US988828A - Hive-switchboard. - Google Patents

Description

LEWIS A. SIMMON, OF AUBURNDALE, FLORIDA.

HIVE-SWITCHBOARD.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 4, 1911.

Application filed December 28, 1910. Serial No. 599,(369.

T opall 'whom 'it 'may cane-cm:

Be it known that I, LEWIS A. SIMMON, a citizen of the United States, residin at Auburndale, in the County of Polk and tate of Florida, have invented a new and useful Hive-Switchboard, of which the following is a specification. i

This invention has relation to switch boards adapted to be used in combination with bee hives and consists in the novel construction and arrangement of its parts as hereinafter shown and described.

The object of the invention is to provide a switch board in the form of an attachment which may be effectually used for swarming, dividing, recruiting, transferring bees and for preventing robbery of honey within the hive and for feeding the bees.

lVith this object in view the switch board consists of a passageway having an entrance with several exits each of which may be connected with an individual hive. A Shiftable partition is located in the passageway and may be so positioned as to communicate the entrance with any particular exit and shutting oti' communication from the entrance with the other exits. In one form of the invention the said partition may be so positioned in the passageway as to establish a tortuous course from the entrance to the exit with which the' bees in the colony belongng in the hive become familiar for the reason that they must pass from the hive to the open throughthe said tortuous pas sage but which will confuse rogues attempting to enter the hive from the open and thus protect the contents of the hive against robbery.

In the accompanying drawing:-Figure 1 is a transverse sectional View of the switch board showing the same applied to two acljacent hives. Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional view of the switch board. Fig. 3 is a side view of the switch board. Fig. 4 is a horizontal sectional view of a modified form of the switch board.

The form of the switch board as illustrated in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 of the drawing 'is what might be termed a double switch board for the reason that it can be used in combination With two or more hives while the switch board as illustrated in Fig. 4 is what might be termed a single switch board for the reason that it can be used in combination with two hives only.

In the form of the invention as illustrated in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, the switch board consists of a passage formed by a bottom 1, a top 2 and side pieces 3, a block 4 is located within the passageway approximately midway between the ends thereof dividing the passageway into two chambers and the side pieces 3 are provided with openings 5 which are adapted to register with the openings in the sides of the hives 6. Slides 7 are arranged to be located against the side pieces 3 over the inner ends of the opcnings 5 or may be removed from the switch board. Shiftable partitions 8 are located in the passageways through the switch board and may be so positioned as to shut of communication between the entrance of the passageway and one of the openings 5 as an exit of the said passageway and establish communication between the entrance of the said passageway and the other. opening 5 when the slide 7 adjacent the'last mentioned opening 5 has been removed from the board, by shift ing the position of the partition S in the board. In said Figs. 1, 2 and 3 the partitions are shown in the form of slides while in the arrangement as shown in Fig. 4 the partition is pivoted at its inner end and may be shifted from one side to the other of the switch board at its outer portion.

In the form of the switch board as illustrated in Fig. 4 side pieces 3' are nounted upon the bottom piece 1' and the board is provided with openings 5' which are adaptecl to be brought into register with the openings of adjacent hives. The bottom iece 1' is continued beyond the side pieces orming' an alighting board 9. The partition 8' is pivotally mounted in the switch board and may be swung across the entrance to the switch board from one of the side pieces 3' to the other whereby the passageway through the board may be disposed from the entrance to one of the exits 5' or the other.

The switch board may be used as a swarming attachment in the following manner. Presuming that one of the hives 6 contains the colony which is about to swarm and it is desired to transfer the said colony to the other hive 6, the queen bee is removed from the old hive and placed in the new hive. p

Prior to this however, the hives and the' switch board are so positio'ned that the opening A is in register with the opening in one of the hives, while the opening B is in register with the opening in the other hive. To distinguish the openings 5 from each other they will be referred to as A, B, C and D as indicated in the drawing in Figs. 1, 2 and 3. Presuming that the hive which contains the colony has its opening in register with the opening A and the hive to which it is desired to transfer the colony has its opening in communication with the opening B. The slide 7 over the opening A is removed and the partition 8 is disposed so that it outs off communicationbetween the entrance of the switch board and the opening B but leaves a free passageway from the entrance of the switch board to the opening A. The switch board and the hives are permitted to remain in this condition for several days and the slide 7 over the opening B remains closed. Then about the middle of a succeeding good day when the bees are working in the field the slide 7 over the opening A is closed and the slide 7 over the opening B is removed, The partition 8is removed from between the entrance to the switch board and the opening B and is inserted in the switch board between the entrance and the opening A. Thus when the bees return and enter the switch board they cannot pass through the opening A into the old hive but must pass through the opening B into the new line. This 'hive is prepared for their reception and they begin to build therein. If enough bees are not transferred from one hive to the other upon the first Shift the operation is repeated as often as desired until a sutficient number have been transferred. It is obvious that when the form of the switch board shown in Fig. 4: is used that the transfer of the bees from one hive to the other may be effected by swnging the partition 8' from one of the side pieces 8' to the other. In fact the slides may be manipulated together with the shiftable partition in many ways to influence the bees to'accomplish the ends with which apiarists are familiar.

The form of the switch board as shown in Fi-g. l, 2 and 3 may be used to prevent foreign bees from robbing a hive of honey by pl'acing the switch board adjacent the hive, with for instance, the openin A in register with the opening in the hive. The` slide 7 overall of the openings 5 except the opening A are closed and at night when all of the bees of the colony are in the hive the partition 8 s inserted in the passageway between the opening A and the entrance of the switch board but is spaced from the block 4 at its inner end. Thus the next morning the bees which consttute the colony pass 'out 'of the hive through the opening A and must pass around the inner end of the partition 8 to pass out of the switch board into the open. Thus they learn the tortuous path from the hive to the open but when the rogue bees approach and attempt to enter the hive they find that this cannot be done unless they pass back through the switch board and behind the edge of the partition 8. This they will refuse to do and herefore the honey is protected against robery.

As illustrated in Figs. 1 and 3 of the drawing, the switch board may be provided at one of its side edges with a cleat 9 whereby the said switch board can be Secured to the side of a hive with its openings 5'in register with the openings in the said hive. The hive at the other end of the switch board may be moved up in close 'contact with the said switch board as illustrated in Fig. l. Also the bottom board lof the device is extended slightly beyond 'the ends of the side faces 3 and may be used by the bees as alighting boards. It is of course to be understood that when the switch board is used for transferring a colony from one hive to another a bee exit device may be used in the chamber at either end of the switch board, whereby the bees are free to pass out of a hive and are restrained' against entering the same again. When it is desired to use the switch board for the purpose of 'feeding a colony of bees, the said board is provided in its top with an openingll over which a cover 12 may be passed when the board is not used as a feeder Into the opening ll is inserted the mouth of an inverted receptacle 10 having a foraminous closure 14. That end of the passage-way over which the said receptacle 10 is located is closed by means of a panel 13 or 'its equivalent. Therefore, the bees may enter and pass out of the hive at the opposite end' of the switch board from that at which the receptacle is mounted, but when the bees are in need of food, they may enter the passageway through the openings 5 at that end. of the board over which the said receptacle 10 is located and take food from the` said receptacle through the openings provided 'in the closure 14:. Thus the food is accessible to the members of the colony but is protected against rogues.

Having described the invention 'what I claim as new and desire *to secure by' Letters Patent is 1. A bee switch board comprising "abod'y provided with an entrance and separated exits, a means for closing' each of the exits and a shiftable partition located in the body between the exits and adapted to be moved to establish a passageway from the entrance to one of the exits and close the passageway from the entrance to the other exit and vice versa.

2, A bee switch board comprising a body I having a closed side and provided with an In testimony that I claim the fore ong as entrance and an exita partition movably my own, I have hereto aflixed my sgnature 10 mounted in the body and adapted to be I in the presence of two witnesses. ter losed between the entrance and the ext LEWIS A SIMMON wit its inner end spaced from the closed side of the body whereby a tortuous route Wtnesses: is maintained between the entrance and the FRED TI-IOMAS, exit. F. T. HUBBARD. &m

copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. G."

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