US63641A - Improvement in bee-hives - Google Patents

Description

Z. L. JACDBS Bee Hive.

No. 63,641. Patented April 2; I867.

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ZALMON L. JA GOES, OF HEBRO'N, CONNECTICUT.

Letters Patent .No. 63,641, dated April 9, 1867.

IMPROVEMENT IN BEE-*HIVES;

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TO ALL WHOM IT MAY concnnn:

Be it known that LZALMON L. JACOBS, of Hebron, in the county or Tolland, in the-State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Beedlives; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and use of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in which Figure 1 is a perspective view.

Figure 2, a back view with the door removed to show the interior arrangements.

Figure 3, a transverse section.

Figure 4, a longitudinal section; and

Figure 5, a detached and enlarged view of one of the hooks by which the parts of the bee-box are held together. 7

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts in all the figures.

The nature of my invention consists in a peculiar combination and arrangementot appendages to a bee-hive, whereby the bees are protected from the wind, and various operations in bee management are facilitated, particularly those of inspecting andmanipulating the contents of the hive, feeding the bees, and rcgulating the number of adherents to artificial swarms.

To enable others skilled in the art to which my invention appcrtains to make and use the same, I will describe its construction and use.

The rectangular case A serves to support and shelter theother parts of my device. Its back side Bis made movable, forming a door, and affording access to the interior. A narrow board, C, which may be fixed, and a wide movable board, D, are laid on the cleats E, so as to form a raised platform for supporting the bee-box or hive proper, F; the board G being placed against the front wall of the case, and the board D contiguous to board 0. The principal object of making the aforesaid platform of two boards is to facilitate the removal of impurities from the hive. The back side of the bee-box being slightly raised, the board D upon which most of the impurities oi the hive fall is entirely relieved of the weight of said bee-box, and may be readily withdrawn and cleansed. The space below the aforesaid platform is divided by the most central of the cleats E into two nearly equal apartments or chambers G. To aiford communication between said chambers and the open air, a horizontal slot or mortise, H, is made from each of said chambers through the front wall of the ease, and a smaller aperture, I, but sufiiciently large for the ingress and egress passage for a colony of bees, is made about midway between said slots, forming asecond entrance to one of the aforesaid chambers G. A passage, J, is also made from each of said chambers, inclining upward towards the front, through board O,'to afford communication between said chambers and the bee-box F. The aggregate width of the boards 0 and D is somewhat less than the width of the case, so that wind entering the chambers G will be free to pass out at their back sides and into the space around and above the bee-box F, instead of entering said bcebox as it would otherwise be likely to do. Wire-cloth screens K, permitting the wind but not the bees to pass, may be used, if desired, to prevent the bees from entering the space back of chambers G. The bee-box Fbefore mentioned consists of a suitable number of close-fitting comb-frames L, two side boards M, and a dividing board, N, all held together, on each side, by two series of peculiarly formed wire hooks O. Said hooks are made of a length to accord with the thickness of the frames and boards to which they are applied, and have shanks P, bent at right angles with their main parts, which enter suitable holes made for the purpose in the said frames and boards, which holes are made in such positions that when the parts are properly arranged the first hook of a series'on the right hand attaches directly to the shank of the second hook, that to the shank of the third, and so on through a series. Staples or pins may be used to terminate each series if preferred. That the said hooks may close the joints accurately, notwithstanding slight incidental variations in their construction, and in that of the parts to which they are attached, and that they may not be likely to unhook by accident or when the beeboX is inverted, each is madewith a coil or spring, Q, and its beak is formed as shown at R, fig. 5, so that it clings with some force to the object to which it eonnects. For feeding bees an apparatus is provided consisting of the reversible box S, the spring T, and the receptacle U. The said box S has one of its sides made of sheetingor similar fabric V, and has an aperture, W, with a circular lip, X, which fits loosely within anorifice made for the purpose in the side of the bee-box. The spring T is attached to the bee-box F, and embraces and supports the box S, and has a cylindrical end, Y, which fits loosely-within a hole in the box S, opposite to the centre of the orifice W, so that the box S. may be reversed. i To use this apparatus, the box S is turned with its cloth side, V, down, the receptacle U, containing the food is placed under said box S, and against its cloth side, and the box and receptacle held together by the hand are quickly inverted, in which position they are sustained by the spring Ti The food is prevented from flowing out by the cloth V and the pressure of the atmosphere, but the bees having access to the under side of the cloth, through the orifice W, are abl o m h the food, through the interstices of the cloth. It will be seen at once that no bees are crushed or drowned in the operation, and none allowed to escape to annoy the operator. A still greater advantage, not at first so obvious, results from this arrangement. The food boin as it were scaled up, little or no scent escapes to attract robber bees, as is apt to be the case when other modes of feeding are resorted to. On the front of case A, in line with the slots II, is made a deve-tail groove, Z, into whichfitloosely the oblong slides a, the uses of which will be presently explained. Four or five inches above said slides a, the rhomboidal elcat b is secured to the ease, with its upper side inclining upward from the case so as to forms. ledge suitable for supporting the porch-like appendages c, which are simple frames, square or triangular in form, about a foot across, and three or four inches deep, each with aboard, (Z, filling about half of the enclosed area, and with dove-tail notches c at suitable points, adapting them to hang securely upon said cleat b, and'admitting of their easy adjustment, either side out, either edge down, and upon any desired part of said olcat. Both the slides a and the appendages c are designed mainly to assist the apiarlau to regulate the number of adherents to artificial swarms; though the first are useful as means of closing and varyingthe size of the entrances, and thelast serve as alighting and clustering places for the bees. The manner in which they are employed in regulating artificial swarms is as follows: The colony from which the swarm is to he made placed with the box containing it within the case A, with the dividing board N removed, and allowed to go in and out only through the aperture I, where an appendage, c, is hung. At the proper time the division of bees is made by inserting the dividing beard N between the ranges of combs, or in any other of the ways known to apiarianmand the bec-box is so arranged upon the platform, and the slides a are so disposed, that one of the colonies resulting from the division communicates with the open air through an opening,f, at the right of the old entrance, and the other colony through a similar opening at the left of said old entrance, (by which I mean the entrance used by the parent colony before the diyision was made.) An appendage c is then hung at each of the entrances used and the flight of the bees observed. If they join the different colonies in the proper proportions the work is done; but if not, such a change of the. front arrangements of the case is made as will contribute to the desired result. In making this change the operator is governed by the following fact: When bees returning from the fields do not gain admittance at the familiar entrance they seek another or others, and in general, other things being equal, the nearer an entrance is found, the more plainly it is seen, and the more it resembles the familiar one in the position and appearance of its surroundings, the more readily will the bees enter it, and vice curse. Now, as the slides a enable the operator to make the openings f at points more or less remote from the old entrance I, and the appendages 0 enable him to provide surroundings resembling in a greater or less degree, in position and appearance, those of the old entrance, and also to hide more or less or to expose to plain view the entrances at which they are hung, it is obvious that the colonies may be made nearly equal or very unequal in size. In general there is a variety of cxpedients to which to resort to produce a given result. For example, the colony receiving too many adherents may have the number reduced either by having its entrnncefremovcd, so as to compel the bees to go further from the old entrance to gain admittance; by having the appendage c at its entrance moved further from said old entrance, or otherwise changed so as to look more unlike what the bees have been accustomed to, or by having said appendage arranged so that its face board d will hide more or loss the entrance at which it is hung; or if.nonc of these changes be, made, but changes of an opposite tendency are made relative to the entrance receiving too few bees, a similar result may be expected. When, for any reason, the case requires it, the slides a and the appendages 0 may all be arranged to co-operate in producing the e-ii'ect required.

Thus I have described what I conceive to be the best construction of my device, and the best mode ofusing it; but these may be varied, and I do not wish to confine myself further than is necessary to produce the same results upon the same principle. I am aware that hives are in use having niches or porches in their fronts serv ing as shelters and clustering places for the bees, and that slides and analogous devices are used to close or vary the size of the entrances to hives; these devices I disclaim, but- I claim as new and of my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. The narrow board C, in combination with the board D, substantially as and for the purpose specified. 2. I claim constructing and arranging the hooks 0 so as to connect with each other directly, or without intermediate staples or pins, substantially as and for the purpose described.

3. I claim, in combination with the frames L, the employment of the extensible hooks 0, when the same are made extensible by means of coils Q or their equivalents,- substantially as and for the purposes described.

4. I claim the combination and arrangement of the reversible box S,-the cloth V, and thc'receptucle U, substantially as described and for the purpose'of feeding bee 5. I claim the adjustable or changeable appendages c, in combination with the case A or its (3(1Lll\ llL1lli,Sl)- stantially as and for the purpose described.

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Witnesses 1 Tnuornv P. BISSELL, LYDIA BIssELL.

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