297 
The Production of Extracted-Honey 
the baskets being close to the axis giving the greatest prac¬ 
tical centrifugal force for a given velocity of the comb. 
These are made for two and four frames and are still used! 
The next advance was in making the reversible extractor, in 
which the baskets are hung by one edge on pivots, so that 
when the honey is removed from one side, the basket can 
be turned and the other side extracted without removing 
the combs from the baskets. From this it was a short 
step to the automatic reversible machine in which it is not 
necessary to bring the reels to a full stop to reverse the 
baskets. When first inserted, the baskets are placed so 
that in their revolutions they are'pulled by their hinges. 
After one side is empty, the speed is checked by means of 
a brake on the central axis and the momentum of the baskets 
throws them around on the hinges exposing the other side 
of the comb. Soon after this improvement was made, the 
driving rod was provided with a slip-gear so that, after 
the reels are well under way, the gear is thrown out and 
the reels revolve while the driving gear stands still. From 
this point progress has been chiefly in the application of 
power to the extractor and in increase in size. We now 
have extractors driven by gasoline or electric motors having 
a capacity of four, six, eight (Fig. 122) and even twelve 
frames. These large outfits are capable of handling tons 
of honey in a season. The latest improvement is the ap¬ 
plication of the friction drive in place of gears, by which 
any speed may be obtained by changing the position of one 
of the friction members, but the special advantages are 
smoothness in starting and reduction of noise. Extractors 
of all the types mentioned except the early revolving can 
extractors are still manufactured and each type is suited 
to certain apiary conditions. Obviously only professional 
beekeepers need a large power outfit, but there are a great 
many of these, as evidenced by the unexpected number 
of sales of such equipment. It is claimed that the power 
driven extractors clean the combs more thoroughly than 
do hand driven machines. 
