The Production and Care of Beeswax 
335 
will settle at the bottom in cooling and may be cut from the 
cake. A common method for melting combs and pieces of 
wax is by the use of the solar wax extractor, the combs being 
put in a box covered with glass and the heat of the sun, 
being confined by the glass, melts the wax, which runs into 
a lower compartment where it hardens. In Hawaii, the 
beekeepers have unusually large solar extractors to melt 
their cappings as 
well as other 
pieces of comb. 
A more rapid 
method is to place 
the combs in a 
double boiler (Fig. 
139), the combs 
being either hung 
on cross supports 
or thrown on a 
screen (like that 
in an uncapping tank) and as the wax melts it runs out a 
gate provided for the purpose. A less efficient method is 
to boil combs in water and skim off the wax. Doctor Miller 
finds a dripping pan in the oven of the kitchen stove a 
good substitute for a solar extractor in the winter. 
Fig. 139. — Double boiler for melting combs. 
Wax presses. 
These methods are satisfactory for clean combs, free 
from pollen, cocoons and other substances, but in the case 
of old combs much of the wax adheres to the cocoons 
and is not liberated. To render old combs they should (if 
the weather is cold) be broken up and then soaked in water 
after which they should be put into a sack, heated and pressed 
under strong pressure while hot. In this way most of the 
wax is removed from the cocoons. There are three types 
of press in common use. In the steam heated press the 
mass of comb is kept hot by steam generated below dur¬ 
ing the process of pressing out the wax, which drops down 
