Extermination of insects by heat

Claim 1

A method of exterminating wood-destroying insects in situ whose situs is embodied at a substantial depth inside a wooden structural member of an urban structure having surfaces, said method comprising: heating an environmentally acceptable gas which does not undergo phase change at any temperature between ambient and the temperature utilized herein, to an elevated temperature; applying said heated gas to surfaces of said structure until the temperature of the wooden structural member at said substantial depth reaches a lethal temperature at which said insects cannot survive for a significant length of time, and maintaining said lethal temperature at said substantial depth for a period of time necessary to assure the death of said insects, said heated gas being supplied at a supply temperature higher than said lethal temperature; said application of heated gas being accomplished in such a manner that the heated gas circulates so as to provide for improved heat transfer to the surfacer of the structure and to avoid thermal stratification in the structure.

Claim 2

A method of exterminating wood-destroying insects in situ whose situs is embodied at a substantial depth inside a wooden structural member of an urban structure having surfaces, said method comprising: heating an environmentally acceptable gas which does not undergo phase change at any temperature between ambient and the temperature utilized herein, to an elevated temperature; applying said heated gas to surfaces of said structure until the temperature of the wooden structural member at said substantial depth reaches a lethal temperature at which said insects cannot survive for a significant length of time, and maintaining said lethal temperature at said substantial depth for a period of time necessary to assure the death of said insects, said heated gas being supplied at a supply temperature higher than said lethal temperature; said application of heated gas being accomplished in such a manner that the heated gas circulates so as to provide for improved heat transfer to the surfacer of the structure and to avoid thermal stratification in the structure.

Claim 14

A method of exterminating insects in an infested region near the surface of the earth, comprising injecting into said region heated gas which does not undergo phase change at any temperature between the ambient temperature of the region and the temperatures utilized herein, said gases being injected at a temperature which is lethal to the insects and maintaining the earth of said region at a lethal temperature for at least the period of time required to kill the insects.

Claim 15

A method of exterminating insects in an infested region near the surface of the earth, comprising injecting into said region heated gas which does not undergo phase change at any temperature between the ambient temperature of the region and the temperatures utilized herein, said gases being injected at a temperature which is lethal to the insects and maintaining the earth of said region at a lethal temperature for at least the period of time required to kill the insects.