THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



167 



a thing is necessarily better simply because 

 it is automatic. But some day we may be 

 startled by some genius bringing out an ex- 

 tractor that will automatically do the turn- 

 ing and reversing, with a tithe of the time 

 and labor now required. He will be hailed 

 with delight. In the meantime, I do not be- 

 lieve it is worth while to lament very much 

 over the few seconds employed in reversing, 

 with the advance already made. 



AVhy may not the uncapping machines of 

 England be practical? A slaw cutter is con- 

 sidered a good thing, and it works on the 

 same principle. One trouble is that combs 

 must be true and adapted to it, but it would 

 not suprise me to see all difficulties overcome, 

 so that a comb would be less time in the 

 hands of the uacapper than in the extractor. 

 As you say, beekeepers may well ask them- 

 selves, "What has the future in store for us?" 

 and a perfect uncapping machine may be 

 one of the things. 



Makengo, 111. 



April, 15, 1898, 



>>^>T^r^i^i 



Reversing Combs on Their Centers ; Some 



of the Difficulties to be Overcome and the 



Advantages That May be Expected. 



E. A. DAGGITT. 



" And through the sandy waste of cogitation 

 We seek beyond a land of habitation." 



[Last month Mr Daggitt told us of several 

 vital points to be ponsidered in the construction 

 of honey extractors. After this, in the article 

 that he sent, he described sevpral different meth- 

 ods whereby combs might be reversed without 

 stopping the machine. 1 could not see that they 

 possessed any particular merit over the one al- 

 ready given in the Review, so I decided not to 

 illustrate and describpthem, at least not for the 

 present. After finishing h description of the 

 different plans for reversing, he continued as 

 follows :— Ed.1 



After inventing some of these devices for 

 reversing the comb baskets of reversible ex- 

 tractors, I became very much impressed 

 with the disadvantage of having such large 

 reels as were being used in reversible ex- 

 tractors, so I went at work to see if there 

 was not a way to overcome this disadvan- 

 tage, when I conceived the idea of oscillat- 

 ing the comb baskets upon their centers when 

 reversing them. This principle is shown in 

 the engraving accompanying the leader, but 

 both the editor of the Review and the artist 

 have fallen into the error of representing 

 the comb baskets as running on hafts in- 



stead of gudgeons, as they should. But the 

 trouble was, how to get the combs in and 

 out of the comb baskets. My first idea was 

 to have a bottom bar and gudgeons at the 

 bottom of each basket, while at the top of 

 each basket was to be an arrangement some- 

 thing like this : on each side at the front and 

 equally distant from the edges of the basket 

 was to be a segment of a disc having in its 

 upper surface a circular groove to receive a 

 flange on the under surface of a disc that 

 projects from the reel spider. This disc was 

 to be made in such a way that that part of it 

 over the inner segment on the basket sh 11 

 be fixed and its flange remain in the groove 

 of the segment at all times, while the other 

 part is to be hinged to it so that it can be 

 thrown inward to allow the combs to be put 

 in or taken out of the basket. 



Afterward, while studying how to get the 

 combs in and out of these baskets that re- 

 verse on their centers, I conceived the idea 

 of doing this by making the basket sides 

 movable, or by having the baskets in a re- 

 versing frame. This plan of putting in and 

 reversing the combs allows a top bar and 

 gudgeon to be used at the top of each basket 

 and permits the reversing apparatus to be 

 at the top of the reel. As most combs have to 

 be reversed twice, or when this is not neces- 

 sary it can be done easily by the reversing 

 apparatus, only one basket side will need to be 

 movable, and if the comb rest is attached to 

 the movable side, the comb will come out with 

 it when it is brought outward. The side may 

 be hinged at the bottom, and the top be 

 tilted outward, or it may be made so that it 

 can be " jumped " or swung out at both top 

 and bottom at once. If the first method is 

 employed, the side should be self-fastening 

 when the top is pushed to its place, and be 

 put on so that the top will spring outward 

 when the fastenings are de. ached. By means 

 of a simple device the fastenings can be de- 

 tached by the simple pressure of a finger. If 

 the second method is employed in removing 

 the side, an arrangement will be necessary 

 that will detach the side and also fasten in 

 position when brought out and closed 

 against the basket uprights. If the basket 

 is put in a revolving frame it will need to be 

 arranged in a similar way as the latter 

 method of arranging the movable basket 

 sides. 



This plan of reversing comb baskets by 

 oscillating them on the center, if practicable, 

 will settle the question of the size of reel" 



