258 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Priority in Use of Sections. 



Mr. Friedemann Greiner, Naples, 

 N. Y., writes us as follows : 



In oue of the last numbers of the 

 Bienen Zeitiiiuj, Herr Griflav claims 

 to have invented the section box be- 

 fore it was used in America. Now, if 

 the invention was made by an Ameri- 

 can before the year 1875, and this is 

 stated in the American Bee Joifii- 

 NAL of 1874 or 1875, please inform me, 

 as I was not a reader of the Journal 

 then. 



There were several patents taken 

 out for sections prior to the date men- 

 tioned above, many of which were 

 described and some illustrated in the 

 American Bee Journal, from 

 which we select the following : 



April 6th, 1852, Mr. E. W. Phelps 

 received a patent for section boxes in 

 frames, which w;is twelve years prior 

 to the date given by our German con- 

 temporary. 



Dr. A. V. Conklin. of Bennington, 

 O., patented his summer and winter 

 bee hive Oct. 20, 18G.S, whicli contained 



Conklin Hice unci Sections. 



sections for surplus comb honey, and 

 which was described and illustrated 

 in the American IjBE Journal for 

 April, 1869, page bs7. 



In our paper for June, 1870. Dr. J. 

 M. Price, of Buffalo Grove, Iowa, 

 illustrated and published, on page 257, 



Price Hive and Sections. 



his patent bee hive, the surplus ar- 

 rangement of which he describes as 

 follows : 



The surplus honey can be had in 

 boxes or sections, and can be taken 



from the top or side of the hive 



The surplus honey sections are in close 

 connection with the brood chamber 



and with one another The sections 



can be used to the full capacity of the 



hive or of the bees to fill them, and 

 the bees can be forced to work on any 

 number at once, thereby greatly in- 

 creasing the yield. 



He claimed that this invention was 

 destined to mark a new era in profita- 

 ble bee-keeping. 



On Nov. 22, 1870, Mr. Geo. T. 

 Wheeler, of Mexico, N. Y., received a 

 patent on tin separators, to be used in 

 connection with one-comb honey sec- 

 tions. Mr. Wheeler remarked at that 

 time, that he did not claim to be tlie 



1V02. 



ISEn - BY^ "870 ' 



Whee 



Farmers'' Friend a^id Sections. 



inventor of section boxes, but had 

 commenced his experiments with sep- 

 arators as early as 1867, which is cor- 

 roborative proof that sections were in 

 use before that time— probably many 

 years before. 



Messrs. Reynolds & Brooks, of Lex- 

 ington, 111., patented the "farmers' 

 bee hive," March 28, 1871. This was 

 largely advertised and illustrated in 



Reynolds c6 Brooks Hive and Sections. 



the Aivierican Bee Journal of May, 

 1873, and the cut used of the hive at 

 that time shows the sections in place 

 on top. 



On January 7, 1873, Messrs Barker 

 & Dicer, of Marshall, Mich., patented 

 a " dovetailed sectional lioney box, 

 made with two wide and two narrow 

 pieces so arranged that they form 

 openings between each section." The 

 narrow pieces are to allow a free en- 

 trance for the bees, and also to facili- 



tate their use in tiering up. This is 

 the dovetailed section in use at the 

 present day. 



Tlie " Climax bee hive," patented in 

 1873, was advertised in this pnper in 



Climax Hive and Sections. 



the April number, 1875, and illustrated 

 with a rack of sections sitting on top. 

 Thus we have shown that sections 

 for surplus corab honey were in use in 

 America for fully thirty years, as can 

 be substantiated by theotticial records 

 in the Patent Office at Washington, 

 D. C. How long a time prior to that 

 date they may have been in use, we 



Nailed and Glassed Secti07i. 



have no means at hand of determin- 

 ing — but probably long previously. 

 It is notable that among the first de- 

 vices for the purpose of securing small 

 packages of comb honey, was sub- 

 stantially the prize section of the 

 present day, and which lias quite re- 

 cently become so popular in Germany, 

 England and elsewliere. The case or 

 broad frame, to hold the sections in 

 the brood chamber or super, was also 



Case of to-day, with Hxi^ Secltions. 



used in connection with some of the 

 hives, and will be seen illustrated in 

 some of tlie cuts. 



The illustrations given in this arti- 

 cle (except two last) are printed on the 

 identical cuts used in the Bee Jour- 

 nal at the dates mentioned above. 

 The broad frame or case of to-day we 

 illustrate tosliow, by comparison, that 

 it is only a modification of those long 

 preceding it, and it is almost a counter- 

 part of that used by Dr. Price. 



