Tamper-Resistant Rodent Bait Station With Labyrinth Access Path
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing rodent bait stations are not effectively resistant to tampering by pets, children, and non-target wildlife, leading to potential access to rodenticide.
Innovation Solution
A tamper-resistant design featuring a locked cover with hooked prongs, labyrinth joints, and reinforced walls to prevent access, combined with a serpentine path to the bait, ensuring the bait is securely contained and visible.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the bait station uses a simple open design, then it is easy for rodents to access the bait, but it allows pets and children to easily access the rodenticide
Solution Approach 1:
The bait station is divided into multiple components: an outer housing, an inner bait container, and a baffle system. This segmentation creates multiple barriers that rodents must navigate while maintaining security against pets and children. The inner container can be removed and replaced, allowing bait replenishment without compromising the secure design.
Solution Approach 2:
A baffle system acts as an intermediary barrier between the exterior openings and the bait. The baffle creates a serpentine path that allows rodent access while blocking direct access by pets and children. This intermediary structure mediates between the need for accessibility and the need for security.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If the bait station is made highly secure with multiple locking mechanisms, then it prevents access by pets and children, but it increases device complexity
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of using complex locking mechanisms to prevent opening, the design inverts the approach by making the station permanently sealed with molded joints that are difficult to penetrate. The cover and base are molded together with integrated joints that eliminate the need for separate locking components, achieving security through structural design rather than mechanical locks.
Solution Approach 2:
The bait station is designed as a disposable unit where the cover and base are molded together to form a permanent, non-reusable structure. This eliminates the need for complex locking mechanisms that would need to be repeatedly engaged and disengaged, achieving tamper resistance through a simple, cost-effective molded joint design.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If the cover and base are permanently locked together with molded joints, then it prevents opening by pets and children, but it makes repair and rebaiting difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The bait station is segmented into a removable inner bait container and a permanent outer housing. The inner container can be extracted and replaced without disturbing the molded joints of the outer housing, maintaining security while enabling easy rebaiting. This segmentation resolves the contradiction between permanent locking and repairability.
Solution Approach 2:
The bait container is extracted as a separate, removable component from the permanent housing. This allows the bait to be replenished by simply removing and replacing the inner container, without needing to break or open the secure molded joints of the outer structure. The extraction of this functional component enables maintenance while preserving security.
4Productivity
If openings are placed close to the bait for easy rodent access, then rodents can quickly reach the bait, but pets and children can easily access the bait through the same openings
Solution Approach 1:
A baffle system serves as an intermediary structure between the exterior openings and the bait container. It creates a serpentine access path that is easily navigated by rodents but blocks direct access by pets and children. The baffle mediates between the need for efficient rodent access and the need to prevent non-target species from reaching the bait.
Solution Approach 2:
The opening design incorporates local quality differences through the baffle structure, creating distinct access characteristics for different species. The baffle geometry is optimized to allow small rodent passage while blocking larger animals, providing species-specific access through localized structural features rather than uniform opening design.
Data Source
AI summary
A pre-baited consumer bait station for rodents which is gnaw resistant and has other design features to make the bait station resistant to rodenticide access by children, dogs, other pets, domestic animals, and nontarget wildlife. An injection molded translucent cover is permanently locked to a base about the cover's edges and center by elastic actuated hooks which engage receptacles on the base. The cover forms a labyrinth joint with a peripheral wall of the base. Double walls on exterior portions of the peripheral wall strengthen the walls where they form part of a closely confining bait receptacle which surrounds a bait block on portions of all sides. Circuitous internal passageways limit access to the bait. An interior wall extends to support the cover center.