1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



107 



SOLAR WAX-EXTRACTORS. 



Their Proper Construction and Usefulness ; why a 

 Solar Wax=extractor should be Used in Connec= 

 tion with a Wax^press ; Handling Slum- 

 gum ; a Valuable Article. 



BY K. C. AIKIN. 



The solar wax-extractor has of late been 

 somewhat discredited by the editor and 

 others. I know they do not discard it alto- 

 gfether, but it is not receiving- the credit 

 which I think it should. In my practice I 

 do not see how I could get along- without a 

 big- solar, as it is a g-reat source of revenue 

 and a labor-saver. 



I made my first solar about twenty years 

 ago, soon after Mr. Boardman described 

 his solar as made by him. I think it was 

 in the columns of this journal that the first 

 description appeared, thoug^h I am onlj^ 

 guessing- at it. I know it was a good 

 many 3'ears ago. As nearly as I can re- 

 member, my first machine was about 2 feet 

 bv 3 — lontr wav north and south. Along in 



aikin's mammoth solak wax-kxtkactok 



those days I also devised several steam 

 and water extractors. The general jilan of 

 the steam machines was after the plan so 

 commonly used in the Swiss and other ma- 

 chines — a perforated basket to receive the 

 combs above a chamber or kettle of boiling 

 water, the wax to drop into a pan and dis- 

 charge through a spout at one side. The 

 water method, or submerging process, was 

 pretty thoroughly gone over, cheese-cloth, 

 burlap, and other kintls of bags used. I 

 went all through the boiling, punching, 

 and stirring process, but every time with a 

 feeling that all was unsatisfactory. 



At one time I thought I had struck a 

 grand idea, and proceeded to put it into 

 practice. I made a boiler of such shape as 

 to take a wire-cloth cylinder submerged in 



boiling water, and in that cylinder I put 

 the combs and proceeded to boil and turn, 

 but the thing was nowhere near equal to 

 the sack-and-stick method. I gave it up as 

 a failure. After that I depended on the so- 

 lar and the bag methods, occasionally re- 

 sorting to some method of applying pres- 

 sure to the slumgum after I had boiled and 

 punched out all the wax I could get. 



SOLAR WAX-EXTRACTORS VARIOUSLY CON- 

 STRUCTED; THEIR FIELD OF USEFULNESS. 



But now to the solar. I believe every 

 apiarist should have one, and put his wax 

 accumulations through that first. Since 

 coming to Colorado I have built several so- 

 lars — first a small one about 2X3 feet, a 

 wooden box with a window-sash for the 

 glass. The second one was a wood-glass 

 structure, in size about 3x6 feet, a door at 

 the back by which to load it, and a pit, or 

 drop, at the front, and a side door where 

 the wax cakes were removed, the structure 

 on wheels and legs. This saine machine 

 was somewhat remodeled and changed to 

 meet new ideas. Next was a brick-glass 

 structure with a furnace under it, 

 size about 4x6 feet. Later I built 

 another brick one with a fur- 

 nace under it. This, too, was 

 4x6 feet. All these machines 

 were made the common fashion 

 — long way north and south. 

 The sash frames were for the 

 most part of wood, but in a few 

 instances I put in metal bars, 

 some of iron and some of tin. Up 

 to this 4x6 machine, original 

 and rebuilding, I had built not 

 less than half a dozen solars and 

 put through them much wax — 

 at least several thousand pounds. 

 But in all these efi'orts I found 

 some serious faults. No matter 

 how many legs and wheels, the 

 things would not face the sun 

 unless I was there to face about. 

 The brick machines were, of 

 course, stationarj', but made with 

 a view to g^etting- the maximum 

 of sunshine. The next efi^ort 

 was to enlarge the 4x6 and make 

 it a 6x6, the glass roof having 

 three slopes or sides, south, east, and west. 

 This was shown in half-tone in this jour- 

 nal two years ago, the editor photograph- 

 in-- it himself. That same solar went 

 til rough several evolutions in some of 

 its parts, mainly in the internal arrange- 

 ments. It was put against the south side 

 of a 10x16 brick house, the loading being 

 done through a door opening from the 

 building into the solar. At one time the 

 wax and honey were discharged to a pit in 

 the center of the back (north) side, and the 

 unloading was also done from the inside of 

 the house, not an opening being outside. 



Loiter I discarded the back central dis- 

 charge and ran all to the front, the object 

 being to get the honey and wax where they 

 would be as long as possible in the sun. 



