750 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Decbmbee, 1921 



each row of four blocks to a separate board, 

 the six boards being in turn nailed to two 

 cleats running in the opposite direction un- 

 der the ends of the boards, thus making up 

 a board to hold enough sections for a comb- 

 honey super for the 8-frame hive. This 

 rack should be placed on a table or bench 

 at a convenient height so one operator can 

 work on each side of it. 



How the Fastener Is Operated. 



To work to best advantage when a single 

 rack is used, one person should fold the 

 sections on a folding machine dropping them 

 as they are folded over the blocks on the 

 rack, then drop the sheets of foundation 

 in place; while the other person working on 

 the opposite side of the board slips the sec- 

 tion-holders or the wide frames in place 

 over the rows of sections, fastens the foun- 

 dation, puts the section-holders with the 

 sections into the supers, and piles the filled 

 supers away. This usually leaves a little 

 extra time for the one who fastens the foun- 

 dation, which can be used in helping to drop 

 the sheets of foundation in place. A better 

 way is to have two racks, one on each side 

 of the operator who is folding the sections, 

 so that this operator does not need to stop 

 while the other person fastens the founda- 

 tion and clears the rack ready for more 

 sections. 



When the sections, section-holders or wide 

 frames, and the sheets of foundation are all 

 in place, each frame of sections is first 

 pushed in the direction of the bottom-bar to 

 crowd each of the sliding platforms in line 

 with the blocks upon which they slide, then 

 back in the opposite direction to crowd the 

 sheets of foundation against the bottom- 

 bars of the sections. The bottom-bars of 

 the sections are now snug against the 

 blocks, and the sliding platforms are all 

 pushed back even with the lower blocks. 

 This leaves a space a little over ^4 inch be- 

 tween the blocks and the top-bars of the 

 sections, and the sheets of foundation pro- 

 ject beyond the sliding platforms and nearly 

 touch "the top-bars of the sections. Each 

 frame of sections is then pushed endwise as 

 far as it will go, then back part way, and 

 finally back again in the first direction 

 about 1-16 of an inch to make the sheets of 

 foundation clear the sides of the sections. 

 These lining-up movements could be done 

 for all the frames at once if the rows of 

 blocks are so spaced that the frames touch 

 each other so they can be moved en masse. 



With an ordinary paper-hanger's scraping 

 knife with a four-inch blade, that has been 

 heated "smoking hot" over the flame of a 

 gasoline stove or a large alcohol lamp, the 

 foundation can be fastened in all of the sec- 

 tions on the board quickly and neatly be- 

 fore the knife needs to be reheated. In 

 doing this the operator stands on the side 

 of the bench that will put his right hand 

 toward the top-bars of the sections. The 

 knife is inserted between the edge of the 



sheet of foundation and the top-bar of the 

 section so that its lower edge touches the 

 wood of the section, but the handle is in- 

 clined away from the top-bar of the 

 section. The foundation is then pushed 

 against it with the middle fingers of the 

 left hand while the thumb and little finger 

 rest upon the edge of the section. When 

 the knife is hot enough a mere touch is suf- 

 ficient, the knife being withdrawn imme- 

 diately and the sheet of foundation pushed 

 firmly against the section. The sliding plat- 

 form moves with the sheet of foundation, 

 thus preventing any twisting motion of the 

 sheet of foundation, which would cause the 

 lower corners to bind against the sides of 

 the section. It requires only 40 to 50 sec- 

 onds to fasten the foundation in 24 to 28 

 sections in this way. When the last row is 

 finished the knife is put back over the flame, 

 and the frames of sections are put directly 

 into the supers beginning with the one in 

 which the foundation was fastened first, 

 which by this time is cool enough to take 

 off. 



Each sheet of foundation now swings free 

 from the sides of the section, there being 



The knife is held at a slight ant;le from perpendicu- 

 lar, with the lower edge of the blade touching the 

 wood of the section. 



no binding to cause the foundation to b«ckle, 

 as is often the ease when the foundation is 

 fastened in the sections before they are put 

 into the section-holders. When the section- 

 holders or wide frames are taken out of the 

 super to put them over the rows of sections 

 on the fastener, each separator or fence is 

 permitted to fall over on its side, leaving 

 its lower edge where it was before removing 

 the section-holder or wide frame. When 

 the section-holders or wide frames filled 

 with sections are put back into the supers, 

 each separator or fence needs only to be 

 stood up again, its lower edge not having 

 been moved from the position it occupies 

 when the super is filled. By standing up 

 each of the separators with one hand while 

 the frame of sections is being brought into 

 place with the other hand, the sections can 

 be put into the supers quite rapidly. 

 One Person FiUs 100 Supers Per Day. 

 While two persons can put up sections in 



