218 
COMB FOUNDATION 
To Source of Power ^ 
strength of the current used may be 
changed by merely changing the strength 
of the salt-water solution in the jar. 
USE OB 1 SMALL ELECTRIC TRANSFORMER. 
The small transformers sold by supply- 
dealers for use in imbedding can be at¬ 
tached to any electric-light socket having 
110-115 volt 60-cycle alternating current, 
and it gives, without the use of batteries, 
just the right amount of current for im¬ 
bedding all four wires at once, or only one 
wire, at the will of the operator. It is 
used in connection with the imbedding 
form described elsewhere, and is a very 
satisfactory method of imbedding. 
To do the imbedding, take a board wider 
than the frame and near one end screw two 
pieces of sheet brass, which will stick up 
about an inch. These are to be spaced the 
right distance apart, so that if the end-bar 
of the frame is pushed up against the piece 
of brass, one tack, around which the end of 
the wire is wrapped, will touch one brass 
spring and the other tack the other. For 
best results there should be a switch for 
turning the current on and off. 
The sheet of foundation should be on top 
of the wires, instead of the wires on top of 
the foundation. Where diagonal wires are 
used the sheet of foundation should be put 
between the diagonal and the horizontal 
wires. This prevents -the bees from mak¬ 
ing holes where the wires cross. As soon 
as the current is turned on with the left 
hand, a light wooden roller, that will just 
tit inside the frame, should be rapidly 
rolled across the wax, pressing it down over 
the heated wires. 
Imbedding all four wires by means of 
electricity, while not particularly easy for 
the first few frames, is far more rapid 
than any other method and capable of the 
very finest work. A good operator that 
has imbedded a few hundred wires can do 
the work so nicely that it is almost impos¬ 
sible to detect which side of the founda¬ 
tion the wire went in, the wire itself show¬ 
ing no more on one side than on the other. 
IMBEDDING ONE WIRE AT A TIME WITH 
AUTOMOBILE BATTERY IMBEDDER. 
There has recently been placed on the 
market a A ery handy electric imbedding* de¬ 
vice which uses the current of an ordinary 
automobile storage battery. From the ac¬ 
companying* illustration it will be seen that 
Electric imbedding device. 
this tool imbeds one wire at a time. The 
current enters the wire at either end thru 
brass springs attached to the ends of the 
tool. When in use the tool should be 
pressed firmly down upon the wire with a 
form block beneath the foundation and 
wires, and held just long enough for the 
current to heat the wire until it has melted 
the wax and thoroly imbedded the wire into 
the wax. Then when the tool is removed 
the wax instantly cools, leaving the wire 
firmly joined into the wax. When using a 
12-volt battery less time is required than 
with a 6-volt battery. 
This tool does very rapid work and is 
