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Is this unusual item related to beekeeping?

20K views 117 replies 51 participants last post by  DanielD 
#1 ·
This item belonged to the father (who was a beekeeper) of a seventy year old friend, so it might be fairly old. We're trying to figure out what it is and he thought it might be related to beekeeping. The only opening on it is the hole with the sliding door. Anyone recognize it?




 
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#2 ·
Rob,

Don't know if it is related to beekeeping or not. The cylinders on the side sure look like fuel tanks and the fabric on the side looks like kerosene lamp wicking. The sliding door on the end might be to regulate combustion air for a flame inside. Does it look sooty inside and does it smell of kerosene or lamp oil? My guess id that it is somekind of a heater, perhaps for bees.

Bear Creek Steve
 
#4 ·
Used for heating the old style copper soldering irons? What does the body seem to be made of? Looks like copper rivets holding the tanks to the body, with stove gaskets for insulation. Are the tanks plumbed into the main body somehow? What are the dimentions of the tanks, and of the main body? Very interesting looking device.
 
#6 ·
It makes perfect sense if the fuel is such that it needs heated to facilitate combustion. The fuel in the tanks is not in the direct flame, if in fact this device is some type of heat generator. Parafin fuel needs to be heated/pre-heated to get proper combustion and to allow it to flow.

It immediatly reminded me of the old soldering copper iron iron heaters. But, some things about the device don't make immediate sense. If the tanks are plumbed into the body of the device is not clear from the pictures. Do the caps come off, and is there any odor from the tanks? Like I stated before, very interesting device.
 
#9 ·
I can't figure this one out. Yankee Magazine would love to see this item. They have a special page for "What's Its". Least they did at one time. I havene't seen a Yankee Magazine in a long while.

The cylinders on the sides appear free and unattatched to the body, except by the hangers. So I don't get the idea that the cylinders would be getting fuel from the tank. And, curiously, the wicks don't appear to be burnt. I imagine the caps on the cylinders are removable? Right?

There doesn't seem to be any handle on this thingamajig, so, at least when in use, it probably wasn't moved around. I'm guessing.

What does the bottom look like? Is there any odor associated w/ the sliding flap? Any sign of a Makers Mark or numbers or dates?

Very interesting. Thanks.
 
#18 ·
Could be, but the wicks don't appear burnt and they are riveted in place. Not something one does if one is going to burn them and then extend them. We use a Kerosene stove and used to use Oil Lamps for light. One needs to adjust the wick for more or less light and more or less heat.

Maybe what was in the tubes slowly leaked out thru the wicks. But onto what and for what purpose? And, maybe it is upside down. The narrow edge should be the bottom. That way the tubes would stand out away from the body more. That little slidding door has me confused too.
 
#12 ·
I've never seen any heating devices that you guys are talking about. We don't get too creative on heat in NC, lol.

The two cylinders on the sides looked more like floats to me. But floats for what, i can't say.

Send a photo to Dr. Wyatt A. Mangum, Mathematics Department, University of Mary Washington: wmangum@umw.edu. He has a column in ABJ journal, and he collects old beekeeping antiques. My guess is if it's related to beekeeping, he would probably know.
 
#17 ·
Thanks for all of the replies, I just sent an email to Dr. Mangum and will post his reply when I get it. In regards to other questions about it that were posted here, it's about 12" long, the two small tanks are not plumbed to the larger one, I didn't try the caps but I would guess they could be removed. I took the photos last weekend at a friend's farm so I don't have the item in my possession to take a closer look at. The wicks appear to be attached with rivets and couldn't be easily replaced so I think that is another reason that it isn't a heater. I was thinking along the lines of the person who suggested it could be a swarm catcher with some attractant in the small tanks to attract bees. I didn't notice any writing on it at all, I'll ask the owner to see if he can smell anything inside the large part and the two small ones, and to check again for any writing on it.
 
#16 ·
Looks like a asbestos/fiberglass gasket on/under the tanks, but it does not look burned on either side, so I would assume that it was used to evaporate something. Maybe some watering type tanks, and the main housing is some type of housing for pollinators or birds, or maybe nothing of the sort :) but the lack of burn on the 'wick' doesn't make me think heater, though I've seen that 'wick' as gaskets on boiler type equipment.
The shape of the hangers indicates it hangs the way you have it, being the down loop on it.
Seems that it is set up for the tanks to swivel on the hangers though.
Did you just make it and make it look up to post on here and stump us... ?
:)
 
#19 ·
If this is a beekeeping item it is most likely a device for capturing and releasing foraging bees in the process of beelining to find a colony in a tree or similar place. Perhaps the tubes held an attractant. The bees are captured then moved to a different spot, released and sighted to triangulate and determine the nest site location.
 
#22 ·
I don't think they are wicks for burning either. There is no way to replace them, and they probably wouldn't last to long burning horizontally. Also if the flame was under neath the fuel the expansion of the fuel and air in the tanks would make the flame uncontrollable. Does the bottom or back side of it open?
 
#23 ·
I really don't know what this device is, or is used for. But, I look forward to hopefully, eventually, finding out when and if someone does recognize it. I was fooled into thinking that the small cylindrical tanks were attached to the main body of the device in one of the first pictures I now see that it was just leaned over against the body from the tilt angle and being hung that way by the hooks.

All of you that keep talking "bomb" can't have never used/seen a gas Coleman lantern or stove? The fuel in both of those devices is directly passed (via a tube) through the flame produced. This creates a fuel vapor, at pressure, and is very controllable. Heating or pre-heating fuel of all types is pretty common in a wide variety of applications. Engines designed to operate on parafin wax not only have to heat the wax to a liquid state, but then keep it liquid through the delivery process.
 
#87 ·
All of you that keep talking "bomb" can't have never used/seen a gas Coleman lantern or stove? The fuel in both of those devices is directly passed (via a tube) through the flame produced. This creates a fuel vapor, at pressure, and is very controllable. Heating or pre-heating fuel of all types is pretty common in a wide variety of applications.
I had a Svea 123 stove, so yes, I'm familiar with fuel vapor. One first has to get the fuel tank pressurized, which is done by burning a small amount of fuel in the recess atop the fuel tank. Once pressurized, the burner can be lite, which is above the tank, as is the Coleman lantern and stove. I'm not aware of any burning device that has the flame in direct contact with the fuel source.
 
#24 ·
It looks to me like the fabric becomes wetted with the contents of the reservoir; combined with the holes in the fabric, it makes me think of something like the oilers used for cattle. Maybe an old way of applying an oil or chemical to the individual critters.
Critters (bees) enter via the end and exit via the holes on the sides; they'd get whatever's on the fabric all over their feet.
Oil for varroa?
 
#26 ·
Oil for varroa?
Definitely not. That thing was built before varroa ever left its' original host. Probably before most of us were borned.

I'm going to venture a guess that it has nothing to do w/ bees or beekeeping.

I would like to see the bottom. To see if there is anything there, but also to see the tubes and wicks hanging away from the body. That might give some clue to what it is and what it was made for.

Where is it from again? What kind of a farm did it come off of? If it had been on a farm.
 
#25 ·
Just a guess maybe the tanks are for dispensing water to the bees, the wicks get soaked with water and the bees can suck the water out of the wicks. I know I have kept crickets for fishing alive for weeks using a paper towel soaked with water and folded into a square. The crickets suck the water out of the paper towel for their water source. Just a guess though.
 
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