Suiter Swantz IP takes a look back at past inventions and inventors with our Patent Of The Day.
On this day in 1875, Titus S. Church was granted U.S. Patent No. 161,864 for an IMPROVEMENT IN METHODS OF KILLING VERMIN.
This invention relates to a process for killing vermin in furniture, upholstery, carpets.
The method which has been commonly practiced for killing moths in upholsterers’ establishments, and often in private dwellings, has been to sprinkle the infested articles with benzine or naphtha. This practice has caused disastrous conflagrations, and is now prohibited by special clauses in insurance policies. Besides this, it is evident that, although the fumes of the fluid may kill breathing insects, the fluid itself will only destroy vitality in such of the eggs and larvae and insects as may be touched therewith; consequently the dangerous practice of sprinkling results in lessening rather than in exterminating vermin where applied.
This process consists in the submersion in ordinary naphtha of commerce, or in light products of distillation from petroleum or coal oil, of articles which are vermin-infested, or which are spotted or coated with oil which it is desirable to remove, followed by the withdrawal of the articles from the fluid and exposure of them to the atmosphere for evaporation of any of the fluid remaining.
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