GB2270454A

GB2270454A - Beehive honeycomb frames.

Info

Publication number: GB2270454A
Application number: GB9218565A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Richard Phillips Alabone
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1992-09-02
Filing date: 1992-09-02
Publication date: 1994-03-16
Anticipated expiration: 2012-09-02
Also published as: GB9218565D0; GB2270454B

Abstract

A beehive frame comprises a top bar 1, two side bar 2, at least one bottom bar 3 and top joint elements 4 connecting the ends of the side bars respectively to the top bar, each top joint element comprising first and second sockets disposed substantially at right angles for receiving respectively a part of the top bar and an end of a side bar. The frame may include bottom joint elements 5 joining the bottom bar to the side bars. The top joint elements and/or the bottom joint elements may be moulded in plastic and may include formations which determine a desired spacing between adjacent frames in a beehive. The top joint elements may include projecting lugs to support the frame in a hive. <IMAGE>

Description

BEEHIVE FRAMES Modern beehivvs are fitted with removable frames in which the bees are persuaded to build their combs so that the combs may be removed by the beekeeper for inspection and for other purposes. Most frames are rectangular, usually made of wood and commonly comprise a top bar, a bottom bar or two parallel bottom bars and two side bars which join the top and bottom bars.

Other shapes have been proposed from time to time, including designs in which the side bars and bottom bar are formed integrally as a single bow-shaped bar joined at each end to the ends of the top bar. In this specification, except where the context indicates otherwise, references to a "side bar" include an end portion of such a single bow-shaped bar. The top bar is usually longer than the bottom bar and its ends project beyond the side bars to provide lugs which will rest on a rebate provided for the purpose at the top of opposite side walls of each of the boxes which make up the body of the beehive. The bottom bar or bars may also project beyond the side bars so as to engage the side walls of the hive to space the side bars from the walls so that bees may pass around the sides of the frame.

Whilst frames have been made with the bars simply nailed or glued together, most frames, particularly those offered by commercial manufacturers, have the top and side bars mortised so that when assembled they are strongly jointed together and located positively in the desired right-angled relationship. The bottom ends of the side bars are mortised to receive the ends of the bottom bar or bars. It is common practice amongst beekeepers to secure the joints with gimp pins or similar small nails.

A significant element in the cost of manufacture of frame parts is the cost of machining the mortises in the top and side bars. Some frames are made with wide side bars or side bars with parts wider than the remainder so that when the frames are in position in a hive the wide side bars or the wider parts of side bars of adjacent frames contact each other to provide the required spacing between frames. Production of such side bars also increases manufacturing costs. Other spacing arrangements are devices fitted on the lugs or the side bars, such as the "W.B.C. Metal End" and its plastics equivalent and the "Yorkshire" spacers. These devices also add to the cost of a set of frames for a beehive and they are additional elements for the beekeeper to purchase, store and use.

According to this invention a beehive frame comprises a top bar, two side bars, a bottom bar and top joint elements connecting the ends of the side bars respectively to the top bar, each top joint element comprising first and second sockets disposed substantially at right angles for receiving respectively a part of the top bar and an end of a side bar.

Preferably each top joint element includes an integral spacing element, having a dimension measured substantially at right angles to both sockets equal to the desired spacing between frames when installed in a beehive.

The invention includes a top joint element for a beehive frame as just described and a kit of parts for making a beehive frame as just described.

In its simplest form a top joint element comprises a first socket dimensioned to fit over the end of a top bar and a second socket positioned to extend downwardly when the first socket is disposed horizontally, dimensioned to receive an end of a side bar. The integral spacing element, if included, may extend on one or both sides of one or both sockets.

The sockets are preferably dimensioned to be a close fit on the side and top bars, but the bars may be secured in the sockets by small nails or adhesive. Alternatively, locking buttresses may be formed on internal walls of the sockets, or some of them, and the bars may be formed with corresponding recesses or grooves to be entered by the buttresses when the bars are correctly fitted in the sockets.

The frame may include bottom joint elements connecting the other ends of the side bars to the bottom bars, each bottom joint element comprising two sockets disposed substantially at right angles for receiving respectively a part of a bottom bar and an end of a side bar. The bottom joint elements may also include integral spacing elements similar to those described above.

The first socket of the top joint element may be open-ended, so that the top bar can be passed through it and project beyond the second socket to provide the usual lug to rest on a rebate in the hive as previously described.

Preferably, however, each top joint element includes an integral lug, substantially aligned with the first socket. It may also include a spacing projection below the lug, extending down the outer surface of the second socket so as to space it from the side wall of a beehive.

The top and bottom joint elements are preferably moulded in plastic, for example polyethylene or polypropylene.

In frames as described the top, side and bottom bars can be plain rectangular-section bars without mortising or other shaping for jointing or they may have small recesses or grooves for receiving locking buttresses as described above. In either case the top and side bars are cheper and easier to produce than the usual bars with mortise shaping. The top bar may have the usual side rebate to receive a wedge for securing foundation (a beeswax sheet embossed with the hexagon shapes of the cells to be built by the bees) in the usual way. Alternatively two separate top bars may be used, each about half the width of the usual top bar, to be placed side-by-side with the margin of a sheet of foundation between them before being inserted into the first sockets, which can be dimensioned so as to keep the two bars close together, clamping the foundation between them.In a similar manner, two parallel bottom bars may be used, though they preferably do not clamp the foundation between them. For this purpose the second socket may include a central division to keep the two bars apart or there may be two separate second sockets side-by-side.

An embodiment of the invention is illustrated by the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is an elevation of a beehive frame, Figure 2 is a plan of a top joint element used in the frame shown in Figure 1, Figure 3 is a section on the line A-A of Figure 2 and includes a part of a side bar, Figure 4 is a plan of a bottom joint element used in the frame shown in Figure 1, and Figure 5 is an elevation of the bottom joint element, viewed in the direction of arrow B of Figure 4.

The frame shown in Figure 1 comprises a top bar 1, two side bars 2 and a pair of parallel bottom bars 3 connected by top joint elements 4 and bottom joint elements 5. As shown in Figures 2 and 3, each top joint element 4 comprises a first socket 6 receiving an end of the top bar 1 and a second socket 7, at right angles to the first socket 6, for receiving an end of a side bar 2. On the outer side walls of the first socket 6 are projections 8, 9 of triangular cross section which together form an integral spacing element, the overall width of which1 measured at right angles to the two sockets, is equal to the desired spacing between frame centres, typically 1.375 inches (34.9 mm.). The triangular sections of the projections 8 and 9 are in known manner at right angles so that when two frames are side by side in a beehive the projections 8 and 9 make substantially point contact.A lug 10 extends outwardly in line with the first socket 6 to rest on the rebate provided at the top of opposite side walls of a box of a beehive body.

To provide for "snap-in" assembly and retention of the top bars 1 and side bars 2 in the sockets 6 and 7, wedge-shaped locking buttresses 11, 12 are formed on inner walls of the sockets to enter corresponding recesses in the side and top bars when the bars are correctly inserted into the sockets.

The buttresses have their sloping sides facing the open ends of the sockets so that the ends of the top and side bars will ride over them as they are inserted into the sockets. The end of a side bar 2 is shown in Figure 3 about to be entered into the socket 7. It has a recess 13 appropriately positioned to be entered by the buttresses 12 when it is fully inserted into the socket 7.

As indicated by chain dotted lines in Figure 3, the top joint element 4 may include a spacing projection 14 on the outer wall of the second socket 7 below the lug 10 for spacing the side bars 2 from the side walls of a box of a beehive body to provide access for bees to pass around both sides of the frame when it is in use.

Each bottom joint element 5 comprises two sockets 15, 16 at right angles, for receiving respectively the bottom ends of the side bars 2 and the ends of the bottom bars 3 and has triangular spacing projections 17, 18 like the projections 8, 9 of the top joint element. A central division 19 is formed in the sockets 16 for separating two parallel bottom bars 2. If desired, one or both sockets 15, 16 could be formed with buttresses similar to the buttresses 11, 12 in the sockets 6, 7 of the top joint element 4. In that case the respective ends of the side bars and/or bottom bars would be formed with recesses similar to the recess 13 so that the bars could be snapped into the sockets and be retained by the buttresses.

Except for the recesses for receiving the buttresses, if provided, the top, side and bottom bars are of substantially constant cross section, without mortising or other shaping for jointing purposes. They are thus substantially cheaper to produce than the equivalent conventional components previously described. They are simply pushed into the sockets, which are made to be a close fit. If the buttresses and recesses are omitted, the bars may be secured in the sockets by adhesive or by gimp pins or other small nails, for which holes may be provided appropriately positioned in the walls of the sockets. If buttresses are provided and recesses are therefore required, they can be produced simultaneously with the operation of cutting the bars to length and therefore do not add significantly to the cost of the bars.

Instead of the socket 16, each bottom joint element may have two parallel grooves for receiving the ends of the bottom bar or bars, which could then be nailed through the end walls of the sockets 15 into the ends of the side bars, in much the same manner as bottom bars are usually attached to side bars in conventional wooden frames.

Claims

1. A beehive frame comprising a top bar, two side bars, at least one bottom bar and top joint elements connecting the ends of the side bars respectively to the top bar, each top joint element comprising first and second sockets disposed substantially at right angles for receiving respectively a part of the top bar and an end of a side bar.

2. A beehive frame as claimed in Claim 1 wherein each top joint element includes an integral lug to engage the rebate in the side wall of a beehive when the frame is installed therein.

3. A beehive frame as claimed in Claim 1 or Claim 2 wherein each top joint element includes an integral spacing element, having a dimension measured substantially at right angles to both sockets equal to the desired spacing between frames when installed in a beehive.

4. A beehive frame as claimed in any of Claims 1 to 3 wherein each top joint element includes an integral spacing projection which may engage the side wall of a beehive when the frame is in position in the hive to space the side bar of the frame from the side wall.

5. A beehive frame as claimed in any of Claims 1 to 4 wherein each top joint element has on an inner wall of at least one of the said first and second sockets a locking buttress entering a corresponding recess in the top bar or side bar received in the said at least one socket.

6. A beehive frame as claimed in any of Claims 1 to 5 including bottom joint elements connecting the ends of the said at least one bottom bar to the respective side bars.

7. A beehive frame as claimed in Claim 6 wherein each bottom joint element comprises a first socket receiving an end of a side bar remote from the end intended to be received in the second socket of the top joint element.

8. A beehive frame as claimed in Claim 7 wherein each bottom joint element comprises a second socket receiving an end of a bottom bar.

9. A beehive frame as claimed in Claim 7 or Claim 8 wherein each bottom joint element has on an inner wall of at least one of the said first and second sockets a locking buttress entering a corresponding recess in the side bar or bottom bar received in the said at least one socket.

10. A beehive frame as claimed in any of Claims 6 to 9 wherein each bottom joint element includes an integral spacing element, having a dimension, measured in a direction transverse with respect to the frame bars, equal to the desired spacing between frames when installed in a beehive.

11. A beehive frame a claimed in any preceding claim wherein the top joint elements and/or the bottom joint elements are moulded in plastic.

12. A beehive frame substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated by the accompanying drawings.

13. A joint element for a beehive frame as claimed in any of Claims 1 to 12.

14. A kit of parts for making a beehive frame as claimed in any of Claims 1 to 12.

15. A top joint element for a beehive frame comprising a first socket dimensioned to fit over a top bar and a second socket positioned to extend downwardly when the first socket is disposed horizontally, dimensioned to receive an end of a side bar.

16. A top joint element as claimed in Claim 15 including an integral lug substantially aligned with the first socket, to rest on the rebate of a side wall of a beehive.

17. A top joint element as claimed in Claim 15 or Claim 16 including integral spacing means having a dimension measured substantially at right angles to both sockets equal to the desired spacing between frames when installed in a beehive.

18. A top joint element as claimed in Claim 17 wherein the integral spacing means extends on one or both sides of one or both sockets.

19. A top joint element as claimed in any of Claims 15 to 18 including a locking buttress on an inner wall of a socket to enter a corresponding recess in a top bar or side bar received in the said socket.

20. A top joint element as claimed in any of Claims 15 to 19 including an integral spacing projection which may engage the side wall of a beehive to space the side bar of a frame from the side wall when the frame is in position in a hive.