Insects are known to be attracted to different colored light sources. U.S. Pat. No. 4,157,629 teaches use of a specific invisible light source, namely, UV radiation, for attracting flying insects. U.S. No. Pat. No. 3,513,585 teaches a trap for trapping flying insects in which upwardly reflected light as well as upwardly radiated light from a visible flourescent lamp source is used to attract flying insects. Fleas, unlike flying insects, move by leaping or hopping from position to position by reason of being wingless and non-flying. A white electric light suspended over a pan of water has been used but has not proven effective for trapping large numbers of fleas. Because of the nature of fleas, a trap for trapping wingless, non-flying fleas must take into account many considerations that do not effect traps for trapping flying insects. Thus, a flea trap must be accessible to the fleas that hop from a source such as a carpet infested with fleas. A trap which is pcsitioned several feet in the air may be completely suitable for catching flying insects but may be totally unsuited for catching fleas.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,566,220 describes an effective yet simple flea trap upon which the present invention seeks to improve. In the flea traps of prior U.S. Pat. No. 4,566,220 a green light is used as the light source. The green light source is suspended immediately below a cover having a light reflective surface and the reflected green light as well as the directly radiated green light is directed downwardly to a shallow pan having a sticky substance and over which the light and cover are supported.
The insect trap described in my copending application Ser. No. 769,260 provided wire-formed members adapted to be flexed and grasp the pan to support the cover. Such wire-formed cover support members could also be shipped as part of a compact package. However, it has been found that since the wire-formed members had no defined grasping positions on the pan, the user has had difficulty in maintaining the cover in proper alignment. Also, while a green light has been found useful for attracting fleas, no provision was made for using other colors more attractive to other types of insects. The present invention seeks to improve on these deficiences.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds