| US4135265A | 1979-01-23 | |||
| US4546509A | 1985-10-15 | |||
| US4267612A | 1981-05-19 | |||
| US2261298A | 1941-11-04 |
| 1. | R. V. beehive for apiculture (7) consisting of : bottom board (1), four supers (2), feeding chamber (3), top cover (4), queenexcluder (5) and 40 frames (6). |
| 2. | R. V. beehive according to request 1, marked by mutually crossed supers (10), creating an air cube below the feeding chamber (3). |
| 3. | R. V. beehive according to request 1 and 2, marked by frame (6) having 10 mm high honeycombcarrier and 6 mm high lower lath and by 26 mm distance between honeycombs in neighbouring supers. |
Traffic is poor within the hive owing to frame length, lack of their mutually crossed position and considerable distance between honeycombs in neighbouring supers (40 mm).
Another shortcoming is poor control of bee colonies. The queen-bee cannot be restricted so that she produces over 100,000 brood cells in two generations, thus consuming excessive amounts of nectar and pollen, while the production of royal jelly and bee bread shortens the life span of honeybees and inspires them to swarm, which eventually diverts them from producing honey.
The forming of new colonies, i. e. nuclei, takes place inside the existing oversized supers or involves the construction of separate small nucleus hives, which requires more investment and additional
labour. Honey maturation is poor due to difficulties in traffic and ventilation, i. e. in reducing moisture during honey production.
Oversized frames, i. e. oversized honeycombs on frames, are yet another shortcoming as such honeycombs can sometimes crack or slip away from their frames during hive transportation and thus immerse the bees in honey and suffocate them, which can prove fatal to the entire colony.
A drawback of the D. B. hive is the fact that it has frames of different sizes in the breeding and honey storage chambers.
Other deficiencies include heavy labour that is required, as well as inadequate ventilation and traffic inside the hive, poor control of honey-bee colonies, unfavourable overwintering conditions, difficulties in establishing new colonies, etc.
The Farrar beehive also has several drawbacks: Its frames are too long and shallow, which results in poor honeycomb formation so that honeycomb is left incomplete at frame ends. Furthermore, the formation of adequate nucleus is not possible within a single super, ventilation is insufficient and bee traffic difficult inside the hive and the distance between honeycombs in neighbouring supers is too great. d) ESSENTIAL QUALITIES OF THE INVENTION The new beehive consists of a bottom board, four supers, 40 frames, a feeding chamber and a top cover, and the new construction secures a desired increase in honey production, easier handling, higher number of overwintered colonies, easier establishment of new colonies, and better control and direction of a colony in its activities. e) SHORT DESCRIPTION OF PLAN FIGURES The invention is described based on a construction plan that includes the following elements: Figure I-Bottom board Figure 2-Super Figure 3-Feeding chamber Figure 4-Top cover Figure 5-Queen excluder Figure 6-Frame Figure 7-R. V. beehive set Figure 8-Nucleus in a single super Figure 9-Frames in a super
Figure 10-Mutually crossed position of frames in neighbouring supers f) DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The enclosed figures show a beehive consisting of a bottom board (Fig. 1), followed by four supers propped up on the bottom board and each on top of a previous one, a feeding chamber (Fig. 3) propped up on the supers, and a top cover (Fig. 4) over the feeding chamber, while frames are shown individually (Fig. 6) and stacked within supers (Fig. 9) in their mutually crossed position (Fig. 10).
The total number of frames is 40 in the beehive set (Fig. 7).
Supers (Fig. 2) Essential to the idea of this new hive is that the size of its supers is about one half of a cube. Internal dimensions are identical in width and length and fit to receive 10 frames, while height- leaving out 26 mm of the overall distance between honeycombs in two supers plus 20 mm of the bottom board, i. e. a total of 46 mm of empty space for carbon dioxide-is designed so as to make an exact cube consisting of two supers, which creates an internal space adequate for favourable overwintering regarding honey storage capacity and the size of the winter cluster in two supers. Such an exact cube positioned below the feeding chamber, which is kept in place during overwintering period even in three supers, is perfect for keeping the necessary warmth during wintertime and in spring and autumn conditions. The supers are also designed to be placed in crossed position so as to allow the bees to move freely from each frame onto any other of the next super. There is a total of 100 crossroads between the first and second, and all other supers, which enables optimal traffic and ventilation within the hive. Each super carries 10 frames, their capacity being 15-20 kg of honey, i. e.
30 kg in two supers, which suffices even in most severe winters and unfavourable spring conditions.
Honeycomb capacity is around 60 dm2 on the 10 frames of each super, which corresponds to some 48,000 worker cells, while regarding the bees it provides space sufficient for 16,000 bees, or 32,000 bees in two supers. Hive overall capacity is thus 64,000 bees in the four supers. In case a need should arise to form a colony with two queens, more supers can be added by combining parts of two different hive sets to make a required number of supers, while the bottom board, feeding chamber, queen- excluder and top cover would be left to form a new nucleus.
Weight, length, height and width of the supers make them appropriately shaped and suitable for handling by women, children, elderly beekeepers or physically weak persons. Their construction is easy as they are made of clean-cut short panels, 200 mm in width, which can be found in good supply on the market. The supers and other large-sized segments are made of 20 mm thick panels.
The front and back sides have three grooves each, 20 mm wide and 10 mm deep. Outer grooves are for flanks while the upper or third groove is for frames and tin frame holder sized 370x30x0. 5 mm, which is nailed so as to protrude 3 mm into the groove leaving another 17 mm of free space, i. e. 10 mm occupied by honeycomb-carrier and 7 mm left for bees to pass above the frames within each super.
Each super carries ten frames 36 mm wide, which makes a total of 360 mm, while another 2 mm are left free behind the outermost frames to make 7 mm wide passages and there is another 10 mm of extra space for a partition board to be placed there in case of need. All roads between honeycombs are 10 mm wide, except the outermost ones which are only 7 mm wide.
All supers, either in the breeding or storage chambers, are of identical size, which makes work easier both for the beekeeper and the bees during gradual expansion of their colony, especially when forming a new nucleus. A super is fixed together using 60 mm nails on all sides to secures firmness.
Supers as well as all other parts are to be built using soft fir, poplar, willow or linden wood.
Bottom board (Fig. 1) is adapted in keeping with the main idea of the invention so that all its segments are made of 20 mm thick identical material. Flanks have central grooves sized 444x20x10 mm across the length. Groove depth is 10 mm, enough for five identically-sized bottom board panels to fit in. The back side of the bottom board holds together the flanks and the first bottom board panel fitting into the back side groove, which is 5 mm deep, 374 mm wide and 6 mm high. A thin lath sized 20x20x374 mm is fixed to the underside of the bottom board to support the front part of the bottom board. The bottom board is 60 mm high while its width and length are identical to those of the supers, making together with the flight area an overall dimension of 60x414x464 mm. Internal bottom board height is 20 mm, which suffices a colony housed in this type of hive. All bottom board panels have tongue-and-groove joints and all of them fit into flank grooves. The nails used to fix the bottom board are 60 mm long, while the underside lath is nailed with 35 mm and 50 mm nails through the flanks, which secures considerable bottom board stability and firmness. The bottom board also includes an entrance board sized 374x20x20 with two grooves, a broad and a narrow one. The broad groove is sized 150x10x20 mm and the narrow one 80x10x20 mm. The entrance board is movable and can be taken away or placed in a desired position.
Feeding chamber (Fig. 3) Its outward dimensions, i. e. width and length, are identical to those of the supers so that it fully covers the super below. The chamber is 55 mm high, including 5 mm of hardboard which is pinned to the underside after joiner's glue or some other adhesive had been
applied to joints. The feeding area capacity is 2.1 litres, which fully covers its purpose. The feeding chamber has a ventilation net in the front with identical functional dimensions as the sugar syrup storage compartment. Ventilation across the entire hive width and approximately half its length has proved to be very functional and this is also where warmth-keeping material is placed in winter. The net is fixed by 4 mm thick laths, so that together with 7 mm of free space just above the frames in the super there is a total of 11 mm of space in the front part, which is quite enough for adding supplementary bee bread during wintertime, which is also a maximum free space in which bees will not start drawing honeycomb. The sides of the feeding chamber and its three partition boards are fixed with thin 50 mm long nails and two nails at the corners of each side. As the front and back sides are grooved to receive the full width of the flanks, the feeding chamber has excellent firmness. The chamber's shape allows it to be turned round upon the super so that the ventilation area underneath which bee bread is placed during wintertime matches the cluster position. The front side of the feeding chamber has 6 slits in the upper part, which provides very good ventilation in summertime and lets out water surplus during honey production, ultimately preventing stuffy atmosphere and reducing possible swarming instinct in strong colonies. The chamber's corridor lid is made of the same hardboard material as the syrup storage compartment. Its 5 mm thickness fits exactly into the grooves on central partition boards holding the lid. The lid is there to restrict movement and prevent bees from passing into the storage and ventilation areas or flying out and making difficulties to the beekeeper while adding liquid food. The lid covers a 20 mm wide syrup channel, a 20 mm wide dam and a 10 mm wide passage located in the central part of the feeding chamber across its width. The dimensions of the corridor are designed to allow large numbers of bees to reach the channel and, consequently, to secure better inflow of food from the feeding chamber into the hive. The passage is situated between the central ventilation partition board on the one hand and the dam holding sugar syrup on the other. The syrup channel is 35 mm deep and 20 mm wide so that its narrowness prevents bees from getting drowned in the syrup. It runs across the width of the hive and the feeding chamber to provide a ready inflow of food from the storage compartment, and along the channel toward frames, which is something the bees need to do themselves.
The dam is nailed into the flanks and the hardboard below to block leaking of sugar syrup onto frames. Dam joints need to be daubed with joiner's glue. The dam is 35 mm high, which gives the bees another 10 mm of space to get from the passage into the channel. Its height also determines the amount of sugar syrup in the storage compartment of the feeding area. The dam is made of special fine wood free of any cracks or flaws. With such a feeding chamber the beekeeper may add sugar syrup at any time of day or night when temperatures are above 10°C without any apprehension.
Top cover (Fig. 4) and its sides are built of 20 mm thick boards. There is a 5 mm interspace between top cover sides and the feeding chamber topped by the cover. The front and back sides are grooved at their ends to receive flanks, i. e. 20 mm, 90 mm in height and 10 mm in depth. Internal flank sides are grooved 20 mm in depth and 10 mm in width to receive five top cover panels. The top cover panels fit into and are nailed into top cover flanks, forming a compact, strong and stable top cover. Top cover sides and panels are fixed with 60 mm nails of medium diameter. Top cover panels are 444 mm long so that five of them laid one next to another cover 424 mm of space in width. Tin plate is then nailed over the top cover, its dimensions adjusted to cover the top cover panels and all sides. Tin plate should be 0.3-0.5 mm thick and it is also possible to use printing sheets, taking care however not to damage them in transport and avoid if possible to pile hives one on top of another. Pins not longer than 20 mm are to be used to fix the tin plate.
Queen-excluder (Fig. 5) has dimensions 414x414 mm and can be either plastic or metal. It serves to restrict movement of the queen-bee and can be used according to need.
Frames (Fig. 6) are made of 4 laths and are quite easy to assemble and pin. Honeycomb-carrier is the main frame part which fits into frame flanks. Honeycomb-carrier is 26 mm wide, the same width as the grooves on frame flanks. It is 10 mm thick and fits exactly into the grooves on the flanks. As frames are not very long, the thickness of such honeycomb-carriers is adequate. Another advantage of this honeycomb-carrier is that it shortens the interspace between honeycombs in the first and second supers. This is especially important as it allows the queen to move from one into the next super.
Honeycomb-carriers are 392 mm long, i. e. 1 mm shorter than the space available between the super's front and back side grooves. The honeycomb-carrier leans onto frame holders, which are made of tin to prevent propolis on honeycomb-carrier to get glued onto the super. The honeycomb-carrier leans 9 mm over the holders, i. e. 18 mm at both sides. Frame flanks also shorten the honeycomb area by 8 mm, which is their width, i. e. 16 mm in all. Another 7 mm, or 14 mm on both sides, is left free at the outer sides, i. e. from frame flanks to the super's wall to allow bees to pass. Taking all this into calculation there remains 344 mm of space for honeycombs to be glued onto the honeycomb-carrier.
Frame flanks are 190 mm long and 36 mm wide down to 90 mm length, while their width is reduced to 26 mm at 100 mm length, which is identical in width to the honeycomb-carrier. Frame flanks are grooved in the upper part 26x10x8 mm. The 8 mm thickness is quite adequate for frames of the given dimensions. Before pinning the frame, little holes need to be drilled into the flanks, 2-3 mm in diameter, to allow wires to run through them as they need to be melted into septum. Up to four holes can be drilled, the first and last having a distance of 20 mm from honeycomb-carrier and lower lath.
The flanks, honeycomb-carrier and lower lath need to be made of linden or poplar wood and by no means of fir because that type of wood cracks during pinning. The flanks are nailed through the honeycomb-carrier with 35-40 mm long pins, i. e. two into each lath. The lower lath is 6 mm thick, 20 mm wide and 344 mm long. The lower lath is made as narrow as possible in order to shorten the interspace between honeycombs in neighbouring supers and the same thing is done with the honeycomb-carrier. The length of the lower lath matches that of honeycomb on the frame and it is pinned between the bottom ends of the flanks. Two pins are driven into each flank to fix it, i. e. four on both sides, and they are sized 30 mm and small in diameter, just enough to fix the lower lath and flanks. These frames have 6 dm2 surface area intended for honeycomb, which makes a total of 4,800 worker cells on both sides covered by 1,500-1,600 bee individuals. Such a frame taken from a honey storage chamber and replete with honey can give 2 kg of pure honey. All frames are evenly-sized and 40 of them used for a single-queen colony suffice for a rather strong colony of over 60,000 bees.
Their cleaning is easy while their appropriate shape and rather small surface prevent any possibility of cracks in the honeycomb. Twenty such frames stacked in the breeding chamber make a total of 120 dm2 of honeycomb, or some 96,000 worker cells, which is sufficient even for most productive queen- bees and strongest single-queen colonies. On the other hand, 20 frames in the honey storage chamber equally fulfill the needs even in conditions when pasture is at its best. Bees tend to quickly seal honey in such frames, a fact that has already shown its advantages over other types of frames, e. g. L. R. and D. B. frames. Honey storage chamber can thus receive 35-40 kg of honey, and it can also be expanded to include three supers at the expense of the breeding chamber, which is fairly effective during brief and very rich pastures.
Fig. 8 shows a nucleus within a super which, according to the principal idea of this invention, facilitates development of new colonies. Owing to the ideal cubic interior below the feeding chamber and the possibility to maintain optimum temperature within two or three supers bee colonies develop readily during early spring. This is precisely a precondition for the establishment of new colonies, and in this case they are formed in early spring without any assistance from other colonies, develop well and begin the winter season as strong colonies supplied with sufficing provisions. When an initial colony expands to fill three supers to their full, a new colony can be formed, i. e. one super containing 10 frames with some 15,000-16,000 bees and 4-5 breeding frames may be taken out and, equipped with sufficient store of honey and pollen, can receive a fertilized queen to form a nucleus. A nucleus of this size is able to carry on without any assistance on the part of the beekeeper, while an added super will make possible for the new colony to expand into it and thus become a fully-formed colony.
The same procedure could be repeated once more during the same year, which means that the number of colonies in a bee house may triple. All that is required is an unused bottom board, feeding chamber,
top cover and an additional super, and after adding to this a super containing bees, brood and a queen a new colony will soon develop enough to collect its own winter provisions. It is therefore not necessary to form new colonies by building special nucleus hives because it is possible to use the existing beehive components. New colonies may also be formed in other ways but mostly within a single super. The stated number of bees within a single super is ideal for forming new colonies because any lower number would not be sufficient for maintaining the nucleus without any assistance from the beekeeper. On the other hand, any higher number of bees would harm the parent colony and pose a risk unless a mated queen has been added.
Such nuclei are able to overwinter on their own within a single super and to consume small amounts of food. In addition, there is a strikingly low percentage of dead bees within such colonies, and their development in springtime is very fast.
It is therefore evident that this new type of beehive secures the easiest and quickest way of developing new independent colonies. Fig. 10 shows mutually crossed position of frames and supers. A prevailing state of well-being becomes evident when frames and supers are placed in a crossed position with 90° drift because it secures better traffic of bees and food while at the same time ventilation is optimal as well as the hive's microclimate in which moisture surplus is let out during honey production and incoming fresh air is fully available. As neighbouring supers have only a 26 mm gap between their respective honeycombs the queen-bee is able to cross into another super without effort. As for the honey storage chamber, the bees in it very quickly move from one honeycomb to another and will continue to occupy a neighbouring super over the winter as well, rather than stay within a single super throughout the season, particularly because the crossed position of frames enables them to do so with ease. The crossing of frames increases honey production considerably while any possibility of bees remaining within one super over the winter while their provisions are in another one is now virtually impossible.
Fig. 7 shows the full set of Rodna Voja beehive, which allows easy handling and simple procedure, while its yields are excellent, i. e. higher than all other known so far. It has been designed in reaction to deficiencies observed in all other existing beehives and as a solution for productive apiculture.
Beehive components and their dimensions Beehive components: 1. Bottom board-1 item 2. Supers-4 items
3. Feeding chamber-1 item 4. Top cover-1 item 5. Frames-40 items Beehive dimensions: - height-935 mm - width-414 mm + top cover width - length-414 mm + top cover and bottom board lengths Dimensions of segments: 1. Bottom board (bottom board + entrance board 374x20x20 mm) External dimensions: - height-60 mm - width--414 mm - length-464 mm Internal dimensions: - height-20 mm - width-374 mm - length-374 mm 2 : Super External dimensions: - height-200 mm -width'414 mm - length-414 mm Internal dimensions: - height-200 mm - width-374 mm - length-374 mm 3. Feeding chamber External dimensions: - height-55 mm - width-414 mm - length-414 mm Internal dimensions: - height-374 mm - width-374 mm - length- a) ventilation area - height-55 mm - width-374 mm -length-142 mm b) syrup storage compartment - height-50 mm - width-374 mm - length-142 mm c) syrup channel - height-35 mm - width-374 mm - length-20 mm d) passage to channel - height-50 mm
- width-374 mm - length-10 mm 4. Top cover External dimensions: - height-90 mm - width-464 mm - length-464 mm Internal dimensions: - height-70 mm - width-424 mm - length-424 mm 5. Frames External dimensions: - height-190 mm - width-36 mm - length-392 mm Internal dimensions (honeycomb surface): - height-174 mm - width-26 mm - length-344 mm (1) Bottom board-segments 1. Flanks-2 items (grooved) dimension: 444x60x20 mm 2. Back side-1 item (grooved) dimensions: 414x60x20 mm 3. Lath for bottom board underside dimensions: 374x20x20 mm 4. Entrance board with two grooves dimensions: 374x20x20 mm 5. Bottom board panels with flight area-5 items dimension: 90x394x20 mm (2) Super-segments 1. Flanks-2 items dimension: 394x200x20 mm 2. Front and back sides-2 items (grooved) dimension: 414x200x20 mm Grooves: a) flank-2 items dimension: 200x20x10 mm b) upper groove for frames-1 item dimension: 414x20x10 mm 3. Tin frame holders-2 items dimension: 370x30x0. 5 mm (4) Top cover-segments 1. Flanks-2 items (grooved) dimension: 444x90x20 mm Grooves on flanks-1 item each dimensions: 444x20x10 mm 2. Front and back sides-2 items (grooved)
dimensions: 464x90x20 mm Grooves: two items on each side groove dimensions: 90x20x10 mm 3. Top cover panels-5 items dimensions: 444x85x20 mm 4. Tin cover-1 item dimensions: 650x650x0. 5 mm (3) Feeding chamber-segments 1. Flanks-2 items dimensions: 394x50x20 mm 2. Front and back sides-2 items (grooved, front with slits) dimensions: 414x50x20 mm Grooves: two items on each side groove dimensions: 50x20x10 mm Slits on the front side: dimensions 20x20x10 mm (6 items) 3. Partition board for sugar syrup compartment-1 item (grooved and with openings for syrup to pass into syrup channel) dimensions: 374xSOx20 mm dimensions of partition board groove: 374x1Ox5 mm-1 item dimensions of opening: 20x3x5 mm-6 items (5 mm height) 4. Partition for ventilation area-passage into feeding area-1 item (grooved) dimensions: 374xSOx20 mm groove dimensions: 374x5x10 mm (1 item) 5. Syrup partition-dam-1 item dimensions: 374x35x20 mm 6. Corridor lid-1 item dimensions: 374x70x5 mm 7. Hardboard-1 item dimensions: 414x222x5 mm 8. Ventilation net-1 item dimensions: 414x182 mm 9. Laths for net-4 items a) front: 374x20x4 mm-1 item b) back: 374x20x4-1 item c) flank : 192x20x4-2 items (6) Frames-segments 1. Honeycombe-carrier-1 item dimensions: 392x26x10 mm 2. Flanks-2 items-grooved and narrowed at lower end dimensions: 190x36x8 mm groove: 26x10 mm; narrowing at 100 mm-5 mm at each side 3. Lower lath-1 item dimensions: 344x20x6 mm