Exploring an unusual prototype cockroach zapper.

A rather unique opportunity to explore a prototype of a product that did make it to market, but seems to be hard to find.
I've got to admit that I felt a bit uncomfortable making this video. I get the feeling that the inventor put a lot of time and money into designing and trying to get funding to bring this product to market.

A note came with this device suggesting it used the antenna disabling technique.
There's a broad-spectrum patent that seems to be associated with this product, but it doesn't specifically mention the antennae effect. Just that the antennae will bridge the gap between the electrodes. It seems to suggest the main difference from a traditional insect zapper is the horizontal plates and darkness more suited to crawling bugs.
It also suggests a timing of 30 seconds of zapping every 20 minutes.

Here's a link to the patent, which expired in 2002:-
https://patents.google.com/patent/US4...

The engineering of the case is complex and stylish, but would have made the unit quite expensive to manufacture in this form. If the product had taken off and been a huge commercial success, the inevitable clone products would probably have used a much simpler two part case that plugged together with a single base plate contact pin and safety switch. The circuitry these days would be the inevitable 8-pin microcontroller driving a small CCFL style transformer and multiplier arrangement.

I'd like to know the history of this unit and how much work and experimentation was involved in testing the concept and designing the unit. The resin moulded case is immaculate and would have been expensive and time consuming to make as it predates 3D printing.

Here's a link to an Australian science/art museum page showing one of the commercial products with the simpler case and latch at the front:-
https://collection.maas.museum/object...

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