EXTRACTORS 
345 
A pressure on the reversing-lever as shown by the upright 
handle slows down the reversing-drum very slightly. This 
action causes every one of the sprockets and the comb pockets to 
revolve half way, even tho the reel may he running at full speed. 
In this picture the comb-pockets are seen in the act of reversing. 
In the space of a second all of the eight combs will be reversed, 
even tho the extracting-reel is revolving at full speed. The 
usual plan of procedure is to extract most of the honey from 
one side of the comb at a relatively slow speed, reverse with¬ 
out stopping or slowing down the extractor, clean all the honey 
out from the second side (still at slow speed) when the reversing- 
lever is pulled, thus causing the first side to come hack to its 
first position while the honey is cleaned out at full speed. One 
more reversing at full speed cleans the second side. There is 
no loss of time in reversing, which can be done as often as de¬ 
sired, at full or slow speed. The reversal on a central axis is 
much easier on the combs, causes almost no breakage, and at 
the same time the work is done much more thoroly than in the 
older styles of extractors. 
tracting combs having a look 
suspicious of foul brood. 
The machine is built strong to 
stand the heavy strains that 
come from high speed. The dif¬ 
ficulty of supporting the tops of 
the pockets of the central-pivot 
extractor here shown from the 
enormous strain of centrifugal 
force and yet leave it possible to 
insert the combs, has been solved 
by the use of the internal gears 
which also accomplish the re¬ 
versing. 
The time is coming when bee¬ 
keepers will wake up to the fact 
that they are not extracting their 
combs clean enough. To do this 
as it should be done, the combs 
should be thoroly wired, and 
the extractor should be built to 
stand a higher speed than has 
even been thought necessary. 
The machine here shown was 
constructed with this end in 
view. 
It is a mistake to think that 
all the honey from very wet 
combs, because the extractor 
could not do a cleaner job, will 
be saved by permitting the bees 
to clean them up. The dryer the 
combs, the more honey and the 
less the waste when the combs are cleaned 
by the bees. It is here that power ex¬ 
tractor?, have an immense advantage over 
those driven by hand. 
To determine exactly how much honey is 
left in the cells after extracting, the au¬ 
thors in 1921 made a number of tests with 
combs that for 2% minutes had been in 
an eight-frame Buckeye extractor, speeded 
up to 350 revolutions per minute. Eight 
combs were carefully weighed before and 
after uncapping and extracting, then after 
these weights were secured the combs were 
cut out of the frames, melted up, and the 
honey, thus separated flom the wax, was 
weighed and compared with the original 
amount of honey extracted from those 
eight combs. After several tests the amount 
of honey left in the cells was found to vary 
from 3 to 3%% of the original amount 
in the combs. These combs when taken 
from the extractor looked perfectly dry— 
that is, the exact angular shape of the base 
of each cell could be seen clearly. Where 
there is enough honey left in the cell so 
that the angles of the base all run to¬ 
gether it is safe to assume that the per¬ 
centage of honey left is very high, per¬ 
haps between 10 and 20%. It is this large 
proportion of honey left because of in¬ 
efficient extracting that causes gorging on 
the part of the bees. 
Mention should be made of the fact that 
at a high speed of 350 revolutions per 
minute it is quite necessary to pull on the 
brake lever momentarily to slow down the 
reel slightly before each reversing, not be¬ 
cause the extractor itself will not stand the 
strain, but because the combs at that high 
rate of speed are imbedded somewhat in 
the screen of the pocket and being reversed 
so suddenly are apt to be somewhat muti¬ 
lated. The slowing down takes very little 
extra time, and it is a paying proposition 
