238 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 1 



HOW CAKES OF GRANULATED HONEY, JUST AS 



THEY COME FROM THE SQUARE CANS, 



ARE CUT UP INTO BRICKS. 



Many of our subscribers have asked just 

 how we cut up the honey into rectangular 

 blocks. I have already explained that we 



MACHINE FOR CUTTING CANDIED HONEY, AS ADAPTED 

 FOR CUTTING ON HORIZONTAL PLANES. 



use an ordinary butter-cutter, such as the 

 dairy trade uses. A pair of tinner's snips 

 cuts the tin off from the square can of hon- 

 ey. The sides are peeled off, and the cake 

 is inverted on a large circular porcelain disk, 

 placed on an iron base having four upright 



standards, one at each corner, 

 frame, swinging on one of the 

 upright shafts as an axis, door 

 fashion, has two or more wires 

 stretched across it at equal dis- 

 tances. This frame is swung 

 with its horizontal wires araund 

 the cake of honey just as it 

 comes from the can, the wires, 

 of course, passing horizontally 

 through the honey. The buck- 

 saw frame is then removed, and 

 the horizontal frame with taut 

 wires on it at equal distances 

 is then slipped over the four 

 standards, then two 75-pound 

 weights are put on each side. 

 The machine is then left. 

 The combined 150-pound weight 

 gradually pushes the frame 

 with its wires downward, the 

 wires crossing on a perpen- 

 dicular plane the track already 

 made by the horizontal wires. 

 In the course of two or three 

 minutes the frame, on account 

 of the weight, will have set- 

 tled clear to the bottom. A 



An iron 



thin-bladed knife slabs off the bricks thus 

 cut, when they are wrapped as before ex- 

 plained. 



These butter-cutters have been on the mar- 

 ket for a number of years. They are nice- 

 ly made, and do beautiful, perfect work. 

 The horizontal frame with its taut 

 wires has holes of just the right 

 fn size at its four corners to slip over 



jl the four upright shafts so that the 



[i wires must make an absolutely per- 



pendicular line of progress down- 

 ward, without swerving to the 

 right or left. Thumbnuts are pro- 

 vided by which the wires may 

 be adjusted to different sizes of 

 bricks, although we prefer to use 

 the one size, which is just right to 

 take up the entire contents of a 

 can of honey, or 48 bricks in all 

 without waste. 



Some lots of honey are so solid 

 that it requires half an hour for 

 the frame with its weight to set- 

 tle through the block. As a gen- 

 eral rule, two or three minutes 

 will suffice. While the machine is 

 doing its work of cutting auto- 

 matically, the operators are busily 

 employed in wrapping up tne cake 

 of honey previously cut into bricks, 

 so that no time is lost. As soon 

 as one cake is cut another one is 

 put on, and so on the work pro- 

 ceeds. 



These butter-cutters can be ob- 

 tained of the Cleveland Galvaniz- 

 ing Works Company. Cleveland, Ohio, and 

 cost $50.00. The outfit includes what is seen 

 in the two illustrations herewith. The same 

 horizontal plate with the upright standards 

 is used for both horizontal and perpendicular 

 cutting. 



Perhaps some may say that the carton 



MACHINE FOR CUTTING UP CANDIED HONEY, AS ADAPTED 

 FOR CUTTING ON PERPENDICULAR PLANES. 



