266 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



August 



On the Supply Maker's Trail 



No. 3 -The Making of 



Comb Foundation 



By Frank C. Pellett. 



IT is an interesting journej to visit 

 the various factories engaged in 

 making bee supplies, for the pur- 

 pose of getting a glimpse of the op- 

 erations necessary to supply us with 

 equipment. Most interesting of all is 

 the making of foundation, for in 

 foundation we give the bee some- 

 thing only partly done, which she 

 must finish for herself. In nature, 

 the honeybee never builds her own 

 hive, but she always builds her own 

 combs. She simply takes possession 

 of any suitable shelter, whether it be 

 a hollow tree or a vacant space under 

 the roof or between the walls of a 

 dwelling. Any place where her 

 combs can be built in safety, will do. 

 The making of hives is, then, rather 

 a problem of providing for our own 

 convenience in manipulation, than of 

 saving of labor for the bees. Extrac- 

 tors, containers, smokers — everything 

 else in the way of supplies, are made 

 for the convenience of the bee- 

 keeper; foundation alone for lighten- 

 ing the labor of the bees. 



In reviewing the wonderful devel- 

 opment of beekeeping during the past 

 half century, one is led to wonder 

 whether any great improvement still 

 remains to be brought forward. With 

 the possible exception of the movable 

 frame hive, no single invention has 

 done as much for the beekeeper as 

 foundation. Even yet, many bee- 

 keepers fail to appreciate fully the 

 possibilities of its use. It is only 

 after visiting the hundreds of api- 

 aries w-here the bees are hived on 

 empty frames, and permitted to build 

 combs to suit their fancy, and com- 

 paring the results obtained with 

 those secured by the expert bee- 

 keeper, as an inspector is compelled 

 to do, that one comes fully to realize 

 what foundation is worth to the 



honey producer. Ii the millions of 

 neglected colonies of bees in Amer- 

 ica could he supplied with full sheets 

 of foundation on which to build their 

 omb :, and with plenty of super room 



even though no oilier attention was 

 given aside from what they now re- 

 ceive this one thing, alone, would 

 add millions of pounds of honey to 

 our product, and go a long way to- 

 ward relieving the present acute 

 shortage of sugar. 



In reading the literature of a half 

 century ago, one is impressed with 

 the great care exercised to save 

 every small piece of good worker 

 comb. There was much cutting and 

 fitting of combs in order to cut out 

 patches of drone cells, and replace 

 i In in with worker comb. It was a 

 laborious process to secure a large 

 number of good combs in those days 

 and, at best, they bore small resem- 

 blance to the perfect combs which 

 we find in a well regulated apiary of 

 the present time. While there are a 

 great variety of uses to which bees- 

 wax is put in the manufacture of 

 various commercial produces, the 

 beekeeper is his own best customer. 

 It is probable that more wax is now 

 purchased for the manufacture of 

 comb foundation than for any other 

 purpose. 



It was a happy thought that sug- 

 gested the impression of the cell base 

 on a thin sheet of wax, but many 

 years of experience were necessary 

 to develop to perfection a machine 

 which made the production of foun- 

 dation, on a commercial scale, a pos- 

 sibility. In the May (1917) number 

 of the American Bee Journal the 

 editor told something of the history 

 of this enterprise, so it is not neces- 

 sary to repeat it here. However, we 

 note that it was not until 1875 that 

 the first printed wax was offered for 

 sale in New York. It was several 

 years later that a uniform product 

 of good quality appeared in the mar- 

 ket, and then began the slow process 

 of educating the mass of beekeepers 

 to the advantages of it. The well- 

 informed beekeepers were quick to 



first stage of making I 



see the possibilities of its use, even at 

 the high price for which it sold at 

 the first. Like any new invention, its 

 value had to be demonstrated before 

 coming into general use. Now we 

 rarely find a beekeeper of experience 

 who would allow the bees to draw- 

 new combs without full sheets of 

 foundation. The extra honey cost to 

 the bees in building the combs 

 amounts to more than the cost of the 

 foundation, to say nothing of the ad- 

 vantage of the straight combs com- 

 posed of worker cells, which are so 

 important to the success of the bee- 

 keeper. 



For a time it was common practice 

 among beekeepers to buy a small 

 mill and make their foundation at 

 lionie. While it is quite possible to 

 make a fairly good grade of founda- 

 tion on these hand mills, it is slow 

 and tedious work, and there are 

 many imperfect sheets. The big mills 

 now make it at so low a price that 

 few beekeepers care to bother with a 

 hand mill. Usually they ship their 

 wax to a commercial establishment 

 and have it made into foundation, at 

 a low cost. 



When foundation is made on a 

 hand mill, it is necessary to dip a 

 board or sheet of metal in the melted 

 wax, then run the sheet of wax which 

 is peeled from its surface between the 

 rollers bearing the impression. At 

 the foundation factories the wax is 

 first sheeted by machinery, and made 

 into rolls which are later run through 

 the mills. The different operations 

 are thus necessary to make the fin- 

 ished article, and each of these 

 processes requires a different ma- 

 chine. 



Sheeting the wax so that it can be 

 fed through the mill in a long belt- 

 like roll, is an ingenious operation. A 

 large quantity of beeswax is melted, 

 for nothing but pure beeswax enters 

 into the manufacture of comb foun 

 dation. This melted wax is held in a 

 large trough, in connection with the 

 sheeting machine. A water-cooled 

 metal roll turns in the hot wax. Since 

 it is cooler than the wax, it is in- 

 stantly coated with it. It turns 

 against a knife that peels oft the coat 

 of wax and forces it through .1,11.11 

 tow slot. By tile time it has passed 

 through the slot it is cool enough to 

 work nicely, like the taffy which we 



delighted to pull in our childh 1 



days. Beeswax is very flexible at 

 blood heat. The slot through which 

 it is forced is long and narrow, thus 

 bringing the wax through in the 

 shape of a thill sheet, which is fas- 

 tened In a wood roll that turns slow 

 !y and winds up the wax much like 

 thread is wound on a spool. When 

 about 30 pounds of the wax has been 

 thus wound it is eul oil" and laid 

 aside and a new spool started The 

 width of the sheet is adjusted to (he 

 size of finished foundation desired. 



Our second picture shows the stock- 

 room where a large quantity ol 

 lie, led wax is ready to go to the 

 mill to receive the impression. The 

 first picture shows the sheeting 

 machines winding up the wax. Large 

 quantities of wax are sheeted in ad- 

 vance oi needs , if the mill, since it 



can he easily stored and eared for in 

 this form. 



