A fly-killing system is used for pest control of flying insects, similar to houseflies, wasps, moths, gnats, and mosquitoes. 10 cm (4 in) throughout, connected to a handle about 30 to 60 cm (1 to 2 ft) lengthy made of a lightweight material such as wire, wooden, plastic, outdoor bug zapper or metallic. The venting or perforations decrease the disruption of air currents, that are detected by an insect and permit escape, and also reduces air resistance, making it easier to hit a fast-shifting target. The flyswatter often works by mechanically crushing the fly towards a hard surface, after the consumer has waited for the fly to land mosquito zapper somewhere. However, users can even injure or stun an airborne insect mid-flight by whipping the swatter by way of the air at an extreme velocity. The abeyance of insects by use of quick horsetail staffs and fans is an historical apply, relationship again to the Egyptian pharaohs.

The earliest flyswatters have been actually nothing greater than some kind of hanging surface connected to the end of an extended stick. An early patent on a business flyswatter was issued in 1900 to Robert R. Montgomery who known as it a fly-killer. Montgomery bought his patent to John L. Bennett, a rich inventor and industrialist who made additional enhancements on the design. The origin of the identify "flyswatter" comes from Dr. Samuel Crumbine, a member of the Kansas board of well being, who needed to boost public awareness of the well being issues brought on by flies. He was inspired by a chant at an area Topeka softball recreation: "swat the ball". In a well being bulletin printed soon afterwards, he exhorted Kansans to "swat the fly". In response, a schoolteacher named Frank H. Rose created the "fly bat", a device consisting of a yardstick connected to a chunk of screen, which Crumbine named "the flyswatter". The fly gun (or flygun), a derivative of the flyswatter, uses a spring-loaded plastic projectile to mechanically "swat" flies.

Mounted on the projectile is a perforated circular disk, which, in accordance with advertising copy, "won't splat the fly". Several related products are offered, mostly as toys or novelty gadgets, although some maintain their use as traditional fly swatters. Another gun-like design consists of a pair of mesh sheets spring loaded to "clap" together when a trigger is pulled, squashing the fly between them. In contrast to the normal flyswatter, such a design can solely be used on an insect in mid-air. A fly bottle or glass flytrap is a passive lure for flying insects. Within the Far East, it's a big bottle of clear glass with a black metallic top with a gap in the middle. An odorous bait, reminiscent of items of meat, is positioned in the underside of the bottle. Flies enter the bottle seeking meals and are then unable to escape because their phototaxis conduct leads them anywhere in the bottle except to the darker high where the entry gap is.

A European fly bottle is more conical, with small ft that elevate it to 1.25 cm (0.5 in), with a trough a few 2.5 cm (1 in) wide and deep that runs inside the bottle all around the central opening at the bottom of the container. In use, the bottle is stood on a plate and a few sugar is sprinkled on the plate to attract flies, who ultimately fly up into the bottle. The trough is stuffed with beer or vinegar, into which the flies fall and drown. In the past, the trough was sometimes full of a dangerous mixture of milk, water, and arsenic or mercury chloride. Variants of these bottles are the agricultural fly traps used to battle the Mediterranean fruit fly and Zappify electric bug zapper Zapper the olive fly, which have been in use since the nineteen thirties. They're smaller, without feet, and the glass is thicker for rough outdoor bug zapper usage, usually involving suspension in a tree or bush. Modern variations of this device are sometimes fabricated from plastic, and might be bought in some hardware stores.