You’ve heard of the better mousetrap?
A Pacific Beach couple have recently come up with their own innovation: a better flytrap.
Dennis and Joylyn Darnell were sitting in the kitchen of their North PB home about a year ago when Dennis, an engineering graduate from UC San Diego, had the proverbial “light bulb” go up over his head.
“Dennis really hates flies,” said wife Joylyn, pointing out Dennis had “tinkered” with developing flytraps previously and that they both had become irritated noticing flies walking around the rim of their indoor garbage cans trying to get in.
Joylyn said Dennis then suggested, “Why don’t we just drill a hole in there (can lid), and then put in a little tube where they (flies) walk through?”
Joylyn, a San Diego State University marketing graduate, responded, “I don’t care. Go for it.”
“So he did it,” she said.
Dennis said he went to a chain home appliance store that very night to buy parts to construct his better flytrap.
A year later, the couple have a patent pending for their “Garbage Can Fly Trap” and have launched a fundraising campaign on kickstarter.com to get prospective buyers to help them launch early development of their new household flytrap.
“People have given $5,500 in pledges for the $10,000 we requested (on Kickstarter),” said Dennis, noting investors in his prospective product can pledge anywhere from $11 to $200 to pre-buy the product.
“For $200, I’ll come out to your house and defly it myself,” quipped Dennis.
Joylyn said the beauty of the new product is that its design “uses the natural attractant of your garbage” and doesn’t require any unnatural chemical lures, pesticides or anything of the like.
Dennis has also refined his new invention, which employs a flypaper-filled canister inserted underneath the garbage can lid to trap flies that wander through the hole into the lid. He has even developed a push button which allows the fly-filled canister to disengage and fall into the garbage with a finger push. The user then just has to snap a new canister into place, and they’re good to go once again.
How long does it take to fill a flytrap?
“I’ve filled one up in a day,” answered Dennis, noting it varies with the season and location of the can.
The Darnells have also launched into acquiring a patent for their new fly-catching device, a long process that could take two to five years. They had to hire an attorney and submit an application, some 41 pages long.
“You have to describe it all (product), then make claims about what it can do,” said Joylyn.
What’s the next step for the entrepreneurial couple?
“We’re working on making one (flytrap) now for a dumpster,” said Dennis, adding, “It might be a much better market (than households). They (restaurants) have huge needs.”
A video of the couple’s new innovative household flytrap can be viewed at www.garbagecanflytrap.com. The centerpiece of their website pitch is a video created by the Darnells, which includes their young son, who is seen using a flyswatter to beat down a mock fly. Their video goes on to explain their new product in detail.
Is this the beginning of a new career for the Darnells?
“That would be the goal (eventually) for us to run this,” said Joylyn.
“I’d like to see this in every garbage can in America,” said Dennis.