184 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Mar. 15 



SYVERUD'S AUTOMATIC BEE-BRUSH. 

 As the comb is passed between the brushes they revolve in the opposite direction, thus wiping the bees from 

 both sides at once. 



AN AUTOMATIC BEE-BRUSH. 



A Double Brush for Freeing Combs of 

 Bees Almost Instantly. 



BY L. A. SYVERUD. 



In Shaking bees from combs I have often 

 thought how nice it would be if we could get 

 the bees off quickly without scattering them 

 too much. With this in mind I constructed 

 a brushing-machine as shown in the accom- 

 panying illustrations The device is what I 

 call a rotary bee-brush, and it wipes the bees 

 from both sides of a comb at one operation 

 as rapidly as the comb can be handled. 



In the first view the position of the comb 

 is seen when it is leady to be passed be- 

 tween the brushes, the right hand just 

 touching ihe cord, which, when carried out 

 by the hand, revolves the brushes in the op- 

 posite direction from that in which the comb 

 is moving, and instantly cleans it of bees, 

 that is, the same movement that pushes the 

 comb between the brushes pulls the cord 

 which causes the brushes to revolve 



I like to have the bees drop at the entrance 

 of their own hive; and to do this I have ar- 

 ranged a hopper in front of the brushes (not 

 shown in the picture), to prevent the bees 

 from being scattered too much. I place the 

 michine in front of the hive and a little to 

 one side, so that the hopper is directly in 

 front of the entrance. I remove one comb 

 at a time, give it a shake into the hopper 

 and pass it quickly between the brushes; 

 then swing it around to the back of the hive 

 and put it directly into the comb box or 

 bucket. The work can be done in much 

 less time than by ordinary methods. Coiled 



wire springs revolve the brushes back to 

 their original position, and also wind up the 

 cord ready for the next comb. Next season 

 I expect to try foot power for operating the 

 brushes. 



Canton, S. D. 



[Double brushes, for brushing both sides 

 of combs at once, have been illustrated in 

 these columns before; but Mr. Syverud has 

 gone one better by making a revolving 

 brush, the bristles revolving af[ainst the 

 side of the comb. At first thought this 

 seems like a good principle. It is a ques- 

 tion, however, whether a machine like this 

 can be carried around to each hive and ad- 

 justed to the inequalities of the ground, and 

 in the end save time over a common hand 

 brush. The roller brushes would need 

 washing, probably, as often as any brush. 

 —Ed.] 



♦ ■ ^ ■ ♦ 



NEW INVENTIONS FOR EXTRACTED- 

 HONEY PRODUCTION. 



Some of the New Appliances Tested. 



BY H. H. ROOT. 



In the November issue of the Bee-keepers' 

 Review Mr. W. Z. Hutchinson gives his ex- 

 perience with uncapping-machines, capping- 

 melters, honey-knives, etc. After having 

 tried the Ferguson uncapping-machine, de- 

 scribed on p 403, July 1, Gleanings his ver- 

 dict is that, if combs are built with plain y&- 

 inch end-bars, and are as straight and smooth 

 as a board, and slightly bulged on each side, 

 so that all of the capping surface projects 

 about ]4 inch beyond the edges of the end- 

 bars, but little more can be asked for in the 



