I«87 



gLeanijsgs In bee cultuuk. 



7ii9 



and as the two are the same depth, there is a simi- 

 lar projection of the shell below the bottom of the 

 super. The advantage of this is, that when you 

 take off a super filled with bees, and bees crawling 

 all over the bottom, you can set it down without 

 killing a bee, as it rests on the edge of the shell, 

 where the bees have no chance to get. 



Fig. 1 is the two combined; Fig. 3 is the shell, and 

 Fig. 3 the super. In Fig. 1, A is the super, B the 

 outside, and C is the cleat. The letters correspond 

 in all the figures. 



So far as I know, this is original with me, having 

 never seen or heard of any thing like it before. If 

 you do not believe there is comfort in using it, .lust 

 try it, and you will find it much better than using 

 hive-bodies to put over your supers. 



Theodore Jennings. 



Rye, Westchester Co.. N. Y., Aug. 23, 1887. 



THE MANUFACTURE OF COMB- 

 FOUNDATION MILLS. 



the chips from the hard metal, as mention- 

 ed before. 



SOME EXPLANATIONS IN REGARD TO THE MAN- 

 NER IN WHICH IT IS DONE. 



TTp l.THOrGH tliere have been, from 

 ^llsi time to time, statements and sugges- 

 jM? tions made, to the effect that a bee- 

 •'^^ keeper will secure as much honey 

 without the use of comb foundation 

 as he will with it, the fact remains, never- 

 tlieless, that the use of the article by bee- 

 keepers seems to be steadily on tlie increase. 

 (Occasionally a poor season for honey results 

 in the demand being smaller than it was 

 the season before ; but I believe that, as a 

 rule, the consumption of the article is 

 steadily increasing. Jn LSSH we manufac- 

 tured and sold 190 mills for making t\)unda- 

 tion. During the past season of 1S87. which, 

 liowever. is not quite done with yet (for the 

 reason that we send comb-foundation mills 

 to almost every part of the world i, we made 

 and sold about 200, averagiuir, probably, 

 S20.00, making a sum total of ig4000. 



Xow. although we have for some years 

 been in hopes of producing as good machin- 

 ery as the world affords for making these 

 mills, we have, during the past three 

 months, been making a still better machine 

 than any thing we have used heretofore ; 

 and the engraving above is an accurate 

 picture of the machine now in use for the 

 manufacture of the rolls we are sending out 

 at present. 



The first operation in making these rolls 

 is to cast the metal on accurately turned 

 steel shafts. A few years ago we' used to 

 do the embossing entirely by the use of sil- 

 ver punches, raising the metal by repeated 

 strokes so as to form the cells and cell-walls. 

 Where mills are made by punching, how- 

 ever, a comparatively soft metal must be 

 used ; but by the late process of cutting out 

 chips so as to form the cells, we may use a 

 composition of copper, tin, and zinc, nearly 

 as hard as brass or copper. The advantage 

 of these hard rolls is, that they are not in- 

 jured by the passage through them of any 

 comparatively hard substance, such as wood- 

 en toothpicks used in cleaning the starch, 

 etc.. fi-om the surface of the rolls. The 

 machine here shown is designed to cut out 



.MACHINE FUK PRODUCING IHl EMBOSbING AND 

 ENGRAVING ON THE ROLT s! OF FOUNDA- 

 TION-MILLS. 



In the machine above, a roll is shown 

 suspended by its bearings, in the fore part 

 of the machine. Right above it are two del- 

 icate tempered steel chisels, or gravers, 

 ready to cut out the chips of metal. These 

 gravers are set in slides, and the slides are 

 operated by a crank and pitman, as the 

 reader will notice. One of the keen cliisels 

 first goes down and makes a cut in the sur- 

 face of the roll. This first cut raises the 

 edge of the chip, but it does not take it out. 

 The fiuisliing is done with the other chisel, 

 which, as it comes down to its place, cuts 

 the chip entiiely loose, and throws it out. 

 The third slide, operated by a similar pit- 

 man, is seen standing very near, between 

 the two chisels mentioned. " This slide car- 

 ries a steel punch whicii strikes a blow with 

 sufficient power to make the walls of the 

 cells. The various cog-wheels, levers, 

 chains, balance-wheels, etc., are solely for 

 the purpose of operating the two chisels 

 and this punch. The machine is also so ar- 

 ranged that every part is adjustable. For 

 instance, we can make larger rolls than the 

 usual size, when some of the bee-keeping 

 friends happen to take a notion to call for 

 them, or we can make rolls with drone-cells 

 instead of worker, or cells of other dimen- 

 sions, if needed. I believe, however, that 

 most bee-keepers have decided there is lit- 

 tle use for a foundation-mill made different- 

 ly from oiu- regular style, giving about 25 

 cells to each square inch of foundation. A 

 great amount of money has been wasted in 

 experimenting on cells a little larger or a 

 little smaller ; also on a different height and 

 shape of cell walls. Most bee-keepers have 

 now settled down to pretty mucli one thing. 

 Where very great height is advisable in the 

 walls, they should lie, especially for i>rood- 

 combs. comparatively thick, and of soft 



