A honey extractor is a mechanical device used in the extraction of honey from honeycombs. A honey extractor extracts the

honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primar ...

from the honey comb without destroying the comb. Extractors work by

centrifugal force In Newtonian mechanics, the centrifugal force is an inertial force (also called a "fictitious" or "pseudo" force) that appears to act on all objects when viewed in a rotating frame of reference. It is directed away from an axis which is paralle ...

. A drum or container holds a frame basket which spins, flinging the honey out. With this method the wax comb stays intact within the frame and can be reused by the bees. Bees cover the filled in cells with wax cap that must be removed (cut by knife, etc.) before centrifugation.

History

In 1838, Johann Dzierzon, a German

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

priest and beekeeper devised the first practical movable-comb beehive, allowing for the manipulation of individual honeycombs without destroying the structure of the hive. This idea was further developed by

L. L. Langstroth Rev. Lorenzo Lorraine Langstroth (December 25, 1810 – October 6, 1895) was an American apiarist, clergyman, and teacher, and considered to be the father of American beekeeping. He created the modern day Langstroth hive. Early life and fami ...

, an American pastor and beekeeper in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

who patented his beehive design in 1852. These frames were a major improvement over the old method of beekeeping using hollowed tree trunks and skeps. However, no method had been found to easily extract the honey. The extractor was invented in the summer of 1865, by

Franz Hruschka Franz Hruschka also known as Franz von Hruschka or Francesco De Hruschka or František Hruška (Czech origin) was an Austrian/Italian officer and beekeeper known as the inventor of the honey extractor, an invention he presented in 1865 at the Brno ...

, a former Officer in the Austrian Army who was by then a beekeeper in Italy. The exact date of the invention is not known but on July 1, 1865, he explained in an article in the Eichstraett Beekeeping News his old crushing method to extract honey. This article would have been written in May or June of that year. In September 1865, he makes the announcement at the Brno Beekeeper Conference of his new invention: the centrifuge extractor. The first model was built by Bollinger Manufacturer in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

.Franz Hruschka - 150 Years of Honey Extractor - Honey Extractor History - http://www.fhruschka.cz/en/Medomet.aspx The first version was a simple tin box attached to a wire cord with a funnel at the bottom to which a glass was fastened to collect the honey. The extraction was however slow and required a lot of effort from the beekeeper. The second version used the same design but attached to an arm at the top of a tripod. The final version resembled what we recognize today as an extractor with the familiar round tub. File:De Hruschka Extractor 1.png, De Hruschka Extractor (first version) File:De Hruschka Extractor 2.png, De Hruschka Extractor (second version) File:De Hruschka Extractor 3.png, De Hruschka Extractor (final version) Scale models of the three versions of the extractors were presented in August 1868 at the ''Exposition des Insectes'' (the Insect Exposition) in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. The idea was soon published in several beekeeping newspapers worldwide and extractors were manufactured by several vendors and sold worldwide based on his idea.The Production of Extracted Honey - Charles Dadant - American Bee Journal - January 3, 1895

Types of Extractors

Extractors can be one of two kinds depending on how the frames are oriented in the basket: *

tangential In geometry, the tangent line (or simply tangent) to a plane curve at a given point is the straight line that "just touches" the curve at that point. Leibniz defined it as the line through a pair of infinitely close points on the curve. More ...

: one side of the comb facing outward *

radial Radial is a geometric term of location which may refer to: Mathematics and Direction * Vector (geometric), a line * Radius, adjective form of * Radial distance, a directional coordinate in a polar coordinate system * Radial set * A bearing f ...

: the top bar of the frame facing outwardThe Beekeeping Honey Extractor: All You Need to Know - Bee Keep Club - https://beekeepclub.com/beekeeping-equipment/honey-harvesting-equipment/the-honey-extractor-all-you-need-to-know/ Both rely on the use of centrifugal force to force the honey out of the cells. During the extraction process the honey is forced out of the uncapped wax cells, runs down the walls of the extractor and pools at the bottom. A tap or honey pump allows for the removal of honey from the extractor. Honey must be removed in time and always stay below the rotating frames as otherwise it prevents extractor from spinning with sufficient speed. Extractors can vary in sizes from holding just a couple frames to large commercial ones holding up to sixty frames. The smaller ones can be powered manually while others (especially the commercial ones) will be powered by an electric motor. Most hand-cranked extractors will rely on a gearing system to increase the speed of the rotation of the frames. Most large commercial extractors are radial and rely on the upward slope of the comb cells. When bees build their comb, the cells are sloped upward from the center rib at an angle of 10 to 14 degrees.Bee Culture - Using Your Extractor - https://www.beeculture.com/using-your-extractor/ By leveraging this slope angle, it is easier to extract the honey. In addition, the amount of work during extraction is reduced in the radial type because the frames do not have to be turned over to extract the honey from the other side of the comb (however some extractors are capable of turning combs automatically). Some portable honey extractors are driven by gasoline or diesel

small engine A small engine is the general term for a wide range of small-displacement, low-powered internal combustion engines used to power lawn mowers, generators, concrete mixers and many other machines that require independent power sources. These eng ...

s. Larger diesel engines are more expensive than a compact 2 stroke gasoline ones and usually use the

diesel fuel Diesel fuel , also called diesel oil, is any liquid fuel specifically designed for use in a diesel engine, a type of internal combustion engine in which fuel ignition takes place without a spark as a result of compression of the inlet air and ...

to operate at lower rpms with higher torque. Diesel-powered extractors are harder to start, especially in

winter Winter is the coldest season of the year in polar and temperate climates. It occurs after autumn and before spring. The tilt of Earth's axis causes seasons; winter occurs when a hemisphere is oriented away from the Sun. Different cultur ...

due to increased fuel viscosity under the ice and snow conditions. File:ExtractorSetup.jpg, A twenty frame honey extractor in operation File:ExtractorMotion.jpg, A twenty frame extractor loaded with four frames, turning File:Slyngning300808-2.jpg, Manual extractor File:Extractor Beekeeping.jpg, Inside view of a manual extractor File:FlingingHoney.jpg, Honey being flung off a frame by

inside an extractor during operation File:Extractor.jpg, Industrial extractor

Alternative Methods

An extractor is not essential to get the honey out of comb. Alternative methods include: * Cut Comb: the comb is cut into round or square pieces and used as is.Honey Bee Suite - No Extractor, No Problem - https://honeybeesuite.com/no-extractor-no-problem/ * Crush and Strain: the comb is cut out, crushed in a container and then strained through cheesecloth or another filtering system to separate the honey from the wax. * Chunk Honey: this is a hybrid between the two: the comb is cut and put in a container and then the rest of the space is filled with honey extracted by another method. *

Flow Hive Flow Hive is a beehive brand that has a unique honey frame designed to allow honey extraction without needing to open the beehive. During extraction, visibly bees are disturbed less than during other methods. Design The honey frames contain a ...

is a beehive brand that has a unique honey frame designed to allow honey extraction without needing to open the beehive.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Honey Extractor Beekeeping tools

History

Types of Extractors

Alternative Methods

See also

References