168 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



for in those liaviut; four or uiore comb bas- 

 kets there is uo loss of space at the coruers 

 of them, as is the case with those that reverse 

 their combs by swiuging tliem from oue side 

 of the reel to the other, for the edges of the 

 baskets are brought close together ; while by 

 combiuiug this principle with the hollow 

 reel principle we can get a two-frame reel as 

 small as any reel should be. 



This new style of reel has some other im- 

 portant advantages besides size of reel. 

 They can be made stronger with less ma- 

 terial. They can be started and stopped 

 more easily and cm be run with less labor. 

 The combs can be reversed more easily, and 

 with less danger of injuring them. And the 

 baskets are not liable to sag. 



Any of my reversing apparatus can be ap- 

 plied to those that use a reel shaft and pos- 

 sibly also to those with a hollow reel. By 

 means of the.n the comb baskets can be held 

 at any angle, while the reel is in motion, 

 either by hand or by means of ratchets and 

 palls. The baskets may be self-fastening as 

 soon as they reverse, and the fastenings can 

 be detached by giving the wheels on the bas- 

 ket gudgeons some independent motion so 

 that they will start a little before the baskets 

 do and detach the fastenings. 



The second form of the lever device I 

 think could be applied to a two-frame hol- 

 low reel of this kind. The pins in the wheel 

 on the reel gudgeon would have to be so 

 placed that one basket will start at the prop- 

 er time before the other, and they will have 

 to be detachable from the levers in one direc- 

 tion. The slotted ends of the lever could be 

 bent in the proper direction to secure this. 

 If the baskets are not self-fastening, the 

 levers would have to be in one direction, and 

 the fastenings could be detached by the 

 wheel when the pin re-enters the lower slot. 

 Probably the same detachable principle can 

 be applied to all the devices at the cog gears, 

 especially at the inner gear of the horizontal 

 device as illustrated in the leader. 



While studying on the subject of smaller 

 reels I " hit on " the idea of swinging the 

 comb baskets from side to side in a hollow 

 reel when reversing them. Several months 

 afterwards I found out that the same princi- 

 ple was embodied in the Cowaii extractor. 

 "Honor to whom honor is due," should be 

 the motto of all, so I will say that I believe 

 the inventor of the Cowan machine is en- 

 titled to the honor of being the first inventor 

 of reversing combs in this way. 



Now I wish to say that I have not the facil- 

 ities to give the different reversing apparatus 

 and new style of reel a proper trial, and if 

 any one wishes to do so and make for sale 

 extractors embodying any of them, he will 

 please inform me of the fact. 



Before closing, I wish to say a few words 

 on inventions. The creations of a man's 

 brain areas much his property as anything 

 he possesses, and any one who appropriates 

 another's invention to his own use wiihout 

 his consent does the inventor an injustice 

 and takes what does not belong to him. It 

 matters not whether the invention is patent- 

 ed or not. Patents are issued by the govern- 

 ment to protect inventors in this right, but 

 this often fails as in the cases of Whitney, 

 Goodyear, Langstroth, and many others. 

 Thos. A. Edison, the great inventor, says that 

 he has already spent over a million of dol- 

 lars in defending his patents. Besides, it is 

 doubtful if oue invention in four ever pays 

 the inventor. Now if it should be an estab- 

 lished rule among those interested directly, 

 or indirectly, in our pursuit that the rights 

 of every inventor in any invention he shall 

 make will be recognized, it would no doubt 

 be a great incentive to improvement. I 

 believe such a rule is recognized by all 

 our leading manufacturers of bee-keepers' 

 supplies, and if there are any that will not 

 recognize it, they should be treated accord- 

 ingly by bee-keepers. 



White House Sta., N. .J., May 2, 1893. 



Reversible Extractors. — Bee - Escapes No 

 Help in Running Out -Apiaries for Ex- 

 tracted Houey. — Ten Hands Make 

 a Good Extracting Team. 



E. FRANCE. 



^|» HAVE never seen a reversible extrac- 

 ts) tor, and, in view of our past poor sea- 

 «A» sons, I can but wish that I had a crop 

 as big as I could extract with a non-reversi- 

 ble extractor. With a good honey flow, one 

 man can extract .5,000 pounds in a day with 

 a non reversible extractor. Still, if we could 

 get a good, handy, easy-running, reversible 

 machine it would save work, and that is 

 what we want. I have studied over the mat- 

 ter a great deal— tried several plans — but 

 none of them proved satisfactory. I can 

 make a machine in which I can reverse all 



