DECEMBER 1, 1913 



847 



Fig. 4. — The supers of honey loaded on the car, ready to be pushed to the extracting-house. Mr. Holterniann 

 is greatly pleased with the car and its wooden track, and he expects to install a similar one at each yard. 



A perforated-metal basket, only slightly 

 smaller than the can itself, but just two- 

 thirds its depth, occupies the upjDer half of 

 the can. There are two cans, one for each 

 operator, and they hold enough for half a 

 day's work. The eappings are frequently 

 punched and stirred with a board so that 

 they are comparatively dry when taken out 

 and transferred to a barrel. Two barrels 

 will hold drained eappings for the entire 

 extracting at each yard. The honey in the 

 bottom of the uncapping-can is run out into 

 pails and lifted up into the main tank. Mr. 

 Wm. Lossing, of Phoenix, Ariz., uses very 

 much the same plan but goes a step further 

 in that he has a hose leading from the bot- 

 tom of the uncapping-can to the bottom of 

 the extractor, so that the pump elevates the 

 honey from both into the tank. 



THE STEAM UNCAPPING-KNIFE. 



As mentioned before, Mr. Holtermann has 

 not used the steam knives until this year; 

 in fact, he told me he had been rather op- 

 posed to them, but he finds them a great 

 improvement over the cold knife. With tiie 

 steam knife Miss Holtermann was able to 

 uncap three combs per minute, and keep up 

 this rate right along. At tliis speed I fail 

 to see why any one should need an uncap- 

 ping machine. There is not a machine that 

 has ever been tried that will uncap all 

 combs. There is a certain amount of hand 

 work that must be done any way. Taking 

 this into consideration, it is my opinion 



that no machine will ever be built that will 

 exceed the rate of three combs per minute. 

 I know that, under the most favorable cir- 

 cumstances, when the combs are uniform 

 and bulged, a greater speed than this has 

 been made with a machine. I know, too, 

 that the advocates of the uncapping-ma- 

 ehine have suggested that the honey-pro- 

 ducers must take more pains to have their 

 combs uniformly bulged on both sidesl. 

 However, when all is said and done, it is 

 my honest conviction that the uncapping- 

 machine will be no nearer perfection ten 

 years hence. In saying this I am not trying 

 lo tlu'ow cold water on the etforts of any 

 one. I merely believe, as I said before, that 

 no uneapping-machine, taking into consid- 

 eration tie lest combs that tie average pro- 

 ducer will lave, will ever exceed the simple 

 steam knife. 



It takes three operators with cold knives 

 to keep up with the twelve-frame extractor, 

 and only two using the steam knife. Mr. 

 Holtermann was having a little trouble be- 

 cause the water in the boiler evaporated so 

 fast that frequent additions- were necessary. 

 I think his trouble was that the oil-stove 

 used could not be properly regiilated, and 

 there was far more heat than was really 

 necessary. With a stove that can be turned 

 no higher than required, two quarts of 

 water will run the knife half a day, so that 

 <lie boiler needs filling only once in the 

 molding and o;ue at noon. 



