THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



367 



DRIPPING SHEETS FOR FOUNDATION 

 WHEN MAKING WAX. 



When the tank of melted wax is set 

 off the stove I have six or seven dip- 

 ping^ boards ready, and as soon as the 

 wax approaches the proper tempera- 

 ture I begin to dip sheets of wax for 

 foundation. By the time it becomes 

 too cool to dip any more, I get out 12 

 to 20 pounds of sheets cut to the right 

 length and edged for the foundation 

 mill. It is rather lively work. A few 

 notches below real lightning. As the 

 boards are raised out of the tank of 

 wax they are hung upon a rack to 

 drain off the surplus wax, and I keep 

 on dipping with other boards. But the 

 sheets on boards must not get too cool 

 before the second dip. I dip twice for 

 medium brood foundation. My dip- 

 ping boards are not three feet long — 

 only 10 inches. Then they are handled 

 by the use of a wire attached to the 

 middle of each side or edge — bail 

 fashion. 



WHAT MAY BE ACCOMPLISHED BY ROLL- 

 ING SHEETS OF WAX, BEFORE 

 MAKING FOTTDATION. 



Dip first one end and then the other 

 end. This makes both ends of the 

 sheet thick while the middle is thinner. 

 Now look out for a kink. I put the 

 sheets through between two sr^ooth, 

 steel rollers like those the tinner rolls 

 eave troughs on. In fact, that is what 

 mine were intended for and I gave 

 $2.50 for them, second hand. I roll 

 the sheets through five times. Roll 

 them down gradually so as not to 

 break the grain of the wax. First 

 put one edge through, then the 

 other; sidewise of the sheets. By the 

 way, they are not rolled until a month 

 or so after dipping — time enough to 

 evaporate the moisture all out. The 

 more rolling they get the tougher they 

 become. The thicker ends are rolled 

 down to about the thickness of the 

 middle. Roll 200 or 300 sheets at a 

 time and set the rolls anew for each 



time through. Roll the middle of the 

 sheet twice but not enough to stretch 

 the wax. When the sheets are put 

 through the foundation mill, the rolls 

 are exactly set so as to use up all the 

 wax in the cell walls but not to stretch 

 the sheets. I have told you how the 

 center of the sheets not stretched 

 and the grain of the wax is left un- 

 broken. Now foundation made by this 

 process does not sag. The ends of the 

 sheets might sag if they came in the 

 middle of the brood frames. But 

 therein lies one of the great unfathom- 

 able laws of philosophy— the bringing 

 of the ends and the middle to be 

 situated at the same identical point. 

 The longer these sheets remain (up to 

 six months or so) the easier it becomes 

 to run them through the rolls of 

 the foundation mill. The less they 

 stick. 



ADVANTAGES OF A SLIGHT CHANGE IN 



THE SHAPE OF THE BASE OF 



THE CELLS. 



I have made foundation some 20 

 3'ears or more, with a new kink every 

 now and then. 



One of the first was to cut away the 

 corner of the cell base on the founda- 

 tion rolls. The corner that comes out 

 behind as the sheet goes through. 

 This made a cell base which has four 

 sides instead of three. It added one- 

 sixteenth of an ounce of wax to each 

 pound of foundation. That was one- 

 eighth of one cent out lay but reduced 

 the labor of making 3 or 4 cents per 

 pound. It would be run through the 

 mill rapidly as there is no such thing 

 as "picking" for the end or pulling off 

 the sheet. I took off the hand crank 

 and put a pulley in its place. Attached 

 power. Pnt through 40 sheets per 

 minute. 



Now look sharply. There is a kink 

 or two here. I will try to fix it up so 

 you can see it. All foundation mill 

 makers spoil the facility of foundation 

 making by trying to make a natural 



