Title of Invention

'AERIAL-INSECT TRAP'

Abstract

The Aerial Insect Trap is used for quantitative and qualitative estimation of the flying insects in the field. It is comprised of an entrapment held horizontally over an upright, which provides free rotation to the entrapment and orient the opening of the entrapment always against the wind direction. The entrapment is a barrel shaped body with both of its ends open. One of the ends is fixed with a hollow truncated cone which nests inside the body of the barrel while the other end of the barrel opens into a sac. The narrow opening of the cone remains free in the barrel. The sac is permeable to air. The wind enters through the truncated cone and pass through the sac. The insects by their own flight and the small insects with the gush of the wind enter the cone and get trapped in the cavity of the barrel and sac. The trapped insects find it difficult to escape. The trapped insects are removed by untying the sac as and when required. The trap is mounted on an upright with a telescopic arrangement for adjusting the height of the entrapment. The trap catches all types of flying insects and the insect collection represent the unbiased natural population of the area when it is used, since it contains no lure in it.

Full Text

This invention relates to an Aerial-Insect Trap used to monitor the population of airborne or flying insects in the field; more particularly it relates to monitor the population of insect pests and their insect natural enemies in agro-ecosystems, forest ecosystems and the like. Prior Art To monitor the population of insects in the field, various types of insect traps are used. The most commonly used trap is the hand net or butterfly net. This is like a badminton racket in which the gut is replaced by a sac of mosquito net. The flying insect is aimed and the net is wielded so as to trap it. To monitor the insect population in the field the net is wielded in the plant/crop canopy. Some of the insects of the plant canopy get trapped which are then captured and studied. The shortcoming of this kind of net is that the insects active at the time of collection can only be caught. Different types of insects are active at different times. It is, therefore, difficult to collect all sort of flying insects available at different times at a place. Further it is difficult to estimate the population of insects by this equipment as the number of insects collected is influenced by the number of times for which the net is wielded and the part of canopy in which it is wielded. Light trap is yet another types of aerial-insect trap. This is kept in the field during night. Phototropic insects are attracted towards it and hover around the source of light. Just below this is positioned the funnel shaped device with obstructive flanges in it. The hovering insects get hit by the flanges and fall into the funnel from where they get dropped in the killing jar. The shortcoming of this device is that it traps only the phototropic insects. One cannot use it for other kind of flying insects. Further the number of insects caught does not reflect the true insect density as the light source act as lure and insect number gets biased. Pheromone traps, yellow sticky traps and the like are other types of traps used for some specific type of insects only. It is the object of the present invention to provide an improved aerial-insect trap, which would obviate the draw back of the other insect traps available till date. Accordingly the present invention provides a barrel shaped structure open from both ends. On one end of this structure is fixed an air-permeable sac. The other end of the barrel is fitted with a cone section so that the barrel nests the cone section inside it. The narrow end of the cone section remains free in the interior of the barrel. The arrangement acts as an entrapment for the insects, which get collected in the cavity of barrel and the sac. The entire structure is firmly held in the horizontal position by two semicircular metallic stripes, which girdles around the barrel. The lower ends of the stripes are fixed to the outer ring of ball bearing by screws. The inner ring of the ball bearing is integrally fixed at the top of a telescopic upright. The telescopic upright is rigidly planted in the ground. The ball bearing helps in orienting the trap against the direction of wind. The flying insects (and the passive fliers such as aphids, thrips and the like) enter the entrapment through the cone section and get trapped in it. Objective of the Invention The present Aerial Insect trap will be used to monitor the population dynamics of aerial insects in agro-ecosystems, forest ecosystems and the like. The monitoring of population of both harmful insects (pests) and useful ones (natural enemies of pests i.e. parasites and predators) are prerequisite for making decisions about the time and nature of pest management interventions. Since different insects are active at different times, the trap, which entraps insects whenever they are active in the field, can only serve the purpose. Description of the invention Referring to figure one, the trap is composed of two parts, an entrapment and an upright. The entrapment is comprised of a barrel shaped structure 1 open at both the ends. The one end of this barrel, at its outer periphery, is fitted with a ring 2, which encircles the barrel exterior tightly. The ring holds open end of a sac 3 in its grip when tied with the help of a string in such a way that the barrel opening is in continuation of the sac cavity 4. The sac is soft and permeable to air. The other end of the barrel is provided with flange projected outward, thus forming an annular rim 6 around the barrel opening. A truncated hollow cone 7 is nested inside the barrel. The broader end of the cone too is provided with flange projected outward, thus forming an annular rim. The annular rim of the truncated cone fits well over the flange of the barrel as shown in the figure one. The two flanges are held fast with nuts and bolts thus nesting the cone inside the barrel. In this position both the opening of barrel and both the openings of truncated cone are concentrically aligned. The narrow opening of the cone section opens into the cavity of the barrel by an opening 9. The narrow end of the cone section is held free in the interior of the entrapment. The inner surface 7a of the cone 7 is textured smooth so that it does not offer any grip to the insects when they come in contact with the surface. The outer surface 7b is also textured smooth so that the trapped insects find themselves difficult to crawl on it. The upright consists of an iron pipe 10, the lower end of which is sharp elongated cone shaped 11. This cone shape of the lower end helps implanting the upright in the ground. There is another pipe 12, which can move freely inside the pipe 10. The outer diameter of the inner pipe 12 is only slightly less than the inner diameter of outer pipe 10 so that easy movement of the inner pipe inside the outer pipe is possible. The outer pipe 10 is provided with paired holes 13. The inner pipe too is provided with several paired holes 13a. By aligning the paired holes of outer pipe with any of the paired holes of inner pipe, the peg 14 is inserted in the holes. The telescopic movement of these two pipes and the series of paired holes in the inner pipe provide for the adjustment of the height of the upright. The upper end of the pipe 12 is integrally fixed to the inner ring 15 of the ball bearing as shown in figure two. The outer ring 16 of the ball bearing is fixed to the two semicircular stripes 17 and 18 with the help of screws. The semicircular stripes form a girdle around the body of the barrel 1. The two stripes 17 and 18 are projected upwards as 17a, 18a and provided with the nut and bolt 19, which helps tightening the stripes around the barrel. The entrapment is firmly held horizontally in the grip of two semicircular stripes 17 and 18, The place of the grip is slightly away from the middle of the barrel towards the cone section. The ball bearing offers free rotation of the entrapment on the pipe 12. The trap is installed in the field wherever one would like to monitor the population of flying insects. In crop fields it is hoisted just above the plant canopy to monitor the population dynamics of all kinds of flying insects throughout the crop season. The wind thrust exerted on entrapment will be more towards the sac thus orienting the entrapment always against the direction of the wind, in other words the entrapment is oriented in such a way that the wind enters the broad end of the truncated hollow cone. The flying insects enter the cone by their flight or by the gush of wind and get entrapped in the body cavity of the barrel and the sac, the moment they enter the narrow opening of the cone 9. The trapped insects are collected in the sac, which are removed by untying the string. Another sac is tied to the barrel. Thus the insects are collected in the sac for examination. The precise advantages of this aerial-insect trap according to present invention are: 1. This trap can be used for quantitative and qualitative estimation of flying insects in the field. 2. Since there is no kind of lure used in the trap insect population represent the unbiased natural population in the area where it is used. 3. It collects insects available all time of day and night, thus population dynamics of aerial insects of an area can be easily studied. 4. The observation can be made at any time interval with any frequency as per requirement or convenience. 5. The trap catches both harmful (pests) and useful insects (parasites and predators) in the field, which are collected, live by replacing the sac with great is for examination. The information is vital for pest management decisions. 6. It is zero energy trap. References: Frost, S.W. 1957a The Pennsylvania insect light trap J. econ. Ent. 50, 287-92 Frost, S.W. 1958b Traps and lights to catch night-flying insects. Proc. X int. Congr. Ent. 2, 583-7 Frost, S.W. 1958c Insects attracted to light trap placed at different heights. J. econ. Ent. 51, 550-1 Hollingsworth, J.P., Hartsock, J.G. and Stanley, J.M., 1963. Electrical insect traps for survey purpose. U.S.D.A. Agric. Res. Serv. (ARS) 42-3-1, 10 pp. Lewis, W.J., Snow, J.W. and Jones, R.L. 1971. A pheromone trap for studying populations of Cardiochiles nigricaps, a parasite of Heliothis virescens. J. econ. Ent. 64, 147-21. We claim: 1. The aerial insect trap comprising of an entrapment and an upright; the entrapment comprising of: - a barrel shaped body (1) with an annular rim (6) on one end and a ring (2) at the other end; - a hollow cone section (7a&7b) nesting inside the barrel so that its one end is held fast to the annular rim and the other narrow end held free inside the barrel; - a sac (3) held fast to the ring with a string thus enclosing the barrel cavity; - the sac is made up of flexible material permeable to air; the upright comprising of; - a ball bearing, the outer ring (16) of which, is securely fixed to the two semicircular clamps (17&18) characterized in the invention which hold fast the entrapment firmly and horizontally in such a way so as to always orient the trap facing wind direction; - the inner ring of ball bearing is integrally fixed to the upper end of the telescopic pipes (15) which offer free rotation of the trap; - the height of entrapment can be maintained at desired level by inserting peg (14) in the paired holes provided in the telescopic pipes; 2. The insect trap of claim 1 wherein the said barrel being rigid. 3. The insect trap of claim 1 wherein the annular rim of the barrel and the cone section are outwardly flanged. 4. The insect trap of claim 1 wherein the said ring holds one end of sac. 5. The insect trap of claim 1 wherein the inside and the outside surfaces of the cone are smooth. 6. The insect trap of claim 1 wherein the inner ring of the ball bearing is integrally fixed with the upright pipe while the outer ring is provided with two semicircular stripes screwed on it. 7. The insect trap of claim 1 wherein the said two semicircular stripes are fixed on the top of the ball-bearing with the help of screws (19) to hold fast the entrapment. 8. The insect trap of claim 1 wherein the said entrapment is horizontally held fast by two semicircular stripes from slightly of the middle of barrel towards the cone. 9. The insect trap of claim 1 wherein the height of the entrapment is adjustable by the telescoping pipes of the upright and the plurality of the paired holes (13a) provided in the inner pipe. 10. The insect trap of the claim 1 wherein the said outer pipe of upright has got an elongated cone (11) at its lower end to facilitate the implanting of the trap in the field.

Documents:

1118-del-2001-abstract.pdf

1118-del-2001-claims.pdf

1118-del-2001-correspondence-others.pdf

1118-del-2001-correspondence-po.pdf

1118-del-2001-description (complete).pdf

1118-del-2001-drawings.pdf

1118-del-2001-form-1.pdf

1118-del-2001-form-19.pdf

1118-del-2001-form-2.pdf