406 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



July 1 



r^ 



thick gummy honey on them through the 

 machine, with the result shown in Fig. 8, 

 which shows one of them with about four- 

 fifths of the surface 

 shaved off, the remain- 

 der not being built out 

 far enough for the knives 



LI to catch. 

 11^ Some of the thin net- 



>;>^'x- y) likg sheets of comb 

 sliced off from these 

 combs are also shown; 

 and, considering the 

 trouble I have had with 

 this feature of the work, 

 the gummy condition of 

 tlie comb, and the fact 

 that these combs were 

 all new tender combs, I 

 consider this extremely 

 good work. 



Fig. 4 shows in out- 

 line the system of guides, 

 the broken lines show- 

 ing the auxiliary guides 

 which receive and line 

 up the frame before en- 

 tering the machine, and 

 support it after leaving 

 the knives, the full lines 

 showing the guides as 

 they engage tne frame 

 while passing through 

 the machine; these 

 guides are all made from 

 sheet metal, and of such 

 shape that they come in 

 contact with the frame at extremely narrow 

 points only, and will easily cut their way 

 through any burr-combs or patches of pro- 

 polis. 



As to the speed at which the work can be 

 done, I easily uncapped at the rate of six 

 frames per minute with my last-year's ma- 

 chine, taking the frames from one super, 

 and returning them to another; and as the 

 guides have been improved, this rate of 

 speed can be improved upon, and any com- 

 mon laborer can do the work. 



While not entirely satisfied with some fea- 

 tures of the machine, I have taken steps to 

 secure patents covering the invention, and 

 have made arrangements with extensive 

 honey-producers in different parts of the 

 country to give the machines a thorough 

 trial under varying conditions; but until they 

 have had a more exhaustive trial than at 

 present, there will be none for sale. 

 Harvey, 111. 



[A year or so ago Mr. G. W. York, editor 

 of the American Bee Journal, wrote us, tell- 

 ing us that a bee-keeper near Chicago had 

 gotten up an uncapping-machine mat he 

 thought we ought to see; that he himself 

 believed it was a good thing, as he had seen 

 it in operation. He hoped we might attend 

 the meeting of the Chicago convention and 

 see the machine; but some business engage- 

 ments prevented our leaving, and we knew 

 nothing of the details of the invention until 



FIG. 4. 



this set of photos, with the article, was fur- 

 nished us. 



When we first looked over the pictures 

 we supposed that, of course, they represent- 

 ed the machine gotten up by Mr. Samuel 

 Simmins, of Sussex, England, who had been 

 working on almost exactly the same idea for 

 some tmie back, and who had promised to 

 send a set of photos showing the machine in 

 operation; but, lo and behold ! this was not 

 the Simmins uncapper but the Ferguson ma- 

 chine referred to by Mr. York. 



We were struck at once by the remarka- 

 ble similarity of the two machines. The 

 principle is identically the same, and the 

 only difference is in detail — just enough to 

 show that the two men were working inde- 

 pendently of each other, neither knowing 

 what the other was doing. 



Mr. Ferguson has already applied for a 

 patent, and so has Mr. Simmins. We also 

 understand that Mr. A. C. Miller, of Provi- 

 dence, R. I., has made an application for 

 something similar. As to who shall be able 

 to establish prior rights in the invention will 

 probably be determined soon by the Patent 

 Office. Mr. Simmins communicated his in- 

 vention to us some three years ago, but at 

 that time was not ready to have its details of 

 construction made public. It has since been 

 shown with illustrations in the Irish Bee 

 Journal. 



Apparently the principle is a success. Mr. 

 Simmins has been very confident that his tri- 

 angular knives would revolutionize uncap- 

 ping throughout the world. Mr. Ferguson, 

 working on the same idea, has been equally 

 confident; and the set of illustrations here- 

 with furnished would indicate that the ma- 

 chine will do all he claims for it. It is now a 

 matter of working out the details and deter- 

 mining who is the original discoverer of the 

 basic principles, when the invention will 

 doubtless be put on the market. 



Both inventors use triangular V-shaped 

 stationary knives with beveled edges mount- 

 ed in an up-right frame through which the 

 comb is pushed. While Mr. Ferguson uses 

 knives having concave backs, all of the same 

 size, Mr. Simmins uses the same kind of knife, 

 but large and small ones in alternation. 



It is remarkable that these two men should 

 be working so closely on the same ideas; yet 

 from careful investigation of all the facts, we 

 are thoroughly convinced that neither bor- 

 rowed from the other. Mr. Ferguson's pat- 

 ent is well along in the Patent Office, and so 

 far he has not encountered any thing that 

 would indicate an "interference." If the 

 machine is a success (as we believe it is) we 

 hope the question of ownership of the pat- 

 ents can be clearly established, so the public 

 can enjoy the use of the invention without 

 being enjoined by some other claimant. 



Apparently this Simmins or F'erguson in- 

 vention has the advantage over other uncap- 

 ping-machines in that it dispenses with all 

 moving parts of any sort. I-urthermore, it 

 can be built for a comparatively small sum of 

 money. While it may not be able to uncap 

 low spots in a few combs, this would be no 



