“During outdoor activities one is often annoyed or distracted by an insect. For example during static outdoor activities such as sun-tanning or reading, a single fly will often persist in annoyance despite repeated attempts to ‘discourage’ the insect. Such an insect persistently fly’s [sic] and lands on one’s arm or leg for example. Conventional fly-swatters are cumbersome and due to hygiene concerns, are not well suited for ‘swatting’ one’s self.”
Inventor John Richard Daugherty of Flagstaff, Arizona, US, might have found a solution with his newly patented (December 23, 2014) device: Finger mounted insect dissuasion device and method of use.
“The present invention is an insect dissuasion device that resembles a miniature fly swatter adapted to be fixed onto an end of a human finger. When a device of the present invention is attached for example onto an index finger, normal activities such as holding a book or a drink container are unimpeded. An insect can be spontaneously discouraged by simply flexing, slowly encroaching upon and then ‘flicking’ the finger and the attached device of the present invention. Due to the small size of the ‘finger fly swatter’ most insects do not react to its presence and are caught off-guard by the rapid flicking motion.”
Note that the device can also be made available with the business-end shaped as : a whip, a ball, a rake, a human hand, a butterfly net, a spike, and, for novice swatters, a target-practice device.