GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



March, 1920 



Ontario exhibited a centrally pivoted pock- 

 et-reversing machine at the Toronto con- 

 vention. It created a large amount of fa- 

 vorable comment at that meeting. It was 

 very similar to the one patented by J. K. 

 Eudyard in 1882, in that there was no sup- 

 port or bearing at the top of each pocket, 

 but one long heavy bearing at -the bottom. 

 This made it possible to remove the combs. 

 We considered the Markle idea, but finally 

 abandoned it because we figured that it 

 would not be possible, in a commercial way, 

 to make a bottom bearing and pocket on 

 top rigid enough, without support, to stand 

 the terrific centrifugal strain unless the 

 parts were made very heavy. Here, again, 

 expense and weight would be a serious 

 drawback. 



On Nov. 6, 1917, W. W. Somerford se- 

 cured a patent on the scheme for using ex- 

 tractor-pockets in pairs, each pair reversing 

 automatically in opposite directions around 



Fig. 1. — One of the first central-axis reversing comb- 

 pocket extractors that was ever made. It vras 

 patented by Allen G. Lawson in 1891. The photo- 

 graph from -w-hich this is made, was taken from the 

 original machine. If Mr. Lawson had gone a little 

 further, ha would have made a perfect working ma- 

 chine nearly 30 years ago. 



a shaft or axis in between each pair of 

 pockets. While this made the pockets ac- 

 cessible, yet it called for continuous auto- 

 matic reversing, which we consider a mis- 

 take, as will be explained later. 



From the foregoing citations it will also 

 be seen Ihat there are numerous applications 

 of the general prineii-le of pockets reversing 

 on an axis running thru their centers rather 

 than from one side. What are some of 

 these applications? 



First, there is the principle of continuous 

 reversing in which the combs, in addition 

 to traveling around a circumference of an 

 extractor-reel, also turn on their own axes 

 continuously on a lin^ running lengthwise 



thru the center of the combs. This is a 

 simple application; but after many tests we 

 have found that it takes longer to extract 

 honey in this way, and is very much harder 

 on the combs. 



Second, there is the principle of having 

 automatic and periodic reversing — so many 

 revolutions of the reel, then reversing with- 

 out the attention of the operator. This is 

 an improvement over the continuous revers- 

 ing principle; but it is faultj' in that the 

 age of the combs and the temperature and 

 the thickness of the honey alter the require- 

 ments. 



Third, there is the principle of reversing 

 the combs at full speed or slow speed at 

 the will of the operator. When, in his judg- 

 ment, the combs or the thickness of the 

 honey will permit, he touches a lever, when, 

 almost instantly, the combs are reversed. 

 This, in our judgment, is the only correct 

 principle. At any time the operator can 

 reverse continuously at full speed, if he so 

 desires, by holding the reversing lever. We 

 will refer to this further on. 



The greatest mechanical difiiculty, and 

 one which all the inventors have tried to 

 overcome in an extractor where the indi- 

 vidual pockets reverse on a vertical axis 

 running down thru their centers rather than 

 on their sides, is the one of getting the 

 combs in and out of the pockets and yet 

 have the mechanism strong enough to stand 

 the terrific centrifugal strain. To put a 

 pivot at the top and bottom of the pocket 

 would make it clearly impossible to get the 

 combs in or to get them out unless the 

 Weaver plan is used, and this is objection- 

 able. If the top pivot be left out, as it 

 must be, then some scheme must be devised 

 to hold the tops of the pockets from flying 

 out by centrifugal force against the sides 

 of the can. Until the experiment is tried, 

 one can scarcely realize what a powerful 

 force this is. Several have tried to make a 

 large journal at the bottom of each pocket, 

 bracing the pocket from the bottom as in 

 the Markle machine. Our experience and 

 observation convinced us that this is a 

 faulty construction. The only alternative is 

 to put a disc or wheel at the top of each 

 pocket and then hold all these wheels from 

 flying outward by individual chains, or, bet- 

 ter, by a strong flexible steel band around 

 all of them. This latter is the plan we 

 adopted. 



After studying all of these ideas, and see- 

 ing . in actual operation some of them. T 

 hit upon the particular combination 

 of a specially constructed pocket, chain, 

 and sprockets. With the help and good 

 suggestions of George L. Howk, the man 

 who has built and designed nearly all of 

 the automatic machines in the Root factory, 

 a four-frame extractor was built on the new 

 principle. While this was a hand extractor, 

 considerable honey was extracted — enough 

 to show that the principle was right, and to 

 warrant the building of a larger machine. 

 After a vast amount of building and re- 



