History
In its October 1911 issue, Popular Mechanics magazine had a piece showing a model "fly trap" that used all the elements of a modern bug zapper, including electric light and electrified grid. The design was executed by two unnamed Denver men and was conceded to be too expensive to be of practical use. The device was 10 by 15 inches (25 by 38 cm), contained 5 incandescent light bulbs, and the grid was 1⁄16-inch (1.59 mm) wires spaced 1⁄8-inch (3.18 mm) apart with a voltage of 450 volts. Users were supposed to bait the interior with meat.
According to the US Patent and Trademark Office, the first bug zapper was patented in 1934 by William F. Folmer and Harrison L. Chapin. They were issued U.S. Patent 1,962,439.
Separately, Dr. W.B. Herms, a professor of parasitology at the University of California had been working on large commercial insect traps for over 20 years for protection of California's important fruit industry. In 1934 he introduced the electronic insect killer that became the model for all future bug zappers.
Read more about this topic: Bug Zapper
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“Most events recorded in history are more remarkable than important, like eclipses of the sun and moon, by which all are attracted, but whose effects no one takes the trouble to calculate.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Universal history is the history of a few metaphors.”
—Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986)