1907 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



635 



WAX-RENDERING. 



A Mammoth Solar Extractor in which Arti- 

 ficial Heat is Used. 



BY R. C. AIKIN. 



[This is the first of a series of three articles by Mr. 

 Aikin, and is, as will be seen, a description of the solar 

 extractor which he now uses. The second article, 

 which will appear in the next issue, is a complete de- 

 scription of a large solar-extractor buildinK. and will 

 be illustrated by drawings that will enable any one to 

 build an ui>to-date outfit, including- that very neces- 

 sary contrivance, a honey and wax separator. The 

 third article treats of different methods of working 

 over the refuse from the solar in steam and hot-water 

 presses. It has cost Mr. Aikin a great amount of time 

 and money to actiuire the knowledge which enables 

 him to give this information; and since he has learn- 

 ed how to make money himself out of wax we think 

 he is well qualified to tell others how the work should 

 be done.— Ed.] 



The rendering of wax is an important sub- 

 ject. If the price of wax continues anywhere 

 near its present ligitre — and it has not varied 

 far from it for thirty years — its production 

 will be more considered, in the future than it 

 is to-day. Even should honey advance in 

 price until it becomes much more remunera- 

 tive than at present, yet I feel confident the 

 returns to be obtained from wax will in the 

 future be much more considered than at 

 present, and not only considered, but will be 

 by no means so small a factor as at present. 



For years I have been very much interest- 

 ed in the problem of rendering wax. I sup- 

 pose I have invented about as many devices 

 as any other man in our ranks in my endeav- 

 ors to get speedy and effective apparatus for 

 doing the work, and yet I do not think we 

 have by any means reached the climax in 

 such appliances. I have tried many ways 

 with water and steam processes, but all witli- 

 out pressure, having had machinery for the 

 purpose over 25 years ago. In those days I 

 made an arrangment to place over a pot of 

 boiling water, and cooked by steam, after- 

 ward pouring in boiling water over the slum- 

 gum, when the steam had brought out all it 

 would; then I would take out the slumgum 

 and put it between boards and get on to it 

 with my weight, and thus work out more 

 wax. Though never satisfied with these rig- 

 gings, yet I never realized until recent years 

 how much wax I lost. 



ABOUT SOLARS. 



I have built solars, big and little; remodel- 

 ed, improved, and changed those I have con- 

 structed, until I could hardly guess how 

 many I have built. When the solar was first 

 written up in the journals I at once became 

 very enthusiastic, and soon had one in oper- 

 ation, and from that time till the present I 

 have never ceased to study and improve on 

 and experiment with such appliances. Over 

 15 years ago I began to work over the solar 

 refuse by water and steam, and thought I 

 had about reached the limit of wax-getting; 

 but I know now that there was a large per 

 cent of wax wasted then. 



The solar is a fine appliance, and no apia- 

 ry should be without one. In the accumula- 

 tions of burr-pombs there is sure to be quite 

 a little honey, and, as well, in combs and all 



odds and ends of which we get wax; every 

 thing that has any honey in it should be put 

 through the solar to secure the honey for 

 vinegar or feeding purposes. In all localities 

 where honey tends to granulate, this is very 

 important. One not having tested the mat- 

 ter would scarcely believe how much honey 

 can be saved by the solar in a year Then, 

 too, the prettiest yellow wax obtainable by 

 any process is that from the solar. Burr- 

 combs are almost pure wax, and leave very 

 little residue except the propolis that is 

 scraped off with them, and these give the 

 very finest of wax by the solar process. If 

 melted with water the propolis will taint the 

 wax. By all means have a solar, and use it 

 for rendering every thing containing honey, 

 all burr-combs, and also all dry new combs 

 that do not have many cocoons in them; 

 but when it comes to old black dry combs it 

 is of no use to put these through the solar, 

 for the slumgum will so nearly absorb all the 

 wax that it will not pay at all. Reserve 

 such for water and the press to go in with 

 the solar slumgitm. 



SOME THINGS I HAVE LEARNED ABOUT SOLAR 

 CONSTRUCTION. 



Never use wood about a solar. Take wood 

 that is seasoned to its best, and, when sub- 

 jected to the great heat of the solar, then 

 get the effect of rain, of internal moisture in 

 the form of steam or vapor that will some- 

 times be in the machine, then dried out 

 again, and so on from day to day, and it will 

 not stay in shape very long. I used to use 

 wooden sash-bars, but it would not be long 

 before the putty was peeling off and the 

 thing was in bad and leaky condition. As 

 the years went by I used less and less wood 

 in any part of my solars until about the only 

 place I would permit any was for plates on 

 top of the side walls. At this point I thought 

 I must have at least a strip of wood to fast- 

 en the rafters or sash- bars to (the walls be- 

 ing of brick), imbedding them in mortar; but 

 even then moisture would get to the wood 

 and swell it and break the mortar loose. I 

 now leave out all wood, using for the sash 

 metal bars, and for the walls brick; then im- 

 bed the ends of the rafters and the edge of 

 the glass in the same mortar used in laying 

 the brick. 



For sash-bars, if one can readily get such 

 as are used in greenhouse work they are all 

 right; but I did not have access to any thing 

 of the kind, nor to any machinery that would 

 make what I wanted, so I went to the store 

 and bought common bar iron, for a 5-foot 

 reach, using y^ by 11-inch. In these I drilled 

 holes about every 12 to 16 inches, a little 

 nearer one edge than the other. Next I took 

 common galvanized iron strips, about one 

 inch wide (a little less will do), and bent 

 these, forming what would be just about 

 equivalent to the half of a common T tin. 

 Two of these put together would form a T. 

 These strips were punched with holes to 

 match the holes in the bar-iron and so adjust- 

 ed that when one was set on each side of the 

 bar they formed a rest for the glass, leaving 



