Bedbugs, beware -- Elizabeth (Lizbe) Knote has you on her radar!

Knote, who has been working on a product to kill bedbugs since 2010, recently received a patent for her Bed Bug Baker.

"I started working on the invention in September 2010," she says. "It went through several prototypes, and two years ago, I made the final design."

The Bed Bug Baker comes in three different models: The Lodger, The King and The Traveler.

"The Lodger would be good for hospitals or hotels, as it can hold furniture, luggage, bedding, clothes and suitcases," Knote says. "The King model could be used in homes and will hold a living room set of furniture and mattresses. The Traveler is a smaller version that a school might want. You can fit three suitcases or 12 kids' backpacks in it."

The concept of the Bed Bug Baker is fairly simple, as it uses heat to destroy the bedbugs.

"You stack your furniture inside, put your heaters in, place your thermometers in strategic locations and heat the items to 122 degrees Fahrenheit," says Knote. "That kills the bedbug eggs, the nymphs and the adults."

The structures used for the bedbug baking process are actually two tents, an inner and an outer tent. No tools are required for assembly, and the tents can be assembled by two people.

"They are made of a lightweight product and are easily transportable," says Knote. "They collapse into a small space and can be used over and over, as there are very few breakable parts."

The Bed Bug Bakers are available at Cape-Kil Pest Control Company in Cape Girardeau, where Knote has worked for 34 years.

"My dad, Charles, started the company in 1949," she says.

Knote has the invention on display at Cape Kil, and says people can bring items in and have them heated if they suspect they are contaminated with bedbugs.

"I know a lot of people will be traveling over Thanksgiving," she says. "They can bring their luggage in after a trip and have it heated [to remove any bedbugs]."

Knote, who has a chemical engineering degree from Purdue University, started on her quest for an invention to destroy bedbugs after attending the first Global Bed Bug Summit in 2010.

"Phil Koehler, an urban entomologist at the University of Florida, [had made one using] Styrofoam panels, and he asked me to try to make a more viable product," Knote says.

Her invention was featured in the June issue of Pest Control Technology, a monthly trade publication featuring information on pest control products.