Vector Tools
Bottle Roach Trap
The ideal tool for the sanitarian, the glass bottle roach trap has multiple uses. For work, it is an excellent roach trap to estimate population size and age. For leisure, it can be used as a minnow trap for the sport fishing sanitarian.
The roach trap was manufactured after World War I by the McSwain Glass Co. in Jonesboro, Arkansas. The trap is a punt with a hole; it has a bail on the lid for portability and molded glass feet for stability.
This bottle trap was salvaged from equipment discarded by the Detroit Health Department.
Fly Trap
Manufactured by Olsen & Sons in Kensett, Iowa, in 1934, the Sur-Katchem Fly Trap (and ones that are similar) were used by sanitarians to evaluate the fly populations at dairies; abattoirs; hog, horse and chicken farms; feed lots; kennels; rendering plants; garbage dumps; and septic problems, as well as schools and other public places, where flies were deemed to be a nuisance. These fly traps were used to assess both the fly density and the species of flies populating the area.
The traps were inexpensive and mostly disposable. The directions detail the best bait to use for most situations. The choice of bait always had to have a stronger lure than the detritus in the immediate area. The baited fly trap was put out for several days, sprayed with a pesticide, and the dead flies counted and sorted. These traps were highly effective in helping to document and ultimately abate fly nuisance problems.