A device that uses the same kind of echolocation used by bats to detect flying insects entering the vicinity of a window.
Upon recognizing any U.F.O. smaller than a hummingbird within a 1-ft radius of the window it's mounted over, the device sprays a powerful bug repellent/poison to repel/kill any insect that is immediately near or on the window or window screen.-- 21 Quest, Nov 22 2006 Here's one that should quell your fears about nature-harming chemicals http://www.onlynatu...e-Spray/999034.aspxIf you do a basic google search for "powerful organic bug spray", you'll find a lot of results. [21 Quest, Nov 22 2006] Insect - Bat-call Interaction http://www.accessmy...y_0286-27114056_ITM [loonquawl, May 11 2009] Really bad idea 21Q. What about the bugs that are helpful to gardening, say lady bugs? And the fact that we don't need more chemicals sprayed anywhere.-- Chefboyrbored, Nov 22 2006 //What about the bugs that are helpful to gardening//
I don't have a garden, and if I did, they'd be welcome to stay in the garden, not in my house. In my house, I get a lot of mosquitos and stinging insects. If I have to kill a few ladybugs to keep the bad ones out, so be it. It's not like people aren't going to spray the things anyway if they see the bugs.
(note: ladybugs bite during their mating season, not so helpful)-- 21 Quest, Nov 22 2006 There are window screens.-- Zimmy, Nov 22 2006 And if there's even a tiny hole in the screen or if the screen is even a little loose-fitting, a wasp or mosquito can crawl through or around it. Put a fan in front of the window blowing out to prevent in-spray, and you can leave the windows open, too.-- 21 Quest, Nov 22 2006 I don't think you need to spray the bugs. Possibly better up keep of your yard is the problem. Which if you don't have the ability to do so (handicap, worn out, MR ect..) I can see the use of your idea. There are plenty of earth friendly ways to get rid of bugs. Zappers, planting certain flowers, filling in swamp areas or even organic sprays. I guess the only thing that really bugs me about the idea is that you want to spray powerful bug repellent.-- Chefboyrbored, Nov 22 2006 //organic sprays//
Who says you can't use a powerful organic spray? Not all organic sprays are harmful to the environment.-- 21 Quest, Nov 22 2006 My advice is just lay very still and let them bite you. Then you will fall asleep in the knowledge of helping another one of natures children to a good meal.-- zeno, Nov 22 2006 I wonder if mosquitoes can hear the bat's echo location & run away? Probably not.-- Zimmy, Nov 22 2006 Very interesting. I hope someone will investigate.-- jmvw, Nov 22 2006 I would think if that were the case, the bats would starve.-- 21 Quest, Nov 22 2006 Too simple. The idea needs to be more complex and less practical.
Special commercially grown bats, on short leashes outside your windows. A service comes by and changes them out every week.-- normzone, Nov 22 2006 //I wonder if mosquitoes can hear the bat's echo location & run away?//
Don't know about mosquitoes but apparently Praying Mantises, (or is it Manti?), have a single organ on their thorax for just this purpose.-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Nov 25 2006 Actually, if that is the case, then this will be even more effective. Rather than killing the bugs, they'll run away from the window. The spray handles anything that doesn't run.-- 21 Quest, Nov 25 2006 /ladybugs bite, so not helpful/ ? Guard dogs bite too, does that make them unhelpful?
If you said "so I don't like them", then I'd concede that you had a point. It's a small thing, but hey, I've a small mind.-- david_scothern, Nov 25 2006 I meant, not so helpful to me. I don't have a garden, so they're not helping me out at all. If you're more concerned about protecting the bugs than getting eaten by mosquitos, you don't need to get one of these things.
And properly trained guard dogs only bite in situations when their training tells them it is necessary, so *my* guard dog's not going to bite me, nor is somebody else's in my home. Let's see you train a ladybug.-- 21 Quest, Nov 25 2006 "The idea needs to be more complex and less practical"
"we don't need more chemicals sprayed anywhere"
So, how about a high-power laser grid, or even remote laser turrets targetted according to the sonar? We could mount the system in the room, so that any six-legged bogey that makes it past the perimeter defences will get vaporized in the convergence of 20 lasers (each one of which is low enough in power to do no harm to targets hit individually, beyond or in front of the point of focus).
Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzz POP-- swyves, Nov 25 2006 ////I wonder if mosquitoes can hear the bat's echo location & run away?//
Don't know about mosquitoes but//
I do not know about mosquitoes either, but moths have something similar, and are able to differentiate the usual calls of a bat from the ones it uses when homing in on it's prey (the 'clicks' are fired ever faster as the bat approaches).
On recognizing the threat, the moths go into a dive.-- loonquawl, May 11 2009 I'm confused about the level of negativity this idea has received in the form of votes. Nobody has given even one valid reason this wouldn't work or shouldn't be invented. Norm said it's too simple. Is simplicity now considered grounds for fishboning? Really?-- 21 Quest, May 11 2009 [21], simplicity is not an influence on the vote in my book. I just like complicated ideas, especially when I don't have to fix them.
I'd wager it's the words "powerful" and "poison" in the same sentence that are working against you.
If you'd left it at "effective repellent" you'd probably have done better in the votes.
I'm going off to start my own marketing company now ;-)-- normzone, May 11 2009 I said repellent/poison. There's a bit of a difference there.-- 21 Quest, May 11 2009 I didn't vote, but yes, like [norm] suggests, I imagine the bones are due to the general negative perceptions around insect sprays. An emotional reaction, and as such, a difficult one to revert with rational argument - no matter how well made.
It's too late now, but something cute and non-harmful - like a fine mist, about which you might have made up some bollocks about being an aerosol mixture of widow's tears (shed over husbands lost to malaria) in order to give it a (completely cynical)sense of poetry and pathos might have helped (or not).-- zen_tom, May 12 2009 halfbakery