1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of artificial honeycombs and specifically relates to significant modifications and improvements to molded plastic honeycombs for use in replacing the existing wooden or plastic honeycombs presently in use.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Beekeeping is a very old art but only minor innovations have been made to increase honey production from bees.
The following five (5) patents are relevant to the field of the present invention.
1. U.S. Pat. No. 3,182,339 issued to Auston Roy Ellis on May 11, 1965 for “Artificial Honeycomb” (hereafter the “Ellis Patent”);
2. U.S. Pat. No. 4,332,045 issued to Matthias Schmidt on Jun. 1, 1982 for “Method And Apparatus For Economically Maintaining And Breeding Bees in A Bee Compound” (hereafter the “Schmidt Patent”);
3. U.S. Pat. No. 4,374,440 issued to Herbert Drapkin on Feb. 22, 1983 for “Honeycomb” (hereafter the “Drapkin Patent”);
4. U.S. Pat. No. 4,392,262 issued to Johann R. Stickler on Jul. 12, 1983 for “Apparatus For Breeding Queen Honeybees” (hereafter the “Stickler Patent”);
5. Japanese Application Patent No. JP2005058028 issued to Kumabe Masahiro on Mar. 10, 2005 for “Comb Foundation For Honeybee Made Of Paper, Comb Made Of Paper And Bee Hive Made Of Paper” (hereafter the “Masahiro Patent”).
The Ellis Patent discloses the creation of a honeycomb made entirely of wax which is made up of hexagonal cells adjoining one another on all sides of the hexagon which imitates a natural honeycomb. This invention is designed to have an entire honeycomb made completely of wax so that it supplements what was then the practice of just taking a common foundation made of wax and having the bees create the honeycomb. This invention created the honeycomb in order to eliminate the problem of the bees having to make the honeycomb on the foundation and therefore, waste honey and energy in making the honeycomb. However, the device made entirely out of beeswax was very soft and fragile. The soft beeswax honeycomb also came apart when the device was placed in a centrifuge to remove the honey from the honeycomb and therefore was not reusable.
The Schmidt Patent discloses a concept for more economically breading bees by creating a compound unit comprising a plurality of compartments that surround and are connected to a central assembly chamber associated with a feeding chamber. Each of the compounds is adapted to house a swarm of bees and one queen bee. Accordingly, bees in an individual compartment are only indirectly accessible to bees in another compartment through the central chamber and can move from one compartment to another only after congregating in the assembly chamber in order to gain access to the feeding chamber associated with the assembly chamber. The innovative concept of this invention is that with conventional wax coated plastic combs, wherein the sidewalls of the cells are of reduced height, bees initially build up the side walls with wax to their full height of the cell walls. Wax from the wax coating on conventional combs is utilized by the bees during this build-up, and the bees retain their own wax until swarming is possible. At that time, they use their own wax for building additional cells.
The Drapkin Patent was invented by the inventor of the present invention and was a significant improvement to beekeeping at the time by providing an artificial molded honeycomb structure which was an accurate simulation of a natural cell so that the bees did not have to spend honey and energy in building a honeycomb on a foundation but instead, since the honeycomb was created for them, upon spraying beeswax onto the honeycomb to attract the bees, the initial energy output from the bees was used entirely to lay eggs, raise their brood and deposit their honey into the formed honeycomb. The complete molded honeycomb as shown in FIG. 8 of this patent includes an array of hexagonal cells of full depth, at a proper angle and having the normal truncated bottom of a natural cell. The honeycomb therefore prevents waste since the honeycomb is almost a perfect simulation of a natural cell and the bee does not have to build up any wax foundation.
The Stickler Patent discloses an apparatus for breeding queen honeybees. The focus of the patent involves a breeding apparatus for honeybees comprising a breeding frame, a honeycomb cell plate affixed thereto and defining a multiplicity of open cells, a like multiplicity of sockets projecting from the rear face of the plate, the cells passing through the sockets, and cup-shaped elements detachably mounted on the sockets for closing the rear of the cells.
The Masahiro Patent is a Japanese patent that issued in March 2005. Specifically, the problem to be solved is to provide a comb foundation made of paper, a comb and a bee hive shipping honeybees for pollination early stages. The solution is to have the comb foundation for the honeybees made of paper which is obtained by forming comb cells from cells of a honey bee core or a roll core made of the paper and coated or impregnated with beeswax. The comb foundation made of the paper is characterized in that the comb foundation made of paper arranged in the interior of the square frame formed of the paper as a material with the cell opening surface transversely directed to the outside is fixed with an adhesive.
As disclosed above, molded plastic honeycombs for use with beekeeping are known in the prior art. In the prior art, the full honeycombs or the foundations are made with resin and the beekeeper sprays beeswax onto the honeycomb or the foundation in order to have the bees be attracted to the resin or high density polyethylene honeycomb or foundation. This is both time-consuming and expensive. There is a significant need for an improved molded resin foundation, foundation with border, or honeycomb for use with beekeeping which eliminates the requirement to spray beeswax onto the device in order for bees to be attracted thereto so that they will lay their eggs, raise their brood and deposit their honey therein.