1904 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



177 



What are the advantapfes of this press? 

 Rapidity, safety', and facility- of operation. 



The refinin^chest may b ■ used as an at- 

 tachment to any wax press or extractor by 

 makinf^ the cover steam-tif;ht; and the extra 

 pressure gfiven to the steam thereby will 

 cause the wax to melt much more riipidly, 

 besides doing' away with the dangerous 

 operation of remelting the wax. 



FIG. 3, THE REFINING- CHEST. 



The press being- fastened to a small plat- 

 form or box which rests on the floor near 

 the stove the operator can apply the pres- 

 sure much more easily than he can to a 

 press resting loosely on a stove, and where 

 the handle bars will be at least five feet 

 high when raised to their greatest height. 

 The hot wax, instead of being on the stove- 

 pan, where children are liable to tip it over 

 and scald themselves, is in an enclosed 

 chest. Instead of having to remelt the wax, 

 it is all done at one operation. There is a 

 constant pressure on the combs in the bas- 

 ket by the live ^team, as it can not pass 

 downward excepting through the combs. 

 The steam, having so far to descend before 

 making its exit, is under pretty high pres- 

 sure, and will melt the comb more thorough- 

 ly and quickly than an extractor which 

 stinds on the stove, and from which the hot- 

 test steam passes through the pipe through 

 which the wax runs. Lastly, the pressure 

 is applied right in live steam. You will 

 get every dram of wax. There will be no 

 drip over the floor in transferring from the 

 stove to a cold press, nor chilling when the 

 pressure is not applied quickly enough. 



Should the steam issue around the plun- 

 ger-rod, a wet cloth may be wound around 

 it next to the cover, which will eflfectually 

 prevent it from coming out. 



[If I mistake not, this general plan has 

 no: been carried out in its entirety by Mr. 

 La Bounty. It is somewhat of a question 

 whether enough live steam could be generat- 

 ed in so small and simple a boiler as is 

 shown in the illustration, sufficient to force 

 a pressure of hot steam into the wax press 

 and from there through the perforated met- 

 al basket into the refining-chest. It is my 



opinion, having had a great deal to do with 

 the generation of steam, that a much more 

 elaborate boiler would have to be provided. 

 It would require a larger surface to the 

 stove than is here shown. If any pressure 

 were generated at all it would be quite li- 

 able to force the water out of the offset at C, 

 as shown in Fig. 1; and it is questionable 

 whether the steam could be forced from such 

 a generator through the perforatf^d metal 

 in the basket at M, in Fig. 2; for it is un- 

 derstoid, of course, that the trough at K 

 is filled with water, and hence the steam 

 must work its way through the mass of 

 wax, which it may or may not do, depend- 

 ing on the pressure that is applied. 



I learned from my own experience that 

 there are a good many things on paper in 

 connection with this matter of wax-presses 

 and wax rendering that had to be greatly 

 modified after an extended and repeated 

 test; and there are some things in connec- 

 tion with this method that will not work 

 out as is here stated. However, a more 

 elaborate boiler — something that would cost 

 as much as the wax-press itself — would 

 cause the steam to flow downward and 

 cause a pressure in the wax-press. But 

 there could be no offset at C in the boiler, 

 for the water would be all forced out; in 

 other words, it would boil over.* 



So much by way of criticism. I trust the 

 reader will not feel that I condemn all of 

 Mr. La Bounty's ideas. He has suggested 

 some good ones. First, it would be conven- 

 ient to have the wax press off from the 

 stove at a convenient height from the floor; 

 and this could be done by having a boiler 

 of the right dtsign and of sutflcient capaci- 

 ty. I believe the refining chest would be a 

 good thing, for it is desirable to have the 

 wax handled all at one heat, to save dis- 

 coloration. Repeated tests have shown us 

 conclusively that every time wax is heated 

 it is darkened very slightly. 



There is another feature that may or may 

 not have merit; and that is, having the 

 threads cut off from the screw from the 

 point to about half its length. We use in 

 our wax presses a double lead thread by 

 which one turn moves the screw down % 

 inch, and it is my candied opinion that one 

 could turn this down quicker than he could 

 get the threads into the mesh at H, Fig. 2. 

 By the by, the lug H should be on the 

 under side of the cross-arm, to stand the 

 strain of the pressure. Whether this is a 

 mistake of the artist or of Mr. La Bjunty I 

 can not say. 



Taking it all in all, I question very much 

 whether the average person would be will- 

 ing- to go to the expense of a generator, to 



* Kit-ht here, perhaps, it woulrl be proper to explain. 

 Water i)i e-s-ure is in direct ratio to Us height in a tank 

 orstandpipf. Rough y speaking, an elevation of two 

 feet of water would give a pressure of about one 

 pound per square inch. To generate .•-ufficient pre s- 

 ure to force th'- ste un up through the thread as 

 spoken of in Fig 2 so that it would be necsaryto 

 confine it wii h a wet rag as '^xplained in the last par- 

 agraph of the article it wo Id require a water eleva- 

 tion of at least two ftet at C, Hg 1 when, in fact, 

 there is supposed to be only about two inches. 



