EXTRACTORS 
341 
have an automatic alarm that will give due 
notice when the can is nearly full. Several 
beekeepers have gone still further and 
worked out ingenious devices to shut the 
gate on the tank automatically when the 
can is full. These are quite complicated, 
however, and unless one is a natural-born 
mechanic they are likely to be more of a 
bother than help. A simple alarm, on the 
other hand, is of practical benefit. 
W. Z. Hutchinson used regular platform 
scales with the weight set at about 58 
pounds exclusive of the weight of the can. 
When the beam rises, the electrical circuit 
is completed and the bell rings. The oper¬ 
ator shuts the gate off at just the right 
time. 
' The bell is an ordinary doorbell, and 
the current is furnished by any dry bat¬ 
tery. The method of making the connec¬ 
tion is very simple. In brief, two wires 
run from the binding posts on the battery 
to those on the bell. One of them, how¬ 
ever, is broken, and one of the ends fas¬ 
tened to the scale beam at the pivot, and 
the other located just above the outside 
end of the beam. 
The Hutchinson automatic alarm. 
It can be seen that when the can is full 
the scale beam rises and comes in contact 
with the copper wire just above it, and 
the bell rings. All the connection must be 
kept tight, and occasionally the end of the 
scale beam must be brightened with a bit 
of sandpaper, also the wire where it makes 
contact on the scale beam. Any corrosion 
at these points would result in failure of 
the bell to ring. 
EXTRACTING-HOUSES.— See Build-, 
INGS. 
EXTRACTORS.- —In the olden times the 
only means to secure honey in liquid form 
was to crush the combs in some kind of 
press and strain the honey thru cheese 
cloth. Wliere there was some brood pres¬ 
ent in the combs the brood juices mingled 
with the honey; but at all events the prod¬ 
uct obtained was called “strained honey.” 
This terms rather conveys the impression 
that the honey itself was separated, not 
only from the comb but from the dirt, pol¬ 
len, dead bees, and brood. This was only 
too true in many cases. In most apiaries 
of the South where box-hive beekeeping 
is more or less prevalent, there is no honey 
in the liquid form except such as has been 
strained from the crushed combs. 
The modern extractor that takes the 
honey by means of centrifugal force not 
only saves the combs, that are worth from 
35 to 75 cents each, and can be used over 
and over, but furnishes a product in point 
of quality and sanitation that is far supe¬ 
rior to the old-fashioned strained honey of 
the olden days, and, of course without any 
macerated brood. 
FIRST EXTRACTORS. 
In the year 1865 Major D. Hruschka 
of Venice accidentally discovered the prin¬ 
ciple which led to his invention of the ex¬ 
tractor in that year. His little boy while 
playing was whirling a basket around his 
head by means of a short piece of rope. He 
happened to have a piece of honeycomb in 
the basket and the centrifugal force caused 
a few drops of honey to be thrown out into 
the air. His father grasped the principle, 
which led him to construct a rude machine 
that actually extracted the honey without 
crushing the combs. Shortly afterward he 
perfected the machine which was the first 
honey-extractor. 
Among the early extractors made in this 
country was one constructed bv .T. L. Pea¬ 
body. In this machine the whole can re- 
