{{short description|Plastic gun-like device used to kill bugs}} {{Infobox product | image= Bug-A-Salt_logo.jpg | title = Bug-A-Salt | type = Fly-killing device | inventor = Lorenzo Maggiore | inception = 2012 | manufacturer = Skell Inc | available = Yes | url = {{URL|https://bugasalt.com/}} }}
'''Bug-A-Salt''' is a brand of plastic airgun used to kill soft-bodied insects by shooting them with particles of table salt.
==Description== The Bug-A-Salt device uses granular table salt as non-toxic projectiles to kill insects.<ref name=LeBlanc2019>{{cite web |last1=LeBlanc |first1=Cameron |title=You'll Be the Lord of the Flies With This Salt-Firing Gun |url=https://www.fatherly.com/gear/bug-a-salt-fly-gun-amazon-prime-day/ |website=Fatherly |accessdate=2019-09-12 |date=2019-07-15}}</ref> The plastic gun is capable of firing up to 80 shots of salt, which forms a conical spread pattern, similar to the blast pattern from a shotgun.<ref name=Blanchard2019>{{cite web |last1=Blanchard |first1=Keith |title=Man vs. Bugs: Who's Winning? |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/man-vs-bugs-whos-winning-1436558599 |website=The Wall Street Journal |date=10 July 2015 |accessdate=2019-09-12}}</ref>
Biologist Michael Dickinson of the California Institute of Technology explains that flies cannot dodge the tiny salt particles, but will be protected by their arthropod exoskeleton and will only be stunned.<ref name="wsj" />
==History== Bug-A-Salt was invented by Lorenzo Maggiore and patented in 2012.<ref name=Patent>{{US patent reference|number=D676923S |issue-date= February 26, 2013|inventor=Maggiore Lorenzo | title=Bug-A-salt gun }}</ref> He designed the device to kill houseflies at a distance, without creating a mess.<ref name="wsj" />
The Skell Inc company launched its Bug-A-Salt product in 2012 on the Indiegogo platform.<ref name=Alvarez2019>{{cite web |last1=Alvarez |first1=Johanna |title=Want to kill that bug? This shotgun uses table salt to do so |url=https://www.miamiherald.com/living/home-garden/article193246274.html |website=Miami Herald |accessdate=2019-09-12 |date=2018-01-05}}</ref> At the close of Skell's crowd-funding campaign on September 11, 2012, the company had sold more than 21,400 units of the original model of the Bug-A-Salt salt gun.<ref name="Maggiore2016">{{cite web|last1=Lorenzo|first1=Maggiore|title=BugASalt- The Final Push|url=https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/bugasalt-the-final-push--3#/|website=indiegogo|publisher=indiegogo.com|accessdate=27 October 2016}}</ref><ref name="wsj">{{cite web|last=Reagan |first=Brad |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10000872396390444657804578048483443945820?mod=WSJ_Ahed_LEADTop |title=In Latest Bid to Lord Over Flies, One Man Tries Salting Them Away - WSJ.com |publisher=Online.wsj.com |date=2012-10-14 |accessdate=2013-02-26}}</ref>
==See also== *Fly-killing device
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{Official website}} *[https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/23/self-made-millionaire-invented-bug-a-salt-gun-shoots-salt-at-flies.html This self-made millionaire invented a ‘gun’ that shoots salt at flies] *[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/05/bugasalt-rifle-that-kills_n_1858853.html Huffington Post - Bug-A-Salt Launch Article]
Category:Insect control Category:Pest control techniques Category:Products introduced in 2012 Category:Edible salt