimuli that might have influenced trap choice , such as odors , air currents , temperature , etc . a bradley - terry model was fitted for paired comparisons in sas © 9 . 2 ( sas . com ) with proc logistic and proc genmod , where ties ( spider prefers neither trap ) are removed . the deviance and pearson goodness - of - fit statistics in proc logistic yield p - values of 0 . 09 and 0 . 10 respectively , the hosmer - lemeshow p - value is 0 . 21 , and the lagrange multiplier statistic for non - intercept in proc genmod yields a p - value of 0 . 03 , which suggests that there may be a problem with the fit of the bradley - terry model . the estimated preference probabilities obtained from the fitted model are listed in table 1 . the probabilities suggest the following ordering of the five traps for catching l . reclusa ( least preferable to most preferable ): control & lt ; x trap & lt ; horizontal bar trap & lt ; vertical strut trap & lt ; flat trap . in addition to the possible problem with the model mentioned above , there was a fairly high percentage of ties in the data set ( table 2 ). as a result , an extended bradley - terry analysis that adjusted for ties was implemented in sas . here , a tie was interpreted to mean that each trap receives one - half of a choice . for example , assume that 50 trials were performed for a pair of traps , and the first trap was chosen 23 times , the second trap was chosen 22 times , and neither trap was chosen 5 times . in the adjustment for ties , pseudo - data were generated , where the first and second traps were chosen 25 . 5 and 24 . 5 times , respectively . turner and firth ( 2012 ) find that this simple and intuitive approach to handling ties works well in practice and generally yields results very similar to those obtained from much more sophisticated analyses , which have the disadvantage of being much harder to implement and interpret . a bradley - terry model for paired comparisons was fit with the pseudo - data values in sas . the deviance and pearson goodness of - fit statistics in proc logistic yielded p - values of 0 . 17 and 0 . 18 respectively , the hosmer - lemeshow p - value was 0 . 35 , and the lagrange multiplier statistic for non - intercept in proc genmod yielded a p - value of 0 . 06 . obtaining insignificant p - values for each of the four goodness - of - fit procedures suggests that the extended bradley - terry model fits the data well . the estimated preference probabilities obtained from the adjusted analysis are listed in table 3 . the probabilities yielded the following ordering of the five traps for catching l . reclusa ( least preferable to most preferable ): control & lt ; x trap & lt ; horizontal bar trap & lt ; vertical strut trap & lt ; flat trap . in summary , analyses that excluded ties and analyses that included ties agreed on the same ordering of the traps . the flat trap was chosen more than the other traps in the pairwise comparisons ( table 4 ). however , the flat trap was the least user - friendly trap of those tested , since there was no barrier to prevent accidental glue contact from non - arthropod victims such as children , pets , etc . the other traps had some type of cardboard “ roof ” over the glue part , serving as a physical deterrent for unwary or inquisitive animals and / or children . the standard , unmodified control trap design performed poorly against all of the modified designs , even though it had a much larger glue perimeter ( 55 . 88 cm ) and glue surface area . exposed glue perimeters for the x , all vertical , vertical with horizontal bar , and flat traps were 18 . 42 , 17 . 78 , 19 . 69 , and 36 . 83 cm , respectively . perimeter comparisons can yield only a partial explanation for the differences in trap selection , because the flat trap had 53 % more exposed perimeter than the other modified traps , yet it was chosen 14 % more often than the horizontal bar trap design . it also outperformed the control trap , which had 66 % more exposed perimeter than the flat trap . also , the cardboard backs and struts on the other three modified traps may have facilitated spider escape , as there was no glue on those areas . the experimental roofed traps were constructed of chipboard cardboard , a different material than the commercial roofed traps , so the different results obtained with the experimental traps vs . the commercial traps cannot be ascribed solely to different design shapes . the objective of this study was to compare the performance of the vertical spider trap of the present invention with three commercial glue traps , catchmaster ( spider and insect trap , www . catchmaster . com / wpcproduct / mouse - insect - glue - boards /), pic ( gmt - 2f mouse glue board , www . amazon . com / pic - gmt - 2f - mouse - board - 2 - pack / dp / b0037z1f9a ), and tomcat ( glue board , www . tomcatbrand . com / glue_boards . html ). materials and methods were as described in example 1 except that the present vertical trap was tested against the three competing flat traps and 100 trials were conducted . in 41 of the 100 trials no spider was caught . results are provided in table 5 . the foregoing illustrates spider traps hereof and methods and kits for making them , as well as methods of catching spiders and reducing spider populations in indoor areas . the descriptions , examples and illustrations provided are not intended as an exhaustive description of every possible embodiment covered by the claims . art - known and obvious equivalents to elements , components structures , parameters , and method steps are included within the scope of this invention which is defined by the attached claims . u . s . pat . no . 4 , 048 , 747 , f v shanahan et al ., issued sep . 20 , 1977 for baseboard trap for crawling insects . u . s . pat . no . 4 , 052 , 811 , e b shuster , issued dec . 11 , 1977 for insect catching device . u . s . pat . no . 4 , 244 , 134 , h j otterson , issued jan . 13 , 1981 for disposable pest trap . u . s . pat . no . 4 , 324 , 062 , f a schneider , issued apr . 13 , 1982 for human insect trap for the live capture of spiders and the like . u . s . pat . no . 4 , 608 , 774 , da sherman , issued sep . 2 , 1986 for construction for roach traps . u . s . pat . no . 4 , 819 , 371 , hl cohen , issued apr . 11 , 1989 for insect traps . ep 0 659 339 b1 , nitto denko , published jun . 28 , 1995 , for adhesive insect trapping housing . u . s . pat . no . 5 , 513 , 465 , s w demarest , et al ., issued may 7 , 1996 for method and apparatus for catching insects . wo 9615664 , d g anderson , published may 30 , 1996 , for light trap for insects . u . s . pat . no . 5 , 572 , 825 , m j gehret , issued nov . 12 , 1996 for glue trap . u . s . pat . no . 5 , 649 , 385 m j acevedo , issued jul . 22 , 1997 for insect trap and method . u . s . pat . no . 6 , 786 , 001 , agsp piper et al . issued sep . 7 , 2004 for insect trap . us2005 / 0138858 , w . lyng published jun . 30 , 2005 for trap for crawling insects . us2005 / 0279016 , w . lyng published dec . 22 , 2005 for floating aquatic emergence trap . ep 2 347 759 a2 , de vgen , n v , published jul . 27 , 2011 for methods for controlling pests using rnai . u . s . pat . no . 8 , 341 , 873 , s . frisch , issued jan . 1 , 2013 for portable insect trap . brown recluse spider traps p . 5 , www . brown - 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