172 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[Feb. 



walls, luto which he could pour a hot fluid to allow 

 the safe removal of the frames, if the bees fastened 

 them to the case, and that the cover of this case was 

 a metallic reservoir filled with a fluid for drowning 

 the bee-moth ; that he only made a single hive ; that 

 he never could obtain a drop of lioney from it in 

 boxes or supers ; tiiat the first two colonies which he 

 put in it, after remaining in it for a longer or shorter 

 time, ran away from it ; that the last swarm died iu 

 it, and that becoming discouraged, he laid it aside. 

 Does Mr. King seriously imagine thai an abandoned 

 device, wliieh conferred no benefit whatever either on 

 Mr. Sliaw or on the public, will aid him before the 

 courts iu overtlirovving the claims of my patent? 



The testimony of Messrs. Moon, Townley, Metcalf, 

 Harbison, and Flanders, was presented when I 

 applied for the extension of my patent. The exam- 

 iner, in liis report to the commissioner of patents, 

 commenting upon a part of the testimony, says : 

 '• Such testimouy on the part of the opposition, and 

 this is representative of tlie whole, becomes an argu- 

 ment, and a very strong one, in favor of tliis appli- 

 cant ;" and the commissioner, by extending the 

 patent, sustained this report. 



In this review of Mr. King's article, I have by no 

 means attempted such a vindication of the claims of 

 my patent as will be presented to the court, but ouly 

 such comments as Mr. King himself has made neces- 

 sary that the public may not be unduly influenced 

 before the case can come to trial. 



In tlie Ijeginning of his communication, Mr. King 

 says that I Imve aided Mr. Otis and others "in doing 

 all they could to injure him and his business;" and 

 iu the November No. of his paper, he says that I 

 have been doing all that I could " to aid such men as 

 Otis in their malicious designs against most of the 

 enterprising beekeepers of the United States." Now, 

 Mr. Otis is the sole owner of the larger part of the 

 territory in my patent, but he has not, since 1S67, 

 been connected in business with me. He is attempt- 

 ing to get a decision from the U. S. Court, by which 

 he can protect his rights under the patent, against 

 those whom he regards as infringing upon tljem. If 

 I should in any way discountenance or obstruct him 

 in his appeal to the law, or if I even failed to give 

 him ail the aid in my power, would it not be a gross 

 breach of good faitli on my part, not ouly to him, but 

 to other parties who have purchased an interest in 

 my patent 1 Are not the beelieeping public sicli 

 of this seemingly interminable controversy about 

 the validity of my patent ? and do tliey not desire to 

 have it legitimately settled as soon as possible ? Had 

 my means permitted, I should long ago have asked 

 the courts to decide the question. 



There are some other personal matters in Mr. 

 King's article, which, before they are noticed, make 

 it proper to quote here from my address to the bee- 

 keeper's of the United States, published in tlie April 

 No. of this Journal. 



" In the contest which must soon come before the 

 courts of law, I hope that every legitimate weapon 

 which can be used to break down my patent, will l)e 

 brought forward ; and I now hereby invite all tlie 

 beekeepers of the United States, and all anywhere 

 else, who may see this appeal, to send to Mr. King, 

 against whom suit has been brought, for infringing 

 on my patent, any information contained in books oi' 

 printed publications in any language, prior to the 

 issue* of my patent (October 5th, 18.52), which seems 

 to have any adverse bearing on my case, and to bring 

 forward any knowledge they may possess of any in- 

 vention made in this country, but not described in 



print, by which the claims of my patent may be either 

 weakened, limited or invalidated." 



Does Mr. King, when suggesting that I might 

 have bribed the patent office examiner, or that I 

 might have conspired with Mr. Wagner to patent a 

 foreign invention as my own, suppose that the bee- 

 keepers of this country will consider him as using the 

 " legitimate weapons " of an honorable warlare ? 

 or that tliey will ever give credit to such unworthy 

 insinuations ? 



L. L. Langstkoth. 



Oxford, Ohio, Jan. 11, 1873, 



*I ought to have said prior to my a2^plkation for a 

 patent in January, 1852. 



Baron von Berlepscli and Movable Frames. 



Mr. Editok : — Mr. King, having procured a " De- 

 claration " from Baron von Berlepsch ostensibly to 

 be used in a law-suit, and having published the decla- 

 ration before otfering it in evidence, I desire to give 

 the substance of it to the readers of your Journal, 

 with such other matters as will enable them to judge 

 of its true value. 



The Baron says : " In the winter of 1842-3, I first 

 heard of Dzierzon's invention of a bee-hive with 

 movable combs and the next spring I hastened to ob- 

 tain one of those hives. 



When it arrived, I recognized at a glance tliat this 

 was an apiarian inventi' n of the first rank, but that 

 it was, as it were, iu its infancy, and that the bars had 

 to be replaced by frames if this invention was to have 

 any lasting practical value." He tlieu states tliat he 

 made a hive witli frames instead of bars, and put bees 

 into it in June, 1843. He then details the successive 

 steps by wliich he learned to keep the frames sepa- 

 rated at suitable distances from each other, and from 

 the walls of the ease. He says that '' in 184.5, the 

 hive had been improved to such a degree that the 

 frames could be easily removed and replaced," but 

 that for waut of " wings or ears on their four corners, 

 many mistakes occurred, as often the combs would be 

 too close or too far apart." He next relates how in 

 1846 he and his partner had thirty-six glass jars filled 

 with honey, by using them as supers over his hives, 

 and says : " with these imperfect hives I raised bees 

 until 1850, without bein.; able to make any improve- 

 ment on the frames. In order to keep them apart at 

 proper distances, we pressed at that time little pieces 

 of wax between the ends of two frames." 



The Barou next describes the improvements which 

 he made in arranging the three tiers or stories of 

 frames in his hive, and how in 1850 his partner sug- 

 gested that by putting "projections of half an inch 

 on two ends of the upper part of the frames, they 

 could be held always in the same position aud the 

 bees would have the proper room between the combs." 

 This necessitated the replacing of the frames witliout 

 being able to turn them, but he says : " Now I had 

 discovered what was wanting. In the winter of 1850- 

 51, I liad flames made whose upper parts had on all 

 four ends a projection of one-fourth of an inch. Now 

 there was no obstacle to replace the frames at your 

 pleasure ; in short, the practical frame such as it still 

 exists to-day, was invented. Practical experience in 

 the summer of 1851, confirmed the invention again, 

 and in the spring of 1852, I sent to the Editor of the 

 Bieaenzeituui^- an improved hive, which was trans- 

 mitted by him this year to Mr. H. A. King." * * * 

 "In view of the above, it really appears ridiculous to 

 me that the American Langstroth claims to have in- 

 vented the frames himself, and attaches such great 

 value to the building of honey in vessels of glass and 

 other materials by means of the bung-hole. This in- 

 vention miglit be claimed with more right by the 



