1871.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



41 



and works immediately in boxes, or small frames 

 five inches deep, which I find more profitable. 



I have found this alteration simple, convenient, 

 and profitable. It leaves the body of the hive 

 very little smaller, and yet more compact for 

 wintering. When emptied, the honey becomes 

 salable in our eastern markets. 



The "Thomas Improved " has all the advan- 

 tages of the double Langstroth used by Novice 

 and others for that purpos '. 



Charles Dawbarn. 



Stamolch, Conn., June 29, 1871. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



The Thomas Hive. 



The occasion of renewing 'my subscription to 

 the American Bee Journal, afi'ords me an oppor- 

 tunity of noticing a communication of Mr. G. 

 Cork in the November No., 1871), page 105, 

 tlirough whose consideration I have had the 

 honor of being mentioned in the Journal. In- 

 formation coming from one who was "formerly 

 an ngen*^," would generally be regarded with 

 suspicion, as being the testimony of a disap- 

 pointed man, and the eagerness with which he 

 lays hold of a casual remark of a stranger and 

 an inquirer in bee-culture, to turn it against the 

 hive, shows that he must have been hard up for 

 argument. But Mr. C. has a remarkable facility 

 of jumping at conclusions, mixing a little that 

 he does know with much of what he knows 

 nothing. I confess I hardly knew myself as he 

 had disguised me — "formerly an agent," and 

 converting the \\' in my signatui-e into "Walter." 

 I am still an agent for the sale of the hive, try- 

 ing, without any misrepresentation, to disjjose 

 of it; and, I am ha])py to say, with steadily 

 increasing success — having sold more this spring 

 than at any time during my connection with it in 

 the spring of 1867. In my neighborhood, I may 

 say it is the only hive used, the number of others 

 being so insignificant. But it is uphill work, 

 trying to sell any improved hive where people 

 have yet to learn that frame hives possess any 

 advantages over boxes of the worst possible 

 shape, large at bottom and tapering upwards. 



W. P. Taylob. 



Fitzroy Harbor, Canada, June 14, 1871. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Claims to Frames, &o. 



Mr. Editor :— In the May number of the 

 Journal, Mr. Beckwith says, "We don't know 

 what Mr. Langstroth's frame is" * * ** "I 

 suppose the shallow chamber below the honey- 

 board, to be Mr. Langstroth's inventi )n, but be- 

 yond that I don't know what it is." 



Mr. Langstroth's claims have been so repeat- 

 edly published, that it is strange that any in- 

 quiring and intelligent bee-keeper should be 

 unacquainted with them. But, as it seems to 

 be so, I would suggest that you copy them again, 

 from the re-issue of his patent, May 26th, 1863, 



when they were fully re-examined by the Patent 

 Office, and granted. They are as follows, using 

 his own language : 



" What I claim as my invention, and desire to 

 secure by letters patent, is — 



First. Constructing and arranging the mova- 

 ble comb frames of bee hives in such a manner 

 that, when placed in the hive or case, they have 

 not only their sides and bottoms kept at suitable 

 distances from each other and from the case, 

 substantially in the manner and for the jiurposes 

 described, but have likewise their tops separated 

 from each other, throughout the whole or a i)or- 

 tion of their length, substantially in the manner 

 and for the i)urposes set fcnth. 



Second. Constructing and arranging movable 

 frames in such a manner that when they are in- 

 serted in tlie hive, the distance between them 

 may be regulated at will, substantially in the 

 manner and for the purposes descril)ed. 



Third. Constructing movable frames and ar- 

 ranging them in the hive in such a manner that 

 the bees can pass above them into a shallow 

 chamber or air-space, substantially in the man- 

 ner and for any or all purposes set forth. 



Fourth. The shallow chamber, in combination 

 with the top bars of the laterally movable frames 

 or their equivalents, and with their perforated 

 honey-board upon which to place surplus honey 

 receptacles, substantially as and for the jjurposes 

 set fortji. 



Fifth. A movable partition or divider sub- 

 stantially as described, when used in combina- 

 tion with movable frames, substantially in the 

 manner and for the jjurpose described. 



Sixth. The use of movable blocks for exclud- 

 ing moths and catching worms, so constructed 

 and arranged as to increase or diminish at will 

 the size of the bee entrance, substnntially in the 

 manner and for the purposes set forth." 



These are the very words of the j^atent, and 

 the careful reader will observe that there is not 

 a word said about the size, shape, dimensions, 

 or material of the case, box, or hive, in which 

 the frames are to be placed, nor of the frames 

 themselves. All that is left free to the fancy, 

 taste, or judgment of the person making or 

 using them, or either of them. But the frames 

 themselves, however shaped, with the manner 

 of applying or using them, the shallow chamber 

 or air-space, the movable jjartition or divider, 

 and the movable blocks for enlarging or dimin- 

 ishing the entrance, are claimed as Mr. Lang- 

 stroth's invention, and patented as sucli. Now, 

 as such frames, &c., so constructed and used, 

 were certainly never before introduced in prac- 

 tical bee-culture, either in this or any foreign 

 country, it is hardly conceivable how any doubt 

 as to the validity of the patent could have arisen 

 in the minds of men disposed to act find deal 

 fairly. As Mr. Langstroth himself remarks in 

 his circular — "These claims clearlj^ and fully 

 cover all the styles of frames now in use in the 

 various hives which have been patented in this 

 country, and none of them can be legally used 

 without a license from the owners of the ex- 

 tended patent ; the United States courts having 

 decided that no j^atentee using any of the claims 

 granted lo a previous inventor, can legally 



