April, 1917 



gijEanings in bee culture 



259 



Fig. 5. — ^Rea-dy for nailing 

 thru the end-bars into "the 

 top-bars. 



nail I hem, driv- 

 ing one nail thru 

 each end down 

 into the end- 

 bars, Fig. 3. 



Quickly r e - 

 \erse the entire 

 box and its con- 

 tents, and put 

 the top-bars in 

 jilace. Before 

 nailing them, 

 lighten the wing 

 nuts, thus 

 crowding t h e 

 parts together 

 rigidly, all per- 

 fectly true and 

 square. When 

 this is done, and 

 not before, drive 

 top-bar down into the 

 ide of the center so 



one nail thru each 

 end-bar — a little to one 

 they will be out of the way of the end-spac- 

 ing staples to be driven in later. 



Nest, turn the box on end, Fig. 5, with 

 the lower ends of the top-bars resting on a 

 li/^-inch hard-wood board, D, firmly nailed 

 to the bench. Drive two nails thru each 

 end-bar down into the top-bar. 



When driving in the end-sjracing staples, 

 instead of using one small block with a saw- 

 kerf in the end to drive the staple, take a 

 5-16 - inch hard-wood board about fifteen 

 inches long; lay it on tl:e end-bars np clos3 

 to the top-bars and make a pencil-mark di- 

 rectly over the center of each end-bar. 



With a saw make a cut at each pencil- 

 mark a trifle deeper than the staple is wide. 

 Tacking a piece of heavy tin along the 

 edge of the thin board completes the staple- 

 spacer. 



Lay this spacer in position, Fig. 6, E. 

 Drop ten staples into the saw-euts; give 

 each one a slight tap, then quickly drive 

 them down flush with the top of the board. 



The board may then be removed, and all the 

 staples will be found driven in exactly the 

 right place — all of them to the right depth. 



After turning the box and the frames 

 over on the bench, by loosening the wing 

 nuts the box may be readily lifted off, Fig. 

 7, leaving the ten frames all complete. 



It is not at all difficult to nail fifty 

 frames an hour by this plan, every one of 

 them absolutely square. Each gi'oup of ten 

 frames requires about twelve minutes, the 

 time being distributed about as follows : 



Pig. 7. — Clamp loosened and lifted off, leaving 

 the ten frames all complete. Time, twelve minutes. 



Locating tlie end-bars and nailing on the 

 bottom-bars, three minutes; nailing on the 

 top-bars, eight minutes; diiving an the 

 staples, one minute. By working rapidly, 

 especially after a little ])ractice, it is possi- 

 ble to nail sixty frames an hour, ten min- 

 utes to each ten frames. For assembling 

 the frames, driving eighty nails and twenty 

 staples, that is not so bad. 



WIRING THE FRAMES. 



For wiring frames direct from a spool, 

 some sort of de\4ee is needed to hold the 

 frames and the spool of wire. There are 



Fig. 6.— One staple-spacing block for all ten 

 staples. 



Pig. 8. — Form for wiring the frames. An invert- 

 ed super-spring A held by a staple prevents the wire 

 from kinking when it is slack. 



some very good wiring-boards on the mar- 

 ket, and quite a large number of practical 

 forms liave been described in Gleanings. 

 1 have found the one shown in Fig. 8 very 

 satisfactory. A super spring stapled to the 

 board kee]js a slight tension on the spool, 

 prevents the wire from springing over the 

 ends of the spool, and makes it unwind 

 properly and smoothly. As the wire is used 



