62 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Jan. 28, 1904. 



Mr. Starkey— Did you find that you got all the wax bv 

 either process? 



Mr. Root— No. I found that if I kept on I could con- 

 tinually get a very, very little, but it was so little that I 

 didn t think it paid to fuss with it any more. I suppose that 

 if there was some method used whereby that refuse (I call 

 ■ It cheese), could be scraped up as in a cider-press, I think 

 you could get a little more wax out of it, but I don't think it 

 is worth the trouble. 



Mr. France— I have had considerable experience, and in 

 fact the first day I used the German wax-press I rendered 

 out 2,ooo combs. You speak about turning the screw down 

 and then up, and then down again. Now, didn't you turn 

 the screw down until the wax oozed out, and then you turned 

 It up and pawed it over, and the oozing out of the wax per- 

 mitted you to turn it down lower? 



Mr. Root-I forgot to mention that. I turned the screw 

 down only as the wax oozed out and let me turn it down 

 There is no use exerting a lot of strength. Turn it down 

 gradually, and then you can move it and turn it down a lit- 

 tle lower. 



Dr. Miller-That's right. (I may hire you after all!) 

 J here must be time allowed for that wax to work out It is 

 not going to go on a jump. When you squeeze it down tight 

 It must have time to work out. Here is a practical question: 

 Suppose that I am at work at something, and I come and 

 screw that down, and I have it standing on the stove I 

 don t want to stand there screwing all the time. I want to 

 htr,l ?i u'" '"'""fes. I would like to have a wav 



that there would be a constant pressure. I want to know i'f 

 there is any law against having a spring there' If there 

 were a heavy spring and you screwed it down, that spring is 

 making a constant pressure there until you come back again. 

 What would be the objection to that? Cost? 

 w^mU*"- J^°°'-Cost is one thing, but I don't believe you 

 h^^} J'u ^"^ '""■-e wax that way, and I think you would 

 have to be around there just about as much. That is that 

 operation of pressing is short. It didn't take me ove; five 

 minutes to get it pressed after I got it ready, and it was r^y 

 experience that it is better to do one thing well than ?o Try 

 and do two things and do neither well. But perhaps it is a 

 fha°t%e'V*:nS" ''''''■ ""'"^ ^°" «"^ an/advrnta'ge^n 

 Mr. France-No. I melted it in another package. I had 

 the press on the stove and kept it hot, and as fast as two 

 iron kettles would melt it, I pressed it. We ran fou wagon 

 loads of combs through the press that day 



out ^ in^th^'7^'°" ''"'/'' ■'' '" ^"°*''^'' '•^"ptacle and then 

 put it in the wax-press? 



Mr. France — Yes. 



Mr. Root— It is a question how much it will pay you 

 If you are working for time you had better do that way but 

 If you are working for wax you had better have the steam 

 generating while pressing 



Mr. Moore-Mr. Root, you are a civil engineer. It is an 

 ordinary lever used to turn the screw. Now in the presence 

 s rin ? *'''^"'''"^°"' ^°''"- wo"'d y°" ^^dd to it at all with a 



Dr. Miller— You can't add to it. 



Tf ^"^^^u^^"^^ "^"V'*^ ""^^^ "" ^^'■y complicated apparatus 

 It would be so complicated and bulky that it wouldn't pay 



SuldTe'"s''<l-''°" """"'^ ^''^' ^'°'" "^^ "^^ °f 'h<= ^p'-g 



Mr. Moore— Infinitesimal, wouldn't it' 



Mr. Root— Yes, sir. 



Mr. Moore— It would be zero, wouldn't it' 



r!'"' f'oot— It would require a very strong spring. 



Dr. M,ller-I protest against that. The screw here 

 brings It down to a certain point. Within a very short time 

 there is no pressure there. Now, if you had a spring ther^ 

 iTtW l"'7?u ''""", ■' '"'■'"^ "^^' ^'«"ds ^"'Kht inches. Now 



w 11 .IlowTl,! ."■' ''°"^' """^ '^' ^'■"'^'"^ ^^"^y °f this mass 

 will allow that to come down to fen inches. Of course there 

 IS a constant pressure. Don't understand me for a minute to 

 say that that spring will add a quarter of a grain to the 

 force. It can't nossibly do it 



has feasedTo~aJt"' "''" ''' '"""^ ""' ''' ''''" "^« ^<^^«- 

 Dr. Miller-That's the point. It is a matter of time. 

 Mr. Root— Whv not turn the screw down a little more' 



Is your time so valuable' 



much^r ^'""■-J"^' -'=°- When I hire you I won't mind so 

 Mr. Root— It takes so little time, the whole operation. 



that I fail to see the advantage of the spring. 



Mr. Whitney — I simply want to .'isk the Doctor if he 

 wants to hire Mr. Root? 



Dr. Miller — Yes, I am getting him trained! 

 Mr. Root — I would like to work for him. 

 Mr. Starkey — We will say that this block that rests on 

 top of the wax has on top of that spring — one of the little, 

 common, coil springs like under a wagon-bed. On top of 

 that a plate that this screw comes to. If the screw strikes 

 on that spring and forces it close with this pressure on the 

 block, and goes down to where the wax is, instead of the 

 pressure being lessened this spring continues to draw the 

 pressure on this block-head to every part that has given way 

 by the wax. I think that is a very valuable point. Instead 

 of having to come back, this spring will carry the pressure on 

 four or five times, and it will save valuable time that a man 

 might be doing something else. 



Dr. Miller— Mr. Root says it is so little time that it don't 

 count. 



Mr. Meredith — I should say a spring strong enough to 

 give that pressure would be something a little larger than is 

 used on the ordinary passenger coach. 



Mr. Root — I understand that spring would act only when 

 the screw wasn't acting. It is their opinion that the spring 

 would do what you would do when you got back there. 

 Dr. Miller— Yes. 



Mr. Root — You can't make me believe that the spring 

 would be strong enough to do what you would do. 



Mr. Starkey — We don't contend that it would do all, but 

 it would continue to exercise the pressure. If we should 

 happen back we might turn once, but you would turn four 

 times. 



Mr. Root — In the meantime, the whole operation takes 

 seven or eight minutes. 



Mr. Moore — The temptation to trip Dr. Miller up is too 

 great. 



Dr. Miller — I am down by now. 



Mr. Moore — How many tons pressure is there in that 

 screw pressing down the wax, as nearly as you can tell? 

 Mr. Root — Three or four. 



Mr. Moore — You take the strongest spring you ever saw 

 in a lumber-wagon, and put three or four tons on it, how 

 much good will it do you? Mr. Meredith says a spring on 

 a passenger coach. 



Mr. Meredith — With a screw of four or five threads to an 

 inch, it might be capable of exerting twenty tons. 

 Mr. Root — There is hardly any limit. 

 Dr. Miller — I don't think the point is worth holding to. 

 A snrinCT that will exert one pound of pressure will con- 

 tinue thpt nress'ire. 



Mr. Root — I admit that. 



Dr. Miller — And the strength of the spring doesn't count, 

 but the whole thing is settled when he says it takes so little 

 time to do it that the time cost isn't worth counting. 



Mr. Root — Dr. Miller wouldn't have a good deal of time 

 to get away to his other work before he would have to get 

 back and put in another comb. 



Mr. Stewart — Have you ever cut up timothy hay and 

 put in with your cheese? 



Mr. Root — No, I have not. 

 Dr. Miller — Have you done that? 



Mr. Stewart — I have, and with very good results. It 

 gets it separated. 



Dr. Miller — I want to remind Mr. Root to read a period- 

 ical that is published in Medina, Ohio, in which that was 

 mentioned as being done in Germany. 

 Mr. Root — You've got me there. 

 Pres. York — What's the name of the publication? 

 Dr. Miller — Scrapings — or something of that kind. 

 Mr. Root — I will read it. 



Dr. Miller — I think it was your brother who asked 

 whether a central affair, something in the middle of the 

 cheese, allowing the wax to come out through, would help 

 any. He tried that, I think. 



Mr. Root — As I look at it, the wax below wouldn't go 

 up to that, and when I get about the wax that I could get 

 anyway, I don't see the advantage of it. You would have to 

 have twice the amount of wax, and you cannot give it the 

 amount of pressure it ought to have. 



Dr. Miller — I tried it and I don't believe it helps. 

 Mr. Abbott — How many people are there here who get 

 loo pounds of wax every year? [Six.] 



Mr. Abbott — Now you see you can get, what percentage 

 more? 



