1908 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



211 



For even a small bee-keeper, a press of 

 some kind, as over the old methods, will soon 

 pay for itself. There is practically no eco- 

 nomic method of rendering without it. Ma- 

 chines defective in one locality or under one 

 condition may answer well in another. 



For instance, in a hot climate, or where 

 wax-rendering can conveniently be left until 

 hot weather, the method of heating the wax 

 in a vessel on the stove and then pressing in 

 a machine not being heated on the stove, is 

 perhaps the cheapest machine and the most 

 rapid and economic method, and will answer 

 well. But where the spare time is in the 

 winter, and the operating-room can not be 

 kept at a very high temperature, the wax at 

 any exposed part or among the cloth itself 

 soon gets cold, and the wax thus confined 

 results in loss. 



In the Hershiser wax-press we have a ma- 

 chine which remains on the stove and has 

 heat applied to it while in operation, and it 

 can, therefore, be operated in a comparative- 

 ly cold room; but it takes considerable time 

 to heat the machine and its contents. From 

 my experience each of the above machines 

 will do good work, and, on the other hand, 

 with them, as with any machine, wasteful 

 work can be done. 



Mr. Sibbald, who was for two years presi- 

 dent of the Ontario Bee-keepers' Association, 

 and who is a successful, intelligent, and ex- 

 tensive honey-producer, and who has in the 

 neighborhood of four hundred colonies of 

 bees, and is a prize-winner in both comb and 

 extracted honey, and who is one of the six 

 foul-brood inspectors of the province, stated 

 that he had designed the press, availing him- 

 self of the best thoughts of other inventors. 

 He had arranged the machine so that any 

 one who had a Hatch-Gemmell press could 

 use the most expensive part of it in the new 

 design. 



In describing the machine, Mr. Sibbald 

 states: 



"The sketch makes the principle of the 

 press pretty clear. To operate, a common 

 stove and boiler may be used for melting the 



old combs or slumgum, which, when thor- 

 oughly melted and about to boil, is dipped 

 or skimmed off, and poured into form 6, 

 which has already been placed upon the bot- 

 tom set of slats, and is covered by a cheese- 

 cloth. When a depth of about two inches 

 has been filled in the cheese-cloth the latter 



is folded over and pinned. The form is then 

 taken out and another set of slats placed up- 

 on the cheese-cloth and contents just pre- 

 pared. The form is again placed on the 

 slats; a cheese-cloth is again spread over the 

 form, and two inches deep again filled into 

 the form, when the cloth is folded over and 

 pinned as before Form 6 is again taken out 

 and the operation again repeated, and the 

 last cheese is made and the form removed, 

 when a top set of slats is put upon the pile. 



The tank (4) is then pushed bapk until un- 

 der the screw, which is then tightened. The 

 hot water from which the melted combs or 

 slumgum has been skimmed is then poured 

 into the tank (4), filling it up to within half 

 an inch of the overflow lip, and so as quite 

 to overflow the slats and cheeses. The tank 

 is covered by means of two boards so as to 

 keep all warm, and the screw is given a few 

 turns down. This is left for a few minutes 

 while the boiler is again filled. Continue the 

 turning-down of the screw every few min- 

 utes; loosen it occasionally, and allow hot 

 water to soak back into the cheeses and 

 thereby wash out the wax, when the screw 

 is again tightened. 



By the time the next boilerful of old comb 

 is nearing the boiling-point the wax is over- 

 flowed or skimmed off by either adding more 

 hot water from a second boiler or by tipping 

 up the opposite side until the wax which is, 

 of course, on top, is all run off. 



The water is next let off from the top in 

 front, and used for the next boilerful. Being 

 still quite hot, time and heat are saved. Now 

 loosen the screw, draw the tank forward un- 

 til clear of the top-bar (2); take out the three 

 top sets of slats and refuse. Put in form (6); 

 spread a cheese-cloth over the form as be- 

 fore, and proceed to refill the machine. 



It will be seen that the system of gravitat- 

 ing the beeswax away from the material 

 pressed, and away from grates, etc., can 

 readily be applied to some machines in use 

 I might add that, in heating old comb, cap- 

 pings from comb, or the like, if there is 

 any honey slightly fermented among it, the 



