CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN BEEHIVES
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughts-
man, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN BEEHIVES."—A
communication.
Sealed the 27th July 1855, and dated the 23rd May 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 23rd May 1855.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN BEEHIVES" to be
as follows:-
The box platform of the improved hive is formed as a rectangular box,
divided by a partition into two separate chambers, which are covered by wire
gauze, or some perforated material. Directly over these chambers two main
hive chambers are placed, each of which is open at bottom, so that the air
passing through the gauze cover may enter the hives. The platform and its
cover project beyond and in front of the hives, the cover extending over the
feeding drawer, placed within the box platform.
The object of the gauze platform is to ventilate the feed drawer and the
main hive chambers, and to allow the filth and extraneous matters from these
chambers to pass down into the miller's drawers, which are disposed within
the box platform; the wire gauze platform also serves to prevent the "millers"
from passing from the said miller drawers up into the hive.
The drawers are made of a width sufficient to extend underneath the entire

page_text: bottom of the hive chambers that are to be placed directly over them, and they
are severally provided with a miller entrance, of a width just sufficient to
permit the ingress of a miller, and prevent a bee from passing through it.
The main hive entrances are placed directly over the said miller entrances; a
long slot is made through the wire gauze cover to open a communication
between the feeding drawer or drawers and the hive chamber.
In the feeding drawer a platform is placed for the bees to stand upon when
feeding. The bee passage is provided with a covered recess or chamber, large
enough to permit the bees to pass to and fro between the hive chamber and
feeding chamber, and must be so arranged as to prevent dirt or extraneous
matter from falling into the bee passage. A slide is provided to cover the
bee passage when the feeding drawer has been removed from the base plat-
form. This slide will act as a stop to the drawer when pushed in, and may be
moved forward as the drawer is withdrawn. For the purpose of transferring
bees, an apparatus is applied between the drawer and the platform to form a
covered way for the bees from a full hive (which may have been taken from
the platform) into an empty hive, that may be placed on the platform, and
in the position which the said full hive may have occupied thereon.
Over the main hive chambers a row of smaller or secondary hives may be
arranged, there being one of the said hives directly over each of the main hives,
with one exception, that hive being reserved to receive over it what may be
termed the winter feeding box. The secondary hives may be made to com-
municate with the main hives in any proper manner so that the bees can pass
from one to the other, as occasion may require. The winter feeding box is
made with two chambers, which communicate at their upper ends; one of
them to receive the liquid food, and the other serving as a passage to connect
it with the hive directly below it. A floating rack (for the bees to rest upon
while feeding), constructed of a series of slats, which cross each other with
spaces between them, is placed in the feeding box.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the 23d day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special licence that I, the said Alfred Vincent
Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at
all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention
for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN BEEHIVES," (communicated to me from abroad,)
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great
Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, together with the Drawings hereto annexed, that
is to say:
The box platform of my improved hive is seen at A in the Drawings, it being
formed as a rectangular box, divided by a partition a into two separate
chambers, directly over each of which are two main hives or chambers B, B,
that are disposed directly upon a top 6 of the box platform, such top being
constructed of wire gauze, or other perforated material. Each of the two boxes
B is open at bottom so that air can pass through the gauze top 6. The plat-
form and its top project beyond the row of hives B and in front of them, as
seen in Figs. 4 & 7, the said top extending over the feeding drawer C placed
within the box platform.
The object of such gauze platform is not only to ventilate the feed drawer,
but also the main hive chambers B, B, and to allow the filth and extraneous
matters from the boxes B, B, to pass down into the millers' drawers E, E,
disposed within the box platform and under its top 6, see Figs. 2, 4, and 9.
The wire gauze platform also serves to prevent the millers from passing
from said miller drawers up into the hive, each of the said drawers being.
made of a width sufficient to extend underneath the entire bottom of the hive

page_text: box B, that is to be placed directly over it; and said drawer is provided with
a miller entrance (x 2, Fig. 2), of a length to correspond with the distance
between the two sides of a drawer, and of a width just sufficient to permit the
ingress of a miller, and prevent a bee from passing through it (the said
entrance). d, d, d, d, are the main hive entrances, placed directly over the said
miller entrances. These miller drawers, while they serve as traps to catch and
allure the miller, and also as receptacles for the filth that may drop through
the wire gauze top 6 into them, can be removed at any time without disturb-
ing the bees. F, Figs. 4 & 7, is a long slot or bee passage made through the
wire gauze top b, and so as to open a communication between the feeding
drawer or drawers C and the hive B, B. G is a float or platform, placed in
the feeding chamber, the bees standing upon such platform when they are
feeding. The bee passage F is provided with a covered recess or chamber e,
large enough to permit the bees to pass through it, and from the hive B into
the feeding chamber C, or vice versa. The object of this passage, which
is made laterally of the hive, is to prevent filth or extraneous matter from
falling from the hive B into the passage F, or through the same into the
feeding chamber C. H, Figs. 4 and 9, is a slide, arranged under the bee
passage F and back of the feeding drawer C. This slide, when moved
backwards by the feeding drawer C, and to an extent sufficient to enable
the bees to pass from the passage F into the drawer or chamber, brings up
against a stop m³, fastened on the under side to the top b. Each slide H
has a cord I affixed to it, such cord being brought forwards and up
through the wire gauze platform, as seen in Figs. 8, 4, & 7. The object
of the said cord is to enable a person to draw the closing slide H with the
drawer C, so as to cover the opening after the said drawer C has been
removed from the base platform. The upper edges of two sides and the
front end of each feed drawer are arranged in a plane, somewhat below the
upper edge of the rear end of the said drawer, such rear end being extended
upward to the top surface of the slide H. There is in the upper side of the
platform b, and the upper edge of the front end of the feed drawer a distance
just sufficient to permit the insertion of what is termed the transferrer K
between the drawer and the platform, the same being seen in Fig. 5, and at
K in Fig. 4. It consists of a board G', provided with two ends h and i, and
one cleat k, such cleat extending beyond the lower surface of said board.
The object of this transferrer in its combination with the feeding chamber is to
enable bees to be transferred from a full live (this may have been taken from
the platform) into an empty hive, that may be placed on the platform and in
the position which the said full hive may have occupied thereon. This is

page_text: accomplished, not only by inserting the transferrer in the front of the feeding
chamber or over the drawer C, as seen in Fig. 4, but by placing the full hive
up against the under surfaces of the cleats h, i, and pressing the transferrer
inward, until the hive abuts against the front end of the feeding box, and the front
cleat k, which projects a short distance below the others, is brought up against
the hive. If the bee openings out of the hive have been covered so as to
prevent the escape of the bees, and they are uncovered so as to allow the bees
to pass from the hive into the transferrer, they will be enabled to pass freely
from the transferrer into the feeding chamber or drawer C, and from thence
through the passage F up into the empty hive B. In Fig. 4 the position of
the hive below the transferrer K and in front of the feeding drawer is repre-
sented at B'.
When the transferrer is not in use, the open space into which it is inserted
may be covered by a slide I¹ (see Fig. 7) suitably fitted thereto. Over the
hives B, B, there may be a row of smaller or secondary hives, arranged as seen
at L in Figs. 4, and covered by a cover M, there being one of said hives
directly over each hive B, with one exception, one of the said hives B having
over it what may be termed the winter feeding box, a horizontal section of which
is given in Fig. 8. The secondary hives are made to communicate with the
hives B in any proper manner, so that the bees can pass from one to the other,
as occasion may require. The winter feeding box is arranged above a hive B,
for the reason that there it is exposed to the greatest amount of animal heat
generated from the bees, and in consequence of such exposure, generally
speaking, it will be sufficiently warm for the bees to feed in it during a tem-
perature of the atmosphere so cold as to prevent their feeding in one of the
drawers C. The said winter feeding box is made with two chambers m, n, see
Fig. 8, which communicate at their upper ends. One of them, viz', m, holds
the liquid fond, while the other serves as a simple passage or communication
with the hive directly below it, the bees passing from the said chamber m into
the feeding chamber, which may be provided with a floating rack for the bees
to rest upon while feeding. This rack is constructed as follows:-A series of
thin wooden slats a are secured to longitudinal slats y, upon which are again
placed another series z. There are slight spaces w between the slats suffi-
cient to permit the bees to reach the food, without being wide enough to allow
them to pass between the slats, or to be soiled by contact with the liquid in
the feeder. When these floats are constructed with a single row of slats, the
bees are apt to be soiled with the syrup or other liquid with which they
are fed, and in cold weather many of them are thus sacrificed. With my
improved float this cannot occur, as the bees are raised above the surface

page_text: of the liquid, which they are enabled to reach with their proboscis between
the slats.
I claim the improvement of making the top of the box platform of wire
gauze, or other equivalent, or perforated material, the same being in manner
and for the purpose above specified.
2d, I also claim the extension of the wire gauze top and the platform
beyond the hives B, B, for the purpose of attaining light to the feeding drawer,
ventilation to the hives, and to enable a shallow miller drawer F to be used
under each hive B, as specified.
3d, I also claim combining with a perforated platform or box and the
bee entrance of each hive, as described, a shallow miller drawer, made with
an opening into it sufficient for the ingress of a miller, but not large enough
for the passage of a bee, the same being for the purpose above set forth.
4th, I also claim combining with the passage F the covering chamber or
passage e, the same being for protecting the passage F, in manner as specified.
5th, I do not claim merely closing the bee passage F, but what I do claim
is, so arranging or applying the slide H and its back stop m', with respect to the
feed drawer C and the bee passage F, that the said slide shall not only serve
as a stop to arrest the inward motion of the drawer, but may be brought forward
with the drawer, and made to close the bee passage when the said drawer is
removed from its place.
6, I also claim the transferrer as constructed, combined, and used with
the feed box, and for the purpose substantially as above set forth.
7, I also claim the method of making the winter feeding box L, viz³,
by constructing it with a feeding chamber m, and a chamber or passage n
communicating with the said chamber m and the hive B below it, as stated,
the object of such a construction being to enable the bees to conveniently pass
from the hive B up into the feeding chamber m.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Fifteenth day of November, in the
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
year of
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)