544 
INVENTIONS RELATING TO BEE CULTURE 
that very few of them were ever sold. To 
A. I. Root belongs the credit of making 
some of the first all-metal extractors that 
use gearing, a stationary can, and a reel 
with baskets to hold the combs, the reel 
connected to the gearing, and mounted to 
1 evolve independently of the can. Thou¬ 
sands and thousands of these machines 
were sold, and very little in the way of 
improvement was made until the reversible 
extractor was put on the market. The 
Cowan principle was applied to the two- 
frame machines, and later came the Root 
principle of a series of baskets geared to¬ 
gether in such a way that the reversing of 
one pocket reversed all at the same time. 
A few years later came the invention of 
Frank G. Marback, by means of which the 
pockets could be reversed automatically by 
simply applying a brake and slowing down 
the speed of the machine. This was fol¬ 
lowed by a slip gear and better mechan¬ 
ism, by whicli the extractor of today has 
from two to ten times the capacity of the 
earlier machines. 
In later years another type of machine 
has been developed, that employs the prin¬ 
ciple of reversing the individual pockets 
for holding the combs on a central pivot, 
as is shown under the head of Extract¬ 
ors. This plan of reversing is much easier 
on the combs, providing for a higher speed 
and thus doing cleaner work. The central- 
pivot principle also makes it possible to 
reverse the combs when the extractor is go¬ 
ing at full speed. The detail of this last 
machine 'was worked out by H. H. Root 
and G. L. Howk. 
Mention should be made of the honey- 
pump that is now being used successfully 
on the large-sized extractors to deliver the 
honey from the extractors to a tank at one 
side or in an adjoining room. 
The fourth important invention is the 
bee-smoker. Quinby, was the inventor of 
the bellows bee-smoker, which he brought 
out in 1875. This was further improved 
by T. F. Bingham, L. C. Root and H. H. 
Root, younger son of A. I. Root. The 
modern bee-smoker is almost as indispens¬ 
able as an extractor and movable frames; 
for without smoke, applied by means of a 
convenient instrument, the work of han¬ 
dling bees would be disagreeable if not 
impossible at times. The invention of Mr. 
Quinby forms the basis of all the modern 
smokers. But to T. F. Bingham belongs 
the credit of devising a smoker that blows 
air into the fire-cup without sucking any 
smoke into the bellows. Mr. Bingham’s 
invention consisted in leaving out the tube 
connecting the two parts of the instrument. 
While that at first thought might seem to 
be no invention, yet it made all the differ¬ 
ence in the world between a workable tool 
and an unworkable one. The latter would 
go out and clog up with creosote, while the 
former would continue burning, bum any 
kind of fuel, and not clog up. 
E. B. Weed, formerly of Medina, was 
the inventor of what is known as the 
“Weed New Process” for making comb 
foundation of a very superior kind in large 
quantities. His automatic machinery, with 
Washburn’s and Howk’s improvements for 
turning out the product, is now used in 
nearly all civilized countries of the world. 
A little later on H. H. Root and H. B. 
Blanchard made some great improvements 
in comb foundation machines. Rolls of 
these machines instead of having cut or en¬ 
graved die faces use a harder metal cast at 
a type foundry. This makes it possible 
to use individual type that are fastened to 
rings surrounding the rolls. The shape of 
the type faces is more nearly accurate than 
those that are engraved on soft metal and 
for that reason will wear longer. The 
shape of the type heads conforms more 
nearly to the bottoms of the cells of the 
natural combs. See Comb Foundation. 
At the same time that this invention was 
brought out Prof. Holmes of Oberlin, 
Ohio, developed a process for a refining 
wax, a product that is much superior to 
anything that has hitherto been put on the 
market. 
An invention which is now in almost 
universal use, in this country at least, is 
that of Julius Hoffman, in what is known 
as the Hoffman self-spacing frame. While 
the old-style Langstroth non-spacing frame 
was once the leader, yet during late years 
the Hoffman-Langstroth is one that is list¬ 
ed by large and small manufacturers and 
dealers all over the country. The present 
Hoffman frame is not the same as the orig¬ 
inal ; or, to, put it in another way, the mod¬ 
ern Hoffman retains only the self-spacing 
