1907 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



659 



man principle of working from the side. Jt 

 makes a good observation hive. 



You can see the tongs as used in Germany. 



Massillon, Ohio, Oct. 6. E. A. Newell. 



WAX-RENDERING. 



The Unheated vs. the Hot- water Presses; 

 the Strength of the Screw. 



BY J. J. RAPP. 



I have read H. H. Root's articles on wax- 

 making, in which he has demonstrated nice- 

 ly that the new machine is within two per 

 cent of being as effective as the German wax- 

 press. His conclusions are erroneons and 

 misleading because they are based on the 

 work of the German press instead of on the 

 actual per cent of wax remaining in the slum- 

 gum. We can say with safety that one pro- 

 cess is better than another, but we can not 

 say how efficient our best appliances are un- 

 less we know our final percentage of loss. 



The appearance of refuse containing less 

 than 35 per cent of wax is so misleading that 

 no one without much experience can divide 

 it into more than three grades — that above 

 25 per cent as containing some wax; that 

 above 20 per cent as containing a little wax, 

 and the rest as clean. This is due to the 

 fact that the cocoons and refuse hold the 

 wax like a sponge, and it is only when they 

 are saturated with it that they cohere more 

 or less sti'ongly, making the refuse hard or 

 lumpy; and it is only when there is more wax 

 present than they can absorb that we have 

 streaks of wax showing in the lumps. 



It is plain, from the nature of the material, 

 that nothing but pressure will remove the 

 wax, and we shall be successful just in pro- 

 portion to the pressure exerted. 



The unheated press you described is right 

 in px'inciple. All you need is a screw capa- 

 ble of exerting a pressure of 100 pounds or 

 more to the square inch instead of the few 

 pounds possible, as now constructed. I use 

 a hot-water press with a 20-ton screw on a 

 surface of 175 square inches, thus getting 

 theoretically a pressui'e of 200 pounds or 

 more to the square inch, and have worked 

 many tons, both of old comb and slumgum 

 previously worked by all the various pro- 

 cesses, and have made dviring the past year 

 3600 pounds of wax from such material. The 

 intermittent pressure easily obtained with a 

 screw is a great advantage in a hot-water 

 press, because the wax, when expressed, rises 

 to the surface, and water takes its place 

 when the pressure is removed, ready to car- 

 ry another portion of wax with it when pres- 

 sure is again applied. This is due to the 

 elasticity of the refuse, which, when relieved, 

 expands and absorbs a portion of water to 

 take the place of the wax and water former- 

 ly expressed. 



The hot water keeps the wax liquid, and 

 the press can l)e tightened at intervals for 

 two or three houi*s, for it is only after this 

 time that the material ceases to yield, show- 

 ing that the material is very reluctant to 



yield up its liquid portion, and also show- 

 ing why a hot- water press is superior to 

 any other, since any dry press must nec- 

 essarily chill in a few minutes, giving no 

 time for the gradual exudation of the wax, 

 and no advantage from slacking the pres- 

 sure, because we have no liquid to be taken 

 up again. Material worked in a dry press 

 similar to mine yielded in the hot-water 

 press 12 per cent of wax, showing the loss in 

 a press many times more powerful than the 

 German wax-press. I have handled several 

 lots of refuse previously worked in a German 

 press, and worked cleaner than by any pro- 

 cess in common use. 



The lot yielding the least wax was worked 

 twice through a German wax-press, then 

 yielded 16 per cent of wax. Suppose the 

 third lot in H. H. R.'s experiment to be 100 

 pounds of very old brood-combs, and that he 

 secured 40 pounds of wax, the relative 

 efficiency of the three presses would be 78, 

 80.6, and 100 per cent, leaving still an unde- 

 termined percentage in the refuse, and a gain 

 of 9.6 pounds at one treatment over his three 

 treatments. 



The 800-pound producer would lose 72 

 pounds that was obtainable, worth $20.16 in- 

 stead of $2.50 — surely an amount sufficient 

 to justify him in getting better appliances. 



Ventura, Cal., Jan. 31. 



[I was afraid that some one would think 

 the German wax-press as we used it would 

 still leave a great percentage of waste, and 

 so I stated on page 104 that the slumgum 

 taken out after the second rendering in the 

 unheated press was then melted up again, 

 and pressed repeatedly in the German press, 

 even after wax had ceased to come from the 

 spout. No matter how little wax is left in 

 the slumgum, if it is gone over again in the 

 German press a little will come out each 

 time; but, as explained, we kept working 

 over this refuse long after wax had ceased 

 to run, so that nothing but hot water caused 

 by the condensation of the steam came out. 

 I am well aware of the fact that the German 

 press as it is generally used is not an entire- 

 ly satisfactory machine; but, so far as we 

 have been able to learn, the trouble in every 

 case has been caused by carelessness in read- 

 ing directions. Too many producers in us- 

 ing the German press do not wait long 

 enough before applying pressure; that is, if 

 they follow the plan of melting up the comb 

 in the px'ess they very often begin to apply 

 the pressure as soon as the wax begins to 

 run out of the spout, and this means that 

 not all of the comb is yet thoroughly heated. 

 Or, the producer stops the work too soon in 

 the effort to save time, and, after the refuse 

 is cold, he fingers it over, and, not being 

 able to see any wax, imagines that he has 

 done thorough work, while, as an actual 

 fact, very often from 8 to 20 percent of wax 

 remains. But, as stated, we did not use the 

 German press in this way, but kept at it re- 

 peatedly until every bit of wax had run out 

 that would run out. 



However, since we have given no absolute 



