FEBRUARY 1, 1913 



longs the credit of making' jierfect comb 

 foundation on rolls that were mechanically 

 correct. The only improvement made on the 

 Washburn mills was in the method of mak- 

 ing them, by which they could be turned 

 out for one-fifth the cost, thus enabling 

 every beekeeper to oAvn a comb-foundation 

 machine if he desired. Later improvements 

 were made by E. B. Weed, which will be 

 referred to later. 



As regards the invention of Hruschka, 

 several machines were made and put on the 

 market. The one made by J. L. Peabody 

 consisted of a can that revolved without 

 gearing. The limitations of this were such 

 that very few of them were ever sold. To 

 A. I. Root (if you will pardon me again) 

 belongs the credit of making some of the 

 first all-metal extractors that used gearing, 

 a stationary can with baskets, or contain- 

 ers, for holding the combs, so constructed 

 that they could revolve inside of the can. 

 Thousands and thousands of these machines 

 were sold, and very little in the way of im- 

 provement was made until the reversible 

 extractor was put on the market. The 

 Cowan principle was applied to the two- 

 frame machines, and later came the Root 

 principle of a series of baskets. geared to- 

 gether in such a way that the reversing of 

 one pocket reversed all at the same time. 

 Later cam.e the invention of Mr. Frank G. 

 Marbach, by means of which the pockets 

 could be reversed automatically by simply 

 applying a brake and slowing down the 

 speed of the machine. This was followed 

 by a slip gear and better mechanism, by 

 which the extractor of to-day has from two 

 to ten times the capacity of the earlier 

 machines. In this connection we must not 

 omit to mention tlie honey-pump that is 

 now being used successfully on the large- 

 sized extractors to deliver the honey from 

 the extractor to a tank above or anywhere 

 else. 



There is one more important invention 

 that, jierhaps, ought to be classed with the 

 movable frame, comb foundation, and the 

 extractor; and that is the bee-smoker. Moses 

 Quinby was the inventor of the bellows bee- 

 smoker, which he brought out in 1875. This 

 was further improved by T. F. Bingham, 

 L. C. Root, and H. H. Root, younger son 

 of A. I. Root. The modern bee-smoker is 

 almost as indispensable as an extractor and 

 movable frames; for without smoke, ap- 

 plied by means of a convenient instrument, 

 the work of handling bees would be awfully 

 disagreeable if not impossible at times. The 

 invention of father Quinby forms the basis 

 of all the modern smokers of to-day. But 

 to T. F. Eina'ham belorcs the credit of 



devising a smoker that blows air into the 

 fire-cup without sucking any smoke into 

 the bellows. Mr. Bingham's invention con- 

 sisted in leaving out the tube connecting 

 the two parts of the instrument. Wliile 

 that at first thought might seem to be no 

 invention, yet it made all the difference in the 

 world between a workable tool and an un- 

 workable one. The latter would go out and 

 fill up with creosote, while the former would 

 stay lit, burn any kind of fuel, and not 

 clog up. 



E. B. Weed, formerly of Medina, was the 

 inventor of what is known as the " Weed 

 New Process " for making comb foundation 

 of a veiy superior kind in large quantities. 

 His automatic maehineiy, with Washburn's 

 and Howk's improvements for turning out 

 the product, is now used in nearly all civil- 

 ized countries of the world. This invention 

 almost ought to be classed among the four 

 great inventions — the movable frame, comb 

 foundation, the extractor, and the bee- 

 smoker. 



An invention which is now in almost uni- 

 vei-sal use. in this country at least, is that of 

 the late Julius Hoffman, in what is known 

 as the Hoffman self-spacing frame. W^hile 

 the old-style Langstroth non-spacing frame 

 is one that is generally sold, the Hoifman- 

 Langstroth is one that is listed by large 

 and small manufacturers and dealers all 

 over the country. It is an invention that 

 has come to stay. I should say, however, 

 that the present Hoffman frame is not the 

 same as the original Hoffman ; or, to put it 

 in another way, the modern Hoffman retairs 

 only the self-spacing end-bars of the orig- 

 inal, and not the Hoffman top-bar. 



x\.nother improvement was suggested by 

 Mr. Francis Danzenbaker; namely, the lock 

 cornering on hives. This feature has now 

 come to be adopted by all modern hive- 

 makers throughout the United States, and, 

 to a great extent, throughout the world. 

 Mr. Danzenbaker was also the inventor of 

 a reversible closed-end frame that is being 

 used by a large number of comb-honey pro- 

 ducers. 



The invention of the sectional honey-box 

 is not attributable to anj' one person; how- 

 ever, A. I. Root was the first man to make 

 one holding one pound. His first i^ound 

 sections were dovetailed all around. Later 

 on came the invention of the one-j^iece sec- 

 tior, on which J. H. Forncrook secured a 

 patent; but after long litigation from ore 

 court to another, the Supreme Court finally 

 declared it " null and void for want of nov- 

 elty." It was shown that one J. Fiddes and 

 a number of others had made and used sec- 

 tior.s of this kind; so in the !nat!er of one- 



