418 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 15. 



the fact tliat, no matter how particular I was 

 in spacing the top-bars with my fingers, by 

 guess, the frames would not hang straight, and 

 the bottom-bars would be outof plumb, some 

 being close together and others far apart. The 

 consequence was, the combs would be corre- 

 spondingly out of shape — the cells on one side 

 being built too deep and on the other too shal- 

 low. I tried several methods to remedy this, 

 but none proved satisfactory, until one day, 

 about two years ago, I had the fortune, or mis- 

 fortune, to be forcibly struck with a sudden idea. 

 That settled it, and my spacer as illustrated 

 here is the result of that idea; and it has not 

 been changed in any particular from the orig- 

 inal idea that I was "struck" with. I immedi- 

 ately made some of them, and showed them to 

 every bee-keeper whom I met, and, without 

 exception, they pronounced the device a good 

 thing. Thus encouraged I concluded to have 

 it patented, and my letters patent bear date 

 Feb. 14, 1893. 



I presume there are thousands of bee-keepers 

 who are still struggling with loose hanging 

 frames, who would be glad to change to a fixed 

 frame, but are deterred from doing so on ac- 

 count of the expense. It will readily be seen 

 that these spacers can be easily affixed to the 

 frames they now have in use. at a nominal 

 expense. I am not prepared to say how cheaply 

 they can be made, as I have not invested in any 

 machinery for their manufacture, and do not 

 know what they would cost; but it is reason- 

 able to suppose, from the cheapness of the 

 material of which they are constructed, the 

 number in a pound (80 to 85), and that they can 

 be staTnped out very cheaply with suitable dies, 

 that they can be made and sold at a compara- 

 tively low price. I have made 10 or 13 pounds 

 of them by a slow process, partly by hand; and, 

 although they are not as perfect in shape as 

 machine-made ones would be. they are nearly so. 



The spacer is constructed of No. 30 %" band 

 steel, which I find is strong enough for all prac- 

 tical purposes. The pieces are cut of sufficient 

 length to allow one end to be bent inward about 



^/i inch, and then outward j^^- the projecting 

 vertical edge being cut circular. This flange 

 being circular there are no corners to catch, 

 and the frame slips into its place in a suri)rls- 

 ingly easy manner, and without jar. The other 

 end is bent inward }i inch, and then cut and 

 turned downward to the middle where it is cut 

 off, leaving a horizontal ffangeK inch wide, and 

 projecting ^^ of an inch. These are nailed to 

 the end-bars at the four corners of the frame, 

 the two at one end with the circular flanges 

 pointing one way, and the two at the other end 

 pointing the other way, like two persons going 

 around the same way in a circle and stopping 

 at opposite sides; they would then face in op- 

 posite directions. The end-bars are to be just 

 1 inch wide; and as the projections on either 

 side of the end-bars are ^ of an inch, the spac- 

 ing will be 1% from center to center; but they 

 can be made to space a greater or lesser dis- 

 tance by having diflferent-sized dies. 



As will be seen, when these spacers are affix- 

 ed to the frames in the hive, the projecting 

 flanges (one being vertical and the other hori- 

 zontal) cross each other, thus affording the 

 smallest possible contact between the frames, 

 and preventing the bees from gluing the frames 

 together; in fact, it will be impossible for them 

 to do so to any appreciable extent. The hori- 

 zontal flange is made % inch wide. This al- 

 lows a play of the frame endwise nearly ^4 of 

 an inch without the flanges slipping by each 

 other and becoming interlocked. However, I 

 would recommend that the bottom-bars be 

 made so as to project at the ends I4 of an inch, 

 the ends being reduced to a point, or a round- 

 headed nail be driven in, or, what I consider 

 better still, a staple-tack driven into the ends 

 of the bottom-bar, projecting 3^ of an inch, 

 with the head vertically disposed. This makes 

 an excellent guide to the frames, and facilitates 

 handling them; in fact, if the bee-master 

 should be so unfortunate as to get stung in the 

 face, and his eyes become closed, he could still 

 manipulate the frames without any trouble, 

 and get each frame in its proper place. Any 

 frame in the hive can be removed and replaced 

 without disturbing any of the others, if the 

 combs are straight, and it is very easy to have 

 straight combs with proper spacings at fixed 

 distances. Also, any frame may be turned end 

 for end. or it may be taken out and shifted ta 

 any other part of the hive, and the gap closed 

 up by sliding the frames along the rabbet, and 

 it will still fit. Frames may be changed from 

 one hive to another, or from the extracting- 

 super to the brood-chamber, and they will 

 always fit just where they are wanted. 



P'or bearings at the sides of the hive, I use 

 double-pointed tacks or staples, preferably .^^ 

 or-'i wide, driven in and allowed to project ,^-8 

 of an inch. These are so disposed at the cor- 

 ners of the hive horizontally and vertically that 

 they must meet the corresponding flanges of 



