412 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



JUXE 1. 



through the cover until the shoulders formed by 

 the wires rest on top of the cover. A little melted 

 resin and beeswax poured around the wire and car- 

 bons on top of the cover will make permanent con- 

 nections. 



A piece of zinc (cast from any old scraps) i4 to % 

 inch in diameter, with a shoulder and a wire cast in 

 it (see Fig-. 2(, the zinc to fit loosely in the cover, is 

 next needed. Amalgamate tlie zinc, and its con- 

 sumption will be less rapid. To do this, take one 

 part sulphuric acid and two of water and put in a 

 saucer with some quicksilver. Rub tlie zinc with 

 this mixture, vising a woolen cloth, until the zinc is 

 bright. Amalgamate only below the shoulder. 



With both zinc and carbons in place, put the 

 cover on the jar and fill the latter with water to 

 within )^ inch of the cover. Take off the cover and 

 mark the watei'-line by pasting a strip of paper on 

 the outside of the jar, just at tlie point reached by 

 the water when the cover is off. Treat all three 

 jars and covers the same. 



To make the solution, take one part commercial 

 sulphuric acid and seven parts water. Pour the 

 acid slowly and gradually into the water, stirring it 

 with a glass rod or hard-wood stick. To each quart 

 of this mixture add four ounces bichromate of 

 potash, or about three ounces to each jar, stirring it 

 until it is almost dissolved. Pour the water from 

 the jars and pour in the solution until it comes up 

 to the aforesaid water-line; put on the covers; 

 place the zincs in their places and '"connect up." 

 (See Fig. 3.) 



^J> 



To connect the battery, take the surplus wire 

 from the carbon of one jar and connect it to the 

 zinc of the next jar. Take the carbon wire from 

 this jar and connect to the zinc of the third jar. 

 Now you have two surplus wires left— one from the 

 zinc in jar No. 1, and tlie other from the carbon in 

 No. 3; i. e., positive and negative terminals. Take 

 in your right hand the surplus wire from No. 3 and 

 touch it to tlie suiplus wire of No. 1, and you will 

 see quite a Hash of lightning You will then know 

 that the batteij- is in good working order. Don't be 

 afraid of a shock, for there is none where there is 

 no magnetism, and there is no magnetism about a 

 naked battery. You might burn your tingers, 

 though, by catching hold of the small wii'e in the 

 brood-frame when the current is on. 



A word of caution just here. Remove the zincs 

 from the solution as soon as you are through using 

 the battery, otherwise the solution will become 



overcharged with sulphate of zinc, which renders it 

 worthless. Make all connections as s/iorf as possible, 

 as this style of battery is of low tension, and would 

 not heat 50 feet of wire 2°. 



Oh, yes ! it will burn a four or five volt lamp, as 

 bright as day, for a few minutes; but fifteen min- 

 utes with a closed circuit at any one time would 

 ruin the carbon element for ever; but if the battery 

 is used simply for imbedding wires, the carlionswill 

 last for years. Before connecting, scrape or emerj-- 

 paper all parts to be connected. Soldering them is 

 better. For all connections, use copper wire, about 

 No. 20. 



[If a battery of three jars proves too weak, more 

 jars can be added until the desired I'esult is obtain- 

 ed. If any one should prefer to buy batteries 

 instead of making them, they can be bought (those 

 called the Diamond Carbon) at $1.25 each, of the 

 Electrical Supply Co., 102 Mich. Ave., Chicago, 111. 

 —Ed.] 



To wire a frame, attach one end of the wire (use 

 No.* 30) to a tack in the end-bar (see Fig. 4): and 

 after the frame is wired, attach the other end to a 

 tack in the opposite end-bar; the tacks to corres- 

 spond ^vith metal springs, S S, on cleats, in Fig. 5. 

 No one part of the wire must touch another part 

 throughout its length, nor any part be connected to 

 the same piece of metal that another part is fasten- 

 ed to, as, if your wires cross each other, thei-e will 

 be what is called a "short circuit," and the current 

 will take the shortest route back to the battery, 

 leaving part of the wire "dead." If you undertook 

 to imbed crossed wires, only that part would be 

 imbedded that the current heated, and you would 

 count the wliole thing a grand failure; yet if, in 

 your style^of wiring, the wires do cross, put a small 

 piece of p'lper between them, just enough to keep 

 them separate, and you will meet with no trouble 

 at all. 



To rig up a table, make a drop board, ju.st thick 

 enough so that, when nailed to the table, and a 

 wired frame laid over it, the frame will rest on the 

 table, and the wires will be the proper distance 

 above board; i. e., half the thickness of the founda- 

 tion. Next make two square cleats, as thick as the 

 end-bars of a brood-frame are wide. Make two metal 

 springs (thin brass) as wide as the cleats are thick, 

 and fasten to the cleats with screws (see Fig. 5). 

 Nail the cleats, one on either side of drop board 

 (see Fig. 5), so that, when the end-bars of the frame 

 rest between the cleats and drop-board, the tack- 

 heads (to which tlie wire is fastened) will press 

 tightly against the springs. Have the springs two 

 or three inches long, so if you don't get the tacks 

 always in the same place on every frame the tack- 

 heads will press against the spring anyhow. 



To make the contact^button, take some oi tlie 

 same metal (brass) as mentioned above, K inch wide 

 and 3 inches long, and bend it in the shape shown in 

 Fig. 6, and screw it to the table, six inches or there- 

 abouts, to the right of the right-hand cleat. Just 

 under the spring, or raised end, drive a brass-headed 

 tack, of the kind u.sed in perforated chair-bottoms. 

 (See Fig. 6.) 



To connect the battery with the t.^.ble (make all 

 connections under the table for convenience as well 

 as looks), take the surplus carbon wii'e in cell No. 3; 

 run it through a small hole made with an awl close 

 ti) the tack in contact-button; wind the wire around 

 the tack between the table and the head of the t|ick; 

 drive the tack home, and that connection is com- 

 plete. (See Fig. 7.) Make an awl-hole through the 

 table, alongside of one of the scicws that hold the 

 contact-button to the table, aiiothei' awl-hole close 

 beside the spring, in the rUjht-haud cJnit; put one 

 end of a short piece of wire around one screw in 

 the contact-botton ; drive the screw home. Run 

 the other end of the wire down through the hole 

 made in the table, and u() through the hole 

 alongside of the spring in tlie rigJit-liand cleat, and 

 fasten the end of the wire around the screw and 

 drive the screw home. (See Fig. 7.) Now take the 

 surplus zinc wire in cell No. 1 and connect it to the 

 spring in the Jf/'t /uoid c^iaf, and your table is com- 

 plete. (See Fig. 7.) 



To operate the "machine," place your wired 

 brood-frame over the drop-board with the top-bar 

 from you. See that the tack-heads press against 

 the spring in the cleats; place your foundation on 

 the wires; "press the (contact) button, and the 

 electricity does the rest." A man with nimble lin- 

 gers could do ten a minute. Don't you tliink I have 

 made it all plain ? W. E. Dages. 



Morris, 111., March 26, 1892. 



