Bedbug protection device for tubular bed legs

Abstract

Bed bug protection device intended to prevent bed bugs from climbing onto bed legs. The invention consists of a flat part (1) with a central hole equipped with a seal system (3). This seal allows the device to be held perpendicular to the bed leg without any other tightening arrangements. This watertight seal also prevents bed bugs from passing between the bed leg and the device. The smooth lower face (5) of the device forms a physical barrier for the bed bug. The upper face can accommodate various detection and trapping systems. The device according to the invention is particularly intended to equip the legs of tubular beds and bunk bed structures.

Description

Title of the invention: Bedbug protection device for tubular bed legs

[0001] The present invention relates to a bedbug protection device suitable for tubular bed legs and bunk bed structures.

[0002] The present invention also makes it possible to protect any type of furniture equipped with tubular legs against bedbugs. Technological background of the invention

[0003] Public places such as residential care centers, hospitals and other medical facilities, university residences and retirement homes, as well as barracks and prisons, are particularly exposed to bedbug infestations. Most of these establishments are equipped with beds or bunk bed structures with tubular legs.

[0004] Bedbugs had been virtually extinct since 1950. They made a comeback in the 1990s, following the increase in international travel and the banning of certain pesticides. Bedbugs are now a major public health problem in many countries and can infest all types of housing.

[0005] Bed bugs feed on human blood and live close to their victims. They measure between 1.5 and 7 mm long and are oval and flattened. Their body is segmented into three parts: the head, the thorax and the abdomen. Their head is small and equipped with two antennae. Bed bugs have six short, thin legs with claws that allow them to move quickly. Bed bugs do not have wings. They cannot jump. Their body is covered with hairs that cling to surfaces. Their morphology does not allow them to climb vertically on smooth walls.

[0006] Bed bugs are normally inert during the day. They move mainly at night and seek shelter from the light before dawn. Bed bugs are able to infiltrate through cracks as small as half a millimeter. They are almost blind. However, laboratory tests have shown that bed bugs are attracted to vertical structures such as bed legs.

[0007] When all the usual precautions are taken, bedbugs cannot stay in the bedding. They find a hiding place around the bed. The feet of the bed then become an obligatory passage to reach their prey. Protecting the feet of the bed is therefore a major issue in the fight against bedbug infestations.

[0008] This protection is traditionally carried out with open-air devices placed under the bed legs or between the bed legs and the box spring. Some devices trap bed bugs with sticky or micro-abrasive and desiccant materials such as diatomaceous earth. Other devices use smooth vertical walls to prevent the insect from climbing onto the bed legs and / or to trap it at the bottom of a rut.

[0009] Whether placed under the bed legs or under the bed base, these open-air devices are very sensitive to dust deposits and micro-dust. However, dust renders vertical sliding devices and sticky devices ineffective. Dust forms a surface layer that allows bedbugs to climb, including on the originally smoothest surfaces. By settling on sticky or abrasive surfaces, dust allows bedbugs to pass through without any contact.

[0010] One of the major problems with these types of existing devices is that the materials and use of bedding generate a lot of dust and micro-dust. Open-air devices that use smooth or sticky surfaces require constant maintenance and monitoring. Placed under the feet of the bed or under the bed base, these devices are difficult to access. Their maintenance is not easy and requires lifting the bed or moving it, especially when the bed is placed against the walls. For these reasons, vertical sliding devices with sticky or abrasive surfaces are more suitable for domestic spaces than for communities.

[0011] Most existing devices are designed to fit standard bed leg models that screw under a bed base, as used with domestic bedroom furniture. Standard bed legs are generally conical in shape with a fairly wide base. They are traditionally made of wood and have a screw fixing system. Bed bug devices that are placed above standard bed legs require a spacer, a complex fixing system or specific machining of the bed leg. These existing devices do not fit, or fit poorly, with tubular bed frames.

[0012] Existing devices to be placed under the feet are problematic in that they support the weight of the bed and its occupants. They wear out and crush. These devices are not integral with the bed and must be placed and moved independently with care.

[0013] Another common problem with existing devices to be placed under the bed legs or under the box spring is that these devices do not in any way mask the verticality of the bed legs from the perception of bed bugs. This perception of the verticality of the bed leg is largely achieved by the bed bug by touching the short antennae which extend its head. Since the insect is almost blind and moves mainly at night.

[0014] The device according to the invention makes it possible to remedy these various problems. General description of the invention

[0015] The device of the invention has been specifically designed for tubular bed legs and structures. The device according to the invention has, according to a first characteristic, a central hole adjusted to the standard diameters of the industrial tubes which make up the tubular legs and bunk bed structures.

[0016] According to another characteristic, the inner part of this central hole is equipped with a seal which ensures a perfect seal between the tubular foot or the tubular structure of the bed and the device of the invention. This seal prevents the passage of the bedbug between the foot of the bed and the device of the invention.

[0017] This joint which equips the central hole also allows the said device to be fixed to the foot, because the joint and the shape of the device according to the invention have been calibrated for this purpose. The device according to the invention is therefore integral with the bed or the structure of the bed. The weight of the bed and its occupants rests directly on the floor. The elasticity of the joint also allows the device to be positioned at the desired height, depending on the nature of the floor. Some floors, such as thick carpets, for example, require the device to be placed higher up.

[0018] According to another of these characteristics, the device according to the invention has a smooth horizontal surface facing the ground. This surface extends beyond the range of the bedbugs' antennae. At their scale, bedbugs perceive an impassable ceiling. Unable to climb on smooth surfaces, bedbugs cannot in any case travel across a smooth ceiling.

[0019] According to particular modes of use, the upper part can receive a cut blotting pad which attests to the presence of bedbugs by fixing their droppings.

[0020] This upper part can also receive different detection and trapping systems.

[0021] According to particular manufacturing methods: The device according to the invention can be made in a single part from a flexible material. The seal of the central hole is in this case no longer necessary. The groove provided to receive the seal is eliminated. The seal is ensured by sealing lips machined, cast, printed or manufactured in any other way directly in the flexible material. The accompanying drawings illustrate the invention:

[0022] [Fig. 1] shows in section the principle of the device of the invention made of a rigid material with a standard round O-ring and a control blotter.

[0023] [Fig.2] represents one of the particular methods of manufacturing the device. The The device is made here in a single block from a flexible material. The central hole is equipped with sealing lips cast or printed directly into the flexible material.

[0024] [Fig. 3] represents other non-limiting formal variants of the device.

[0025] [Fig. 4] shows an exploded view of the device of the invention with particular non-limiting peripheral machining and, also by way of example and non-limiting, a principle of stacking a trapping system in two parts.

[0026] [Fig.5] shows the device in place on a bed foot.

[0027] With reference to these drawings, the device consists of a flat part (1) with a central hole through which the tubular bed foot (8) passes. In the case of manufacture in a rigid material, a groove (2) is machined in the thickness of the central hole. This groove (2) is equipped with an O-ring (3). In the upper part a removable indicator cut from blotting paper (4) can optionally be placed to fix the droppings. The lower face (5) of the flat part (1), wider than the maximum length of an adult bed bug and facing the ground, is sufficiently smooth to prevent the bugs from clinging to it. This smooth surface forms an impassable barrier for the insect. The upper face (6) can be machined to receive all types of detection and trapping systems (7) as illustrated by way of example in [Fig.4].

[0028] According to the non-limiting variants illustrated in these drawings, the device and its central hole may be of different shapes.

[0029] By way of non-limiting example, the central hole of the flat part (1) of the device can be adapted to the standard tubes of diameter 33.7 millimeters with which most tubular bed legs (8) and bunk bed structures are manufactured. The external diameter of the device can be 60 millimeters.

[0030] The device according to the invention is particularly intended to prevent bedbugs from climbing along the legs of tubular beds (8) and bunk bed structures.

[0031] With this device, bedbugs can no longer access the bed from the floor. Any bedbugs present in the bed cannot return to the floor and are optionally detected.

[0032] The upper part can also, optionally and non-limitingly, receive various detection and trapping systems as illustrated in [Fig.4].

[0033] List of reference signs of the drawings: 1. flat part 2. throat 3. O-ring 4. blotting paper 5. lower face 6. upper face 7. detection and trapping system (non-limiting example) 8. tubular bed foot

Claims

Claims

1. Device for combating bedbugs characterized in that the central hole of its flat part (1) and its seal (3) alone allow the device to be fixed to the foot of the bed, without tools or tightening manipulation.

2. Device according to claim 1 characterized in that it seals tightly around the feet of beds.

3. Device for combating bedbugs characterized in that its smooth horizontal surface oriented towards the ground (5) forms a ceiling which masks the verticality of the foot of the bed or of the bed structure from the perception of bedbugs.

4. Device according to claim 2 characterized in that its smooth horizontal surface oriented towards the ground (5) is impassable by thumbtacks.

5. nor. Device according to claim 2 characterized in that its smooth horizontal surface oriented towards the ground (5) is, due to this very orientation, little exposed to dust deposits.

6. Bedbug control device characterized in that its top surface (6) can be covered with a detector pad (4) which fixes the bedbug droppings.

7. Device according to claim 3 characterized in that its flat part (1) joined around the foot of the bed, can serve as a support for various open or closed detection and trapping systems (7), composed of one or more parts which can be assembled around the foot of the bed while resting on the device of the invention.

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