i9m 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE, 



235 



MILLERS AUTOMATIC DECAPPER. 



BY ARTHUR C. MILLER. 



The machin<» for decapping honey-combs, il- 

 lustrated herewith, is the result of over ten years' 

 effort and experiment. Begun as an amusement, 

 and continued from pique at being balked by a 

 so seemingly simple problem, one step led to 

 another until tinally success was attained. 



To strip the surface from a fat comb was easy; 

 but to cut the whole surface when within the 

 edges of the frame, and yet not hit the frame, 

 was not so easy. And to devise a machine which 

 would take any style of frame in common use, 

 regardless of the width of the end-bars or length 

 or width of top-bar extensions, or standing or 

 rivet-supported frames, presented a complex prob- 

 lem. When the different lengths and depths of 

 frames were considered, added troubles arose. 

 Then the depth of the cut must be readily con- 

 trolled. 



Many a time the partly developed machine 

 was pushed under the bench and left for weeks or 

 months until some puzzle could be approached 

 from a fresh view-point. Then often the adop- 

 tion of a plan for accomplishing one thing would 



miller's automatic decapher. 



necessitate radical changes in another place, and 

 so it went until the mere thought of the machine 

 began to be painful. But following what is said 

 to be Mr. Carnegie's version of an old saw, "All 

 things come to him who waits if he hustles while 

 he waits," the puzzles were solved. 



The machine as it now stands takes frames of 

 any size between ten and nineteen inches long, 

 and of any depth up to twenty inches. Depth 

 makes no difference in operation and change of 

 machine, for length is accomplished by loosening 

 two bolts and sliding the adjustable end to the 

 right place. Few bee-keepers have more than 

 one length of frame, and even then seldom in the 

 same apiary. 



The cutters are not fastened into the machine, 

 but hang free, and may be lifted out for cleaning 

 or sharpening. They saw back and forth across 

 the two surfaces of the comb as the latter descends 

 between them. By means of a lever at one end 

 of the machine, the depth of the cut is regulated. 

 The pushing of the lever is all that is required to 

 send the cutters to the midrib of the comb or to 

 throw them out of action entirely. When set, 

 all combs are cut alike until the operator changes 

 the set. 



Frames are dropped into the machine just as 

 they are into a hive. As the 

 bottom-bar approaches the cut- 

 ters, the latter open until the 

 bar is by, and at once return to 

 the depth set and cut until the 

 top-bar is reached, when out 

 they go again. It is all auto- 

 matic, and calls for no attention 

 from the operator. When the 

 comb is finished it drops out 

 into the framework below the 

 cutters. In the illustration this 

 is shown away down as when 

 delivering a frame; but when at 

 rest it is up where it catches the 

 comb without a jolt 



The combs feed through the 

 machine in ratio to the speed ot 

 the cutters, so that it is impossi- 

 ble to crowd the combs on to 

 the cutters. Owing to the speed 

 at which the cutters move they 

 do not clog or gum up as does 

 a hand knite; and on account of 

 the relative shortness of the 

 stroke they do not throw the 

 capping?, the latter merely drop- 

 ping off. Any sort of recep- 

 tacle may be used to catch 

 them, a metal-lined wooden box 

 being light, durable, and cheap. 

 Capping-melters may be attach- 

 ed, but the writer believes in 

 specializing the work; and to 

 combine wax-relining with hon- 

 ey-harvesting does not appfal to 

 him as either expeditious or 

 economical. 



The machine is devised to 

 permit the attachment of a rack 

 to hold ten or more combs at 

 the top, whence they will feed 

 in one after the other, but the 

 one-at-a-time way is considered 



