Ti- 



19G9 



THK BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



lenj^ths, called bolts. These bolts 

 are twice or three times ( 1 believe the 

 former) the length of a section. With a 

 minature saw-mill these bolts are sawed 

 into planks a little thicker than the width 

 of a section. They are sawed thick 

 enough so that after being sea.soned they 

 may be planed on both sides and yet be 

 as thick as a section is wide. 



The first step in making these planks 

 into sections is that of planing them on 

 both sides. The next is to cut them up 

 into lengths exactly as long as a section. 

 Following this comes the cutting of the 

 notches or dovetails in the ends. Next 

 the insets are cut in the sides. Thus far, 

 the wood has been kept in solid pieces; 

 now these pieces are laid upon their sides, 

 and sections sawed off their edges. Rut 

 they are not quite complete, as they must 

 be run through a sander in which they 

 are sand papered on both sides; and then 

 grooves • cut where they are to be bent. 

 The sander, or, at least, the one used b}' 

 Mr. Bamber, is simply a double-surfacer 

 planer in which the knives are removed 

 and rolls covered with sand paper put in 

 their places. Ves, and I must qualify 

 this statement a little. These rolls must 

 be made to vibrate; that is, have an end 

 movement. Each roll must move slowl)-, 

 and slightly endwise, and back again, 

 keeping up this motion continually. Un- 

 less there is this vibratory movement the 

 sand paper cuts little groves or scratches 

 in the surface of the sections. The pro- 

 cess of sand papering or polishing the 

 sections not only improves the appear- 

 ance, but reduces them to a uniform 

 thickness. 



1^'or the lighter work of section making, 

 Mr. Bamber employs girls. One ot them 

 feeds the sections to the sander, another 

 takes them away, feeds them to the 

 groover, and sorts and packs them as 

 they come out. It is astonishing to note 

 the proficiency to which the eye may be 

 brought in quickly detecting imperfec- 

 tions in sections. To illustrate this, Mr. 

 Bamber very slyly picked up from tlie 

 floor a section having one of the little 



tongues at the end broken off, and, un- 

 seen by the sorter, introduced it among 

 the unsorted sections. We then watched 

 to see if it would be detected. With 

 what seemed to us not even a glance, 

 it was again thrown upon the floor. 



There are eight diff'erent machines 

 through which the wood must go before 

 it comes out a perfect section; and there 

 must be no mistake, not even of the 64th 

 of an inch (in some of these operations) 

 or the section is spoiled. There must be 

 constant and careful watching, as a slight 

 mistake, unless quickly discovered and 

 corrected, runs on and on, and there is a 

 loss not only of the work done by that 

 particular machine, but of the timber and 

 of all the work that has been pre- 

 viously done. The making of finst 

 class sections is more of a trade than 

 some of the manufacturers imagined when 

 they began their manufacture. 



Mr. Bamber also makes other bee-sup- 

 plies; the little house seen at the left of 

 the factory ( see frontispiece ) is devoted 

 to the making of foundation; and I take 

 pleasure in saying that Mr. Bamber is 

 blessed with a wife that is able to super- 

 intend the work of the girls who make 

 the foundation. 



By the way, this little house is where 

 Mr. and Mrs. Bamber set up their hou.se- 

 hold gods when, hand in hand, they start- 

 ed out on their journey of married life. 

 Now they live in a ''mansion bold," (of 

 brick) in the suburbs. 



Flint, Mich. Dec. 20, 189S. 



RENDERING BEESWAX. 



Large Ouanities are Lost by the Solar, Steam 



or Boiling Process — How the Loss may 



lie Avoided. 



I. \V. BECKWITH. 



¥HICN the comb is new, and especially 

 when it contains honey, and the 

 weather is hot, there is probably no bett 



