Fly swatter
Encyclopedia : F : FL : FLY : Fly swatter
A fly swatter is an instrument consisting of a flat, flexible surface attached to a long handle, used to kill flies and other insects. Fly swatters usually resemble spatulas, but are of lighter construction, often made of plasticized wire. Also unlike a spatula, the flat part of a fly swatter must be a fine mesh, like a window screen, as flies are able to sense the pressure of a solid object (such as a hand) and easily avoid being hit.
History
In the summer of 1905, Kansas was plagued by an overabundance of flies, which, as well as causing annoyance, aided in the spread of disease. Dr. Samuel Crumbine, a member of the Kansas board of health, wanted to raise public awareness of the threat of flies. He was inspired by a chant at a Topeka softball game: "swat the ball". In a health bulletin published soon afterward, he exhorted Kansans to "swat the fly".In response, a schoolteacher named Frank H. Rose invented the "fly bat", a device consisting of a yardstick attached to a piece of screen. Crumbine rechristened the device a fly swatter.
Variations
Fly guns
The fly gun (or flygun), a derivative of the fly swatter, uses a spring-loaded plastic projectile to "swat" flies. Mounted on the projectile is a perforated circular disk which, according to advertising copy, "really does work" and "won't splat the fly".Similar products are sold elsewhere on the Internet, mostly as toys or novelty items, although their supporters maintain that they work as well as traditional fly swatters.
Electric fly swatter
The classical electric fly swatter looks like a yellow tennis raquet. It uses standard household batteries and produces a high voltage electric shock which is relatively harmless to humans and most animals (although it is still capable of producing a unpleasant sensation should a person touch the wires of the swatter), but kills flies and other insects that are large enough to straddle two of the contact wires (e.g. mosquitos). These devices work very well in practice, and allow swats to take place in the air as opposed to against a hard surface, which can be much cleaner. It should be noted that frying an insect with the swatter for an extended period will release unpleasant odors, and may cause the insect to explode as it is fried to a crisp.External links
- [Flyshooter, advertised as the "original bug gun"]
- [Kill Flies with The Amazing Flygun]
- [Fly Gun from Dr Gadget]
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.