THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



43 



AN UNCAPPINO MACHINK. 



This season I will Have in operation 

 an uncappint:;- machine designed about 

 a year ago. The comb will be placed 

 in a form, its position being the same 

 as when hanging in the hive, when, by 

 means of a treadle operated by the 

 foot, the comb will be drawn down be- 

 tween two rollers running at a high 

 speed, nails driven into the surfaces of 

 the rollers striking the cappings and 

 scraping them off. The uncapper, as 

 well as the extractor, will be run by a 

 small gasoline engine furnished by the 

 A. I. Root Co. With mj' present capac- 

 ity', uncapping by hand, and using a 

 six-frame, reversible extractor, we can 

 comfortablj' extract, strain, and store 

 in packages ready for selling, from 

 5,200 to 5,300 pounds of honey in eight 

 and one-half hours. One man does 

 nothing but run theextractor. For un- 

 capping we use a knife with a bevel as 

 in the Root knife, in fact, we have the 

 Root knife, not a knife with the bevel 

 extending to the center of the back, as 

 with such a knife there is too much 

 suction, while, with no bevel, the cap- 

 ping is likely to stick to the comb after 

 the knife passes through. I think it 

 pays to uncap fairly deep, but level. 

 The cleaner combs are extracted the 

 better, as there is less time lost in the 

 bees cleaning them up and getting 

 them ready for storing more honey in 

 them. In a good honey flow this is an 

 important point. Surely, no one is 

 fooli.sh enough to think that bees can 

 or do put their heads down into the 

 sticky cells to deposit their loads of 

 nectar. I would not accept a non-re- 

 versible extractor as a gift, and use it, 

 e\ en if paid the price of it each year. 

 Too many combs are broken, and there 

 is too much delay in turning the combs. 

 If I had no more than 20 colonies, I 

 would have reversible extractor. Again 

 any one who has ever had plenty of 

 storage room under the baskets, will 

 never wish to go back to the close 

 quarters that some adopt with false 



ideas of economy. With a good weight 

 of honey below the baskets, less atten- 

 tion is needed in balancing the combs. 

 Each of my extractors has three legs, 

 and the legs are fastened to the floor, or 

 to blocks, or to stakes driven into 

 the ground. These legs, are long 

 enough to bring the bottom of the can 

 on a height above any vessel I may 

 wish to fill. 



AN AUTOMATIC HONEY STRAINER. 



If honey can be strained and ex- 

 tracted all at the same time, surely it 

 is a waste of time to make two opera- 

 tions of it. We all know what it is to 

 run honey from the extractor into a 

 pail, to transfer it from the pail to 

 tanks, or strainer-cans. Unless the 

 pail is constantly watched, it is likely 

 to run over occasionall3% This means 

 a loss of material, time and patience. 

 The honey is the warmest, consequently 

 the thinnest, as it comes from the hive; 

 every minute that it is ofl:' the hive it 

 becomes cooler. To keep honey liquid 

 the longest, and to have it retain its 

 aroma the most perfectly, to keep out 

 of it the germs of fermentation, it 

 should be sealed as quickly as possible 

 after removal from the combs. To ac- 

 complish this, and relieve the conges- 

 tion of work at a critical time, I use a 

 strainer in the bottom of the extractor 

 as shown in the frontispiece of this 

 issue of the Review, and described as 

 follows in Gleanings: — 



A is the extractor-shell; B is the 

 point at which the extractor-reel rests 

 on the cone, which rises above the 

 strainer. The strainer is fastened to 

 the bottom of the extractor b3' four 

 buttons or a similar device, M (closed); 

 N (open). The strainer is constructed 

 just the opposite way of an ordinary 

 strainer. The pan, let us call it that, 

 is inverted, and the outside surface 

 used instead of the inside. The up- 

 right surface is used, and the hone3' 

 approaches the strainer and passes 

 through it sidewise; but only in case 

 of a partial or threatening block does 

 the hone}' rise above the sides of the 

 strainer, when immediately a much 

 enlarged straining surface, the entire 



