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Aluminium Cored Foundation

It's here!! The greatest advancement in
Bee Comb Foundation construction in years!
EBY's PERMANENT FOUNDATION
Makes Wired Foundation Obsolete

Durable, Long-Lasting ALUMINUM is inter-leaved
between two sheets of 100% Bees Wax

Here are some of the outstanding features:
FAST Assembly - Permanent Durability - Non Sagging - Fast Extracting - No Wiring Needed
Maximum Drone Control - Rapid Acceptance by Bees
No breakage in handling or transportation

PRICES

10	- Sheet Package, 8-1/2 x 16-3/4	........... $ 2.50
50	- Sheet Package, 8-1/2 x 16-3/4	......... $ 10.75
200	- Sheet Package, 8-1/2 x 16-3/4	......... $ 40.00
10	- Sheet Package, 5-5/8 x 16-3/4	........... $ 1.85
50	- Sheet Package, 5-5/8 x 16-3/4	........... $ 7.95
200	- Sheet Package, 5-5/8 x 16-3/4	......... $ 29.00

Wally's Bee Enterprise, Inc. 1909 East Fourth Street, Sioux City, Iowa
Hyland Apiaries, Inc., West Elkton, Ohio
Leahy Manufacturing Co., Higginsville, Missouri

The above is a rendition of an old advert and the definition of the picture does not do justice to the product. I include the drawing at right to give a more accurate impression of what the material looked like. The above prices look attractive by today's standards. I am not sure of the manufacturing process, but I suspect that the aluminium core was passed through liquid wax to get a coating on both sides, with some sort of plain rollers to control the overall thickness of the sandwich. Followed by milling through conventional rollers and guillotining to size.

The above is a rendition of an old advert and the definition of the picture does not do justice to the product. I include the drawing at right to give a more accurate impression of what the material looked like.

The above prices look attractive by today's standards. I am not sure of the manufacturing process, but I suspect that the aluminium core was passed through liquid wax to get a coating on both sides, with some sort of plain rollers to control the overall thickness of the sandwich. Followed by milling through conventional rollers and guillotining to size.

aluminium core with wax layers stripped back

The cellsize has been measured by Allen Dick... He reports 5.00 mm exactly. The drawing at right was produced from one of Allen's photos. There are more details and a photograph on Allen's diary page that mentions it's discovery. The original pictures and text were provided by Allen Dick and Barry Birkey, I have rendered them to mimic the layout and style, of the original advertisement that appeared in the November 1959 issue of Bee Culture, on the back cover. I do not know if this material is still manufactured.

The cellsize has been measured by Allen Dick... He reports 5.00 mm exactly. The drawing at right was produced from one of Allen's photos. There are more details and a photograph on Allen's diary page that mentions it's discovery.

The original pictures and text were provided by Allen Dick and Barry Birkey, I have rendered them to mimic the layout and style, of the original advertisement that appeared in the November 1959 issue of Bee Culture, on the back cover. I do not know if this material is still manufactured.

appearance of aluminium core after stripping away the wax

The only concerns that I have about the use of this type of foundation are firstly that aluminium is a reactive metal that would taint any honey that it came into contact with, whether the bees would repair a wax film that was damaged is something that I am unsure of (I would hope that it was the case).

Secondly I am concerned that the bees are unable to nibble 'pop holes' in it.

Others have commented that the aluminium, being a good conductor, will remove heat from a winter cluster. I am of the opinion that the thickness of the aluminium core material is minimal and so the conduction path has a high resistance to heat flow, and as the cooler extremities of the comb will be insulated by the layers of cells that contain still air, so that should not be a big problem, maybe someone who has direct experience of it's use can comment?

On 5th April 2002 I can now add that Allen has measured the thickness of material used for the aluminium core and that it is 0.125 mm (0.005"). Further to this Brian Cramp tells me that he has a sample of the actual material... I will be meeting Brian over the next few days and I will report further after handling it.

D.A.C.

Page created 29/03/2002

Page updated 21/08/2022

					Written... 22 to 29 March 2002, Modified... 02 & 05 April 2002, New Domain... 17 January 2004, Upgraded... 17 January 2004,

Aluminium Cored Foundation

Written... 22 to 29 March 2002, Modified... 02 & 05 April 2002, New Domain... 17 January 2004, Upgraded... 17 January 2004,