COMB FOUNDATION 
217 
IMBEDDING BY ELECTRICITY. 
After all is said and done, the most sat¬ 
isfactory method of imbedding wires in 
comb foundation is by means of electricity ; 
and if one has access to an electric-light 
circuit, as so many beekeepers now have, 
the best way is to imbed all the wires at 
once by attaching the current to the tacks 
on the outside of one of the end-bars of 
the frames, around which the ends of the 
wires are wrapped, the current then flow¬ 
ing thru all the wires. Dry batteries may 
be used for this purpose, but it takes eight 
to a dozen batteries to heat all four wires 
quickly, and even then it is a rather hard 
strain on the batteries. For heating one 
wire at a time it takes four cells. The 
trouble with dry batteries for imbed¬ 
ding is that they must be fresh to be effi¬ 
cient, and after a little of this kind of 
work they are no longer fresh. 
Obviously with the straight electric-light 
current, if that were attempted, the wires 
would be heated red-hot in an instant, or, 
what is more likely, a fuse somewhere on 
the circuit would be blown out. The cur¬ 
rent must first be run thru a “resistance” 
to reduce it, just as steam when run thru a 
steam engine is exhausted, and of much 
lower pressure thereafter. If' one has an 
electric flatiron to put on the cii’euit, that 
furnishes about the right amount of re¬ 
sistance. In that event the two wires that 
go to the switch which turns the flatiron on 
and off, have just about the right amount 
of current to do the imbedding nicely. If 
there is no switch, the flatiron may be 
hooked in on one of the wires, the current 
going first thru the flatiron before it goes 
thru the wires in the frames. 
With no electrically heated flatiron avail¬ 
able, a resistance coil can be made in a few 
minutes’ time. First, get about 400 feet of 
No. 24 iron wire. The exact amount can 
not be given, for the wire varies slightly in 
size; furthermore, different operators may 
prefer different currents to work with. The 
best plan is to get 400 feet of the wire and 
then not use quite all of it, if more heat is 
desired. In order to have the wire in con¬ 
venient form to handle, wind it on a long 
iron rod, or pipe, the outside diameter of 
which is about ] /2 of an inch. Twist the 
wire around one end of the pipe tightly, so 
it will not slip; then have some one else 
turn the pipe slowly, while you wind it on 
evenly and tightly, with no space between 
the coils. When it is all wound on, let the 
Electrical imbedding device. 
wire loosen up, cut the end that was first 
twisted on and slide the whole thing off the 
pipe. Hang the coils on nails in the wall 
or ceiling, being careful that the different 
lengths of the wire do not touch each other. 
The electricity after passing thru all these 
coils of wire will be “tame” enough to be 
handled by any one. These directions are 
for the standard voltage, 110, found almost 
universally. It makes no difference whether 
it is direct current or alternating—one 
works as well as the other. 
ANOTHER METHOD OF REDUCING ELECTRIC 
LIGHT CURRENT. 
Jay Smith has devised another and 
much simpler method for reducing any 
electric-light current sufficiently so that it 
may be used for imbedding the wires in 
connection with the imbedding form de¬ 
scribed above. (See article in Gleanings in 
Bee Culture, December, 1917, page 938.) 
This simple device is merely a quart Mason 
fruit jar with two wires or strips of copper 
or brass extending down into some water. 
A pinch of salt should be added to allow 
the current to pass thru the water. The 
current from one wire of the circuit passes 
into the jar thru one electrode, thence thru 
the water to the other electrode, then to 
the imbedder. The other electric wire 
passes directly 1o the imbedder. The 
