Jan. 31, 1907 



American l^ee Journal 



manner in which I handle any sucli ma- 

 terial is this: 



First, the rails, slabs or small trees 

 are cut on the crosscut saw about 19 to 20 

 inches in length ; next, on the rip-saw 

 I take off a little slab, turn down on the 

 flat sideand split through the middle; in 

 case of slabs or rails no splitting 

 through the middle is necessary, but 

 such are in shape to rip up into desired 

 width at once, after taking a little of one 

 side off. 



The tops and bottoms of shipping 

 cases need not be all of one piece. With 

 our rig we can not saw anything much 

 w;ider than 4 or 5 inches. This is suffi- 

 cient for our work. While a whole top 

 or a whole bottom may be better for a 

 shipping-case, a 3-piece bottom or top 

 answers well. 



Brood-frames should be made of 

 white pine, if possible, but wide frames 

 and the material for section-holders mav 

 be of almost any other timber soft 

 enough to nail up easily. 



In the years gone by we have w^asted 

 and burned a great deal of material that 

 we could now utilize very nicelv for 

 hive-fixtures. This is a matter of re- 

 gret, but cannot be helped now. The 

 high_ price of timber has made us more 

 careful and saving, and in the future 

 we will have to economize more and 

 more. The gasoline engine will help us 

 do it, and at the same tiine make us 

 more independent of the supplv dealer. 



Js'aples, N. Y. 



Wax-Extracting — The Her- 



shiser Wax-Press and 



Method 



BY OREL L. HERSHISER 



Beeswax is the more valuable of 

 apiarian products. It commands the 

 higher price; there is a steady and con- 

 stant demand for it; its market value 

 is comparatively stable: it keeps indefi- 

 nitely and unchan.ged by the elements, 

 and is not ordinarily subject to damage 

 in transportation. 



Notwithstanding its high standard of 

 value, apiarists, generally, have given lit- 

 tle thought to its production until quite 

 recent years, producing what they could 

 obtain by primitive methods of extract- 

 ing, but wasting and destroying more 

 than was produced. This lack of inter- 

 est and progress in the art of wax-pro- 

 duction was undoubtedly due to the dif- 

 ficulty of separating the wax from the 

 refuse, composed of cast-off cocoons 

 from which bees have hatched, propo- 

 lis, pollen, and other foreign materials, 

 always present in old bee-comb in vary- 

 ing quantities. So difficult and almost 

 nnpossible was it, by the means em- 

 ployed, to extract more than a small 

 amount of wax from these impurities 

 that it was supposed by many that the 

 old bee-comb contained little else than 

 dross. _ Because of the unprofitable re- 

 turns for the work, muss and trouble of 

 extracting what little wax could be ob- 

 tained, vast quantities of old bee-comb 

 have been destroyed or thrown away, the 

 bee-keeper believing it to be of no "prac- 

 tical value. 



Thus apiarists in this and other lands 



have been throwing away many dollars 

 annually, the aggregate waste to some 

 individual bee-keepers, during the years 

 of their bee-keeping, reaching into the 

 hundreds of dollars, and apiculture gen- 

 erally has lost hundreds of dollars in 

 this way. As a matter of fact, all old 

 bee-comb is rich in fine wax, the quan- 

 tity varying from 30 percent upwards, 

 according to the quantity of foreign 

 impurities contained therein. New comb 

 in which bees have not been reared or 

 pollen stored is approximately 100 per 

 cent pure. 



Any of the wax-presses heretofore in 

 common use, when economically op- 

 erated, will necessarily leave in the 

 slumgum a large amount of wax, the 

 quantity varying from 8 percent to 25 

 percent of the weight of the slumgum. 

 Slumgum from the solar wax-extractor 

 contains even a higher percetitage of 

 wax. All this has been proven many 

 times over by re-extracting the slum- 

 gum from nearly every known wax-press, 

 including all the modern and most ap- 

 proved styles heretofore on the market. 

 The difficulty, however, is not that of 

 insufficient pressure, but because the 

 methods are faulty in other particulars. 

 In these presses the interior parts of 

 the mass of slumgum are not subjected 

 to the same compression as the outside 

 portions, the elasticity of the mas-; 

 opposing and diminishing the actual 

 pressure. As the surface of the mass be- 

 comes hard and compact the escape of 

 wax is impeded. Moreover, the power 

 required to compress the slumgum in- 

 creases greatly toward the end of the 

 operation, as the more the mass is com- 

 pressed the more solid and less imper- 

 vious it becomes, especially on the sur- 

 face of the mass, and hence the greater 

 the force necessary to expel the remain- 

 ing wax, which by these faulty meth- 

 ods could possibly be obtained; and 

 finally, except a radical departure be 

 taken from the ordinary and custotnary 

 methods of compression, capillary at- 

 traction will hold a portion of the wax 

 with the moisture which it will be im- 

 possible to expel with any amount of 

 pressure. 



If you w-ill saturate a sponge with 

 coloring-matter, which is capable of be- 

 ing washed out, and subject it to pres- 

 sure, it will be found that no amount 

 of squeezing will remove all the color. 

 Saturate it with water and squeeze 

 again, and more of the coloring-matter 

 will be removed, and if the process of 

 saturating with water and squeezing be 

 repeated several times all the coloring 

 matter will be expelled. It has been 

 washed out. Likewise, in a very similar 

 niaiiner, if a rintss of old bee-coiub be 

 subjected to boiling water, the wax con- 

 tained therein will melt, and water and 

 wax may be squeezed out, but no amount 

 of pressure will expel all the water and 

 w-ax. But let tiie mass of old comb 

 be saturated with hot water again, and 

 the squeezing repeated, and as the hot 

 water is expelled it will bring out with it 

 a portion of the remaining wax. If the 

 process of intermittent pressure and sat- 

 uration with hot water is several times 

 repeated ultimately all the wax will 

 be expelled, and the slumgum will liold 

 only water in capillary attraction. 



Again, the specific gravity of wax be- 



ing less than that' of water, if we do 

 the pressing under the surface of hot 

 water, the wax, as it is separated from 

 the slumgum, will rise and float on the 

 surface of the water. 



If the mass of old comb or slumgum 

 is comparatively thin the wax will have 

 but a short distance to move to become 

 free therefrom, and by applying inter- 

 mittent pressure, while immersed in hot 

 water, the washing process, as exem- 

 plified in the case of the sponge, will 

 be employed. 



It is obvious that the methods here- 

 tofore in use locked up within the slum- 

 gum large quantities of wax, as it were 

 in a strong safe, requiring a certain but 

 simple combination to open and release 

 it into our possession. That combina- 

 tion, embracing the application of scien- 



Hershiser Wax-Press 



tifically correct principles, as herein 

 . pointed out, is fully comprehended in 

 the Hershiser wax-press, a view of which 

 is herewith presented. 



Brieflj-, this is a construction in which 

 the masses of slumgum within the ex- 

 tractor are placed in comparatively thin 

 layers so that the wax has the shortest 

 distance possible to move to become free 

 therefrom. 



Again, the masses of slumgum or old 

 comb are pressed while immersed m 

 boiling water, and the wax rises and 

 floats on the surface. 



Further, the structure is designed with 

 the special object of advantageously ap- 

 plying the principle or intermittent pres- 

 sure. 



Finally, in this structure the pres- 

 sure on the several layers of old comb 

 or slumgum is readily and automatically 

 released, thus affording the best possible 

 conditions for the absorption of hot 

 water for the displacement of the wax 

 by repeated pressings. 



Considering the extractor specifically, 

 a boiler or rectangular form is provided, 

 which besides its use in holding the 

 water and bee-comb, or slumgum, to be 

 extracted, serves as the guiding means 

 for the follower, and separating or di- 

 vision racks placed between the chees-.s 

 of slumgum. Being constructed out of 

 very strong sheet-metal it enables the 

 operator to apply the maximum amount 

 of pressure required for the ext'-action 

 of the wax. Across the top of the boi'er 

 IT; a beam, the ends of which extend 

 underneath loops at two of its opposite 

 sides. The boiler is provided at one 



