{{Short description|Cover for the opening of a window}} {{Redirect|Flywire (screen)|other uses|Fly wire (disambiguation)}} {{More citations needed |date=July 2010}} thumb|Window with insect screen
A '''window screen''' (also known as '''insect screen''', '''bug screen''', '''fly screen''', '''flywire''', '''window mesh''', '''wire mesh''', or '''window net''') is designed to cover the opening of a window. It is usually a mesh made of metal, fibreglass, plastic wire, or other pieces of plastic and stretched in a frame of wood or metal. It serves to keep leaves, debris, bugs, birds, and other animals from entering a building or a screened structure such as a porch, without blocking fresh air-flow.
==History== "Wove wire for window screens" are referenced in the ''American Farmer'' in 1822.<ref name="AmericanFarmer">{{cite news |last =Grafflin |first=J |date=1822-12-13 |title=The Subscriber |work=American Farmer |page=304 | url=https://archive.org/details/sim_american-farmer-devoted-to-agriculture-horticulture_1822-03-29_4_1/page/298/mode/2up?q=%22wove+wire+for+window+screens%22 |access-date=2024-08-12}}</ref>
In 1861 Gilbert, Bennett and Company was manufacturing wire mesh sieves for food processing. An employee realized that the wire cloth could be painted gray and sold as window screens and the product became an immediate success. On July 7, 1868, Bayley and McCluskey filed a U.S. Patent, number 79541 for screened roof-top rail-car windows, allowing ventilation, while preventing "sparks, cinders, dust, etc." from entering the passenger compartment. By 1874, E.T. Barnum Company of Detroit, Michigan advertised screens that were sold by the square foot.<ref name="Busy">{{cite web| title = The Busy Brush Decorative Art - The History of Screen Painting| year = 2005| url = http://www.busybrushart.com/historyofscreenpainting.htm| access-date =2008-08-12}}</ref>
Window screens designed specifically to prevent insect entry were not patented in the United States, although by 1900 several patents were awarded for particular innovations related to window screen design. By the 1950s, malaria was largely eradicated in the United States due to the widespread use of window screens.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Meador, MD |first=Clifton K. |title=From Med School: Shoes, Window Screens, and Meat |journal=Med School |publisher=Medscape from WebMD |date=22 April 2004 |pmc=1395801 |volume=6 |issue=2|page=59 }}</ref>
==Uses== ===Collecting water=== Screen mesh may collect condensation. This effect has been used to collect water from fog.<ref>"Screen Collecting water in Nepal" [http://www.wateraid.org/international/what_we_do/where_we_work/nepal/2602.asp wateraid.org]; "Screen collecting water system design" [http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/8/view/9269/imke-hoehler-dropnet.html designboom.com]</ref>
===Decoration=== {{Main|Screen painting}} Screen painting is a folk art consisting of paintings on window screens.
==Gallery== <gallery> File:Pierced Window Screen at Manikesvara Temple at Lakkundi.JPG|A pierced window screen brings light into the mandapa at Manikesvara Temple in Lakkundi, Lakkundi File:Window with insect screen.JPG|A window with an insect screen File:US Navy 091026-N-6692A-050 Sailors assigned to the dock landing ship USS Tortuga (LSD 46) replace a protective window screen at Kalalake Elementary School during a community service project.jpg|Sailors assigned to the dock landing ship USS Tortuga (LSD 46) replace a protective window screen at Kalalake Elementary School during a community service project </gallery>
==See also==
== External links ==
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== References == {{reflist}}
<!-- same as with Mosquito net -->
Screen Screen Category:Insect repellents Category:Mechanical pest control