US1410444A - Nonswarming beehive - Google Patents

Description

L. A. ASPINWALL.

NONSWARMING BEEHIVE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN-15.1921.

1,41 0,444. Patented Mar. 21, 1922.

3 SHEETSSHEET i.

L. A. ASPINWALL.

NONSWARMING BEEHIVE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN- L5, 1921- Patented Mar. 21, 1922.

3 3HEETSSHEET 2.

//v VEIVTOR L. A. ASPI'NWALL. NO NSWARMING BEEHIVE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. L5, 1921.

1 ,410,4;44, Patented Mar. 21, 1922;

3 SHEETS-QH ET 3.

*1... cmmczcnmz: acpcacacacrcs UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

NONSWABMING BEEI-IIVE.

Application fiIed January 15, 1921.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, linwrs AUGUSTUS Asrrx- WALL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Jackson, in the county of Jackson and State of Michigan, have invented an Improvement in Nonswarming Beehives, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the controlling of swarming to such an extent that absolute prevention is accomplished. As will be seen, it is radically different from my previous inventions in this line, which gave very good control, but under some circum- I No. 891,584, patented June 23, 1908, and No.

1,198,811, patented September 19, 1916. This latter patent relates to my invention of an auxiliary compartment in connection with the slatted frames. By making one of these compartments queenless circuit of bees through the hive proper was the first step resulting in a near approach to success in the perfect control of swarming, and this principle is embodied in my invention hereinafter described.

In m present invention, however, a new princip e is also involved, viz., to control the action of the colony in reference to swarming by queenless bees which are kept in a separate compartment known as the controller, in combination with a controller board at the top and rear, so as to leave room for the supers in front and also on top of the hive.

It is to be noted in this connection that with a side compartment made queenless,

the bees refuse to store honey above or at the side of the this construction for two seasons, that is two years, the'storage of honey was little or none. Evidently the wire cloth division board allowed the odor of the queenless compartment to permeate the colonyproper, thus destroying its energy. But, with the wire cloth above, a converse con d1tion is obtained; instead of the odor of the queenless bees per- Specification of Letters Patent.

' with and compelling a colony. After modifying Patented Mar. 21, 1922.

Serial No. 437,442.

meating the colony proper, the ascending warmth carries the queen odor above vitalizing the que'enless bees in the controller so they do not realize their queenless condition, while the normal vigor of the colony proper is maintained.

It is a well known fact that qucenless bees do not swarm for the reason that no swarms can issue without a queen and no colonies swarm unless the bees act as a unitthere must be concerted action on the part of all the bees in a colony. By my present arrangement with the use of the controller above separated from the main hive bya controlling board, which affords a rear entrance, thereby giving two entrances instead of one, the manner of working is such that the bees with a few combs of brood placed in the controller during any period the hive becomes populous, and made queenless thwarts the tendency to prepare for swarming.

The queen is left below and three or four empty combs are substituted to take the place of those with brood, preferably sealed brood which are placed in the controller. The controlling board consists of a space three-eighths to seven-eighths inches wide queen excluding zinc below, wire cloth above and a plurality of bee escapes whereby the bees in the controller are constantly reinforced by both young and old bees, and in makmg their flight the young bees return to the controller entrance, not knowing or having marked the old one, while the old bees return as usual, carrying with them the influence of the queenless bees in the controller.

In the drawing; I

Figure 1 is a front elevation of my in1- proved hive with device for preventing swarming. V

Fig. 2 is the side elevation.

ig. 3 is a plan view of the controller board, looking from above, also showing a sectional view in the center, and

Fig. 4: is a plan view, looking from below or the underside, showing the queen exeluding zinc at the bottom, and the bee escapes; I V

Figure 1 shows the hive with 11 frames wedged together as in my previous invention, without the slatted frames. This enables a hive of shorter constructlon. Above, supers are placed crosswise of the frames, (which is not common in arranging hive.

dicated cells,

. forward suiiiciently to increase 'ing zinc which gives the The hive when placed in position is supported by the steel shoes resting on the ground. The steel U shaped pieces are inat 1. 2 represents front bars which support the frame. 3 represents the lower bars which constitute supports for the bottom board. 4t represents frames. 5 represents button clamps on the followboard. 6 represents the 'alighting board. 7 represents the closing ieces held 1 r 3 8 represents the controller and 9 the supers. 10 is a cover protecting the supers from rain and storm. 11 is a cover protecting the controller. clamps holding the super sides to the section holders 13. 14 represents a narrow board in front of thesupers which may be moved the width of the supers. 15 is the lower end of the frame in the controller. A wedge is shown in Fig. 2 and also a locker bar and the followboard. 1 i

By referring to Fig. 3 it will be seen that the controller board is provided with wire 12 represents the cloth on the upper side, which allows the warmth and queen odor of the colony to pass upward and prevents the queenless bees from deserting the hive, which they would otherwise do after the removal of the queen as hereinafter mentioned.

The lower side of the controller board as shown infFig. 4 is covered by queen exclud- V bees an opportunity to pass through into the space where entrance is provided through the bee escapes. 16 represents parts which form a cleated framework for separating the queen excluding zinc andwire cloth and also to contain the bee escapes.

At the rear end of 17 is a thin board about it or Qt in thickness, which forms an alighting board. 18 shows an incline on the side of piece 16, joining board 17, which consti tutes an entranceway into the controller. 19 represents the wire cloth screen and 20 the queenexcluding zinc. 21 represents the bee escapes, one of which shows the bottom removed and the springs through which the bees pass into the opening above which 1s shown at 22 in top elevation. 23 represents stops on the controller board and when placed upon the hive rest against the a rear. end and determine the position of the controller. A couple of screws located near the front of side pieces hold the controller board in position.

.Byremovingthree or four combs of brood the several brood the buttons. 5' represents t e follow- I i boards.

. ginning of enter and the greatest amount of honey,

in imate with bees, as heretofore stated, to the controller, the queen being left below and empty combs substituted, all disposition to swarm is prevented for a time by the loss of brood. With no queen in the controller, queen cells will be constructed over some of the eggs and larvae to rear a queen. These should be removed in about ten days, leaving the controller with bees queenless but they will not desert by reason of the queen odoi from below.

ihS already stated, these queenless bees are constantly reinforced by those from be low, both young and old, through the bee escapes-the old. ones returning to'the former entrance and so carrying the influence a queenless colony into the colony proper.

The queenless bees being constantly reinforced by young bees from below, or hive proper, throughtlie bee-escapes, are maintained in their strength throughout these-ason of, honeygathering, except when all storage room is shut off, or an insuliicient number of supers are used, so compelling the bees to deposit their honey below to the exclusion of brood rearing, thus reducing the number of young bees for reinforcing those and the colony left with an insufficient numberof bees for successfulwintering. 7 Under the cond1tion of a loss of brood m the colony proper, no queen cells are started,

hence there is no tendency whatever to prepare for swarming. 1th empty combs substituted for those placed in the controller,

eg laying is resumed and the cells are soon .23 filled with brood: As the honey season approaches, supers are placed above at the beclover bloom at which time they store honey. with great rapidity. The queenless bees instead of storing honey in' the controller combs, pass it down through the wire cloth from mouth to mouth and store it in the supers above the colony proper. This at first was not noticed but finding in the midst'of the honey flow no increase of honey in the controller combs, it was discovered by careful watchting they were passing the honey down; This adds very much to the storage and yield of honey through the perfect control of swarming. 7

So perfect is the work and influence through the operation of qucenless bees that even with supers left off no swarmingwill take place. This so changes the action of the colony that an abundance of room hecomes unnecessary with my present system. The object of control being to secure supers are used and tiered to the utmost extent so that the storage of honey by the colony .is often two hundred sections per colony during the period of honey flow. I

The device working so perfectly leaves nothing to be done during the entire season from apple bloom until autumn except to put on supers and remove them as fast as filled, thus simplifying bee culture and avoiding all the anxiety and annoyance of swarming, which usually comes at a time when supers are to be placed upon the hives and necessitates their removal, because the colony being depopulated by swarming is not in any condition i'or :turthe'r storage of honey.

Another advantage which is due to queen less condition in the controller and the bees permeating the colony proper is that the temper or disposition oi the bees is modified or changed, making them considerably more docile. tritill further. I lind although the bees store a greater quantity of honey, there is always ample leftin the body of the hive proper for wintering the colony. With the old method the combs are left almost destitute of honey and feeding becomes necessary to supply the colony with winter stores.

The whole tendency of the perfect control as herein. shown is to lessen the labor in bee culture and to obtain an increased yield of honey, at the same time leaving an abundant supply for wintering the colony, also controlling the disposition of the bees.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a beehive, a main compartment, a controller compartment placed above the main compartment and having an entrance and exit independent oi? that oi the main compartment, and a controller board placed horizontally between the said compartments to permit the pa sage of bees, except the queen bee and drones, from the main to the controller compartn'ient and not in other direction.

2. In a beehive, a main compartment, a queenless controller compartment placed above the main compartment at the rear thereof and having an entrance and exit independentoi that of the main compartment, and a controller board removably placed between the said main and controller compartments to permit the passage of bees, except the queen bee and drones, from the main to the controller compartment and not in other direction.

8. In a beehive, a main compartment. a controller compartment placed above the main compartment and having an exit and entrance independent of that of the main compartment, and devices including an upper mesh member and a lower queen excluding zinc member with intermediate means for permitting the worker bees to pass from the main to the controller compartments and preventing their passage in the opposite direction.

a. In a beehive, a main compartment, a controller compartment placed above the main compartment and having an exit and entrance independent of that of the main compartment, a controller board removably placed between the said compartments and including an upper mesh member, a lower queen excluding Zinc member, and a plurality of bee escapes placed intermediate of the mesh member and the queen bee excluder zinc.

Signed by me this 7th day of 1921.

Janu ary,

LEWIS AUGUSTUS ASPINWALL.

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