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©LEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Jak. 15 



DR. BIGELOW'S APIARIAN L,ABORATORY AS IT STOOD ORIGINALLY IN STAMFORD, CT. 



EXTRACTING HONEY WITH ELECTRICITY 

 FOR POWER. 



BY A. D. SHBPARD. 



As I have seen nothing in the bee-jour- 

 nals about operating a honey-extractor with 

 an electric motor, I decided to send you a 

 photograph of my automatic four-frame ex- 

 tractor equipped with a ^ H. P. electric 

 motor for power. Instead of using a very 

 large pulley on the extractor shaft, I used a 

 countershaft as shown. The pulley on the 

 motor is 2 inches in diameter, which belts 

 to the 12-inch pulley on the countershaft. 

 The small pulley on the latter is 3 inches, 

 which belts to the 8-inch pulley on the ex- 

 tractor shaft, this reduction being just about 

 right for the speed of the motor. 



By this arrangement I still have the use 

 of the idler for regulating the speed of the 

 extractor, which I regard as very satisfac- 

 tory. After most of the honey is out of the 

 combs and the speed of the reel is a little 

 too high, I loosen the idler a notch, allow- 

 ing the belt to slip slightly, so that I have 

 what I call a happy medium in speed. 



The motor is a second-hand one, which 

 had been in use before only a short time. 

 I paid $40.00 for it, the original selling price 

 being $55.00 or $60.00. The countershaft 

 cost me $4.25, and the extra belting $2.12. 

 Our city engineer estimates that it costs me 

 about 15 cts. for electricity per thousand 

 pounds of honey extracted. The electric- 

 power plant is owned by the city, which 



perhaps makes some diflference in rates. I 

 find that this little motor "beats elbow grease 

 all holler." 

 River Falls, Wis. 



MOVING AN APIARIAN LABORATORY, 



BY EDWARD F. BIGELOW. 



Readers of Gleanings have been made 

 familiar with my apiarian laboratory, which, 

 for a few years, was located on Grove St., in 

 Stamford, Ct. 



In the early part of 1909 a resident of 

 Sound Beach suggested that I should move 

 my entire ex]ierimental outfit to that place, 

 which is the next station on the main line 

 of the railroad west of Stamford, and about 

 twenty minutes' ride by trolley. Between 

 the old and the new location there is a dis- 

 tance of only about three miles. But while 

 this suggestion connoted many advantages, 

 it revealed some rather appalling obstacles. 

 One was the task of moving. The labora- 

 tory was constructed for eighteen interior 

 colonies, with external experimental benches 

 for as many more. At first my friend offer- 

 ed to build a new structure for experiments; 

 but upon more careful consideration we de- 

 cided to move the entire building and the 

 colonies within it. It was also found advis- 

 able to move the pet-house, or, more strict- 

 ly speaking, the zoological part of the ex- 

 perimental plant. Then arose the problem 

 of method; but, fortunately, a contractor 



