A Description of the Bar-and-Frame-Hive | Page 4

bee-frames, when introduced into them.
[Illustration: Fig. I.]
The "bee-frames" are made of mahogany, nine inches long, twelve
inches high, and half an inch broad. Each frame is dove-tailed to make
it strong at the angles, and to keep it true; the upper part is formed of
one inch mahogany, and bevelled off (as the carpenters call it) to the
eighth of an inch, in the centre, as shown at a, fig. 1: on the two sides
of this triangular bar, b b, pieces of glass, extending the length of the
bar, are fixed with red lead. The two sides of the frame, d, d, are to
increase in size, from half an inch at the top, to 1-1/2 inches at the
bottom. The bottom piece, c, is half an inch in depth. The back of each
frame has a piece of tin, about the thickness of a card, fixed on it, of the

exact size, viz. twelve inches long, and half an inch broad, e, e. In the
centre of the back of each frame, f, a screw-nut is let in, which is made
to fit a screw at the end of a long spindle, S, Plate I, fig. 1. This spindle
with a handle, Z, will screw equally well into the screw-nuts of the
fifteen bee-frames and division-frame. The use of this spindle being, to
draw in and out of the grooves the fifteen bee-frames when required.
When the bee-frames have been put into the grooves in the box, slips of
tin about thirteen inches long, and and a half broad, are slipped into
their backs (being run in between the backs of the bee-frames, and the
pieces of thin tin fixed upon them), to close the 1-1/8 of an inch
openings. And three or four sheets of perforated zinc are laid upon the
tops of the bee-frames, resting on the fillets. Thus, then, when a swarm
of bees has been introduced into this box, the bees have to build their
combs within the fifteen bee-frames, or whatever number may have
been run into the grooves for that purpose. The bees cannot escape
from above the frames, as the sheets of perforated zinc prevent them,
nor from the 1-1/8 of an inch openings at the backs of the frames, as
they have been closed with the slips of tin; the only open part being the
long narrow slip, just above the alighting board, which was originally
left for their ingress and egress.
The division-frame is made of half inch mahogany, twelve inches high,
9-1/2 long, and half of an inch broad. So that it will run into any of the
grooves formed for the bee-frames; but made to fit close to the box at
the end, by means of a slip of wood, C C, fig. 2, to prevent the bees
crawling between the frame and the outer-box, as they can do round the
bee-frames.
[Illustration: Fig. II.]
The division-frame itself is closed by having two sheets of zinc run into
it as shown in fig. 2, the one marked b b b b, and partly drawn out,
being of solid sheet zinc; and a a, the other in the frame, of perforated
zinc; d, being the screw-nut (like those in the bee-frames) by means of
which it can be drawn out into the observation-frame, &c. Thus,
wherever this division-frame is run into the bee-box, (except of course
at No. 1, and No. 15 grooves) it cuts off all communication with the

bee-frames on the right or left of it; and two colonies of bees may be
kept in the same box, and still have distinct frames to work upon, and
separate entrances, &c.
If then bees have been put into one of the bar-and-frame-hives, and
sufficient time has been given them to build their combs within "the
bee-frames," the frames with their contents can be drawn out into the
"observation-frame," (which will be more fully described) whenever it
is wished to examine the bees, &c., as the 1-1/8 of an inch spaces
between the grooves will allow of a sufficient distance to be preserved,
between the lateral surfaces of the perpendicular combs formed in the
"bee-frames," and thus permit them to slide by each other with facility.
[Illustration: Fig. III.]
The "observation-frame," fig. 3, is a mahogany frame, fourteen inches
high, eleven inches long, and about four inches wide, having a single
groove half an inch deep, and half an inch broad, running within its
whole length of eleven inches. The two largest sides have panes of
glass fixed in them with small brads. The top, bottom, and one end (this
end forming the back) of this frame, are made of solid wood; the back
having a small hole, f, 2/8 of an inch in diameter in the middle,