Title of Invention

"LOW COST HONEY BEE BOX"

Abstract

A low-cost honey bee box " 11 comprises brooder mounted on a base, a super chamber mounted on the said brooder and covered with a root and components like dummy, brood frame, super frame, cover and entrance road. They are moulded in dies from a slurry using fly ash, paddy husk and cement with reinforcement using coconut husk fibre, jute sticks and coconut leaf mid-ribs and the said three box 15 placed on a riser provided with a bee box mounting platform and a base trough for watering and the said riser is made of an asbestos pipe.

Full Text

The invention relates to a lout-cost honey bee box made mostly out of industrial and agriculfrural waste replacing traditional wood for the construct 3 on of the bep-box. There are disadvantages in the making of traditional bee boxes. In bee keeping, the single most important and costly item is the bee box made out of wood which entails good amount of skilled labour hours in the process of making the bee box - Another disadvantages with the traditional bee box is that the cost of raw material a like wood has gone up which further increases the cost of the bee-box. Sti11 another disadvantages with the traditional bee box as that large scale use of wood as material for making bee box is not ecologically desirable. A method and cover board for harvesting honey in free heet-epping is described in USP 4736479 (Lagerman; Bjorn A.L-), Therefore the main object of the present invenon is to propose a low-cost honey bee box which is manufactured cheaply -from locally available -industrial and crop wastes like flyash from thermal power station, paddy husk, jute sticks, coconut husk, coconut leaf midrib and bee wax. Another object of the present invention of n low-cost honey bee box is that most of the components like Brooder and uper chambers, Roof or cover and base or bottom board is moulded in wooden dies as mono block (without any joints) bee box- Yet another object of the present invention of a low-cost honey bee box is that it is weatherproof and durable. Still another object of the present invention of a low-cost honey bee box is that it utilizes eco- friendly technology by converting the wastes into i useful material. Further object of the present invention of a low-cost honey bee box is that it is low in cost and affordable, easy to fabricate by ordinary person in the rural areas which will help self employment opportunities. It requires no maintenance and minimum pest infestation. According to the present invention there is provided a low-cost honey bee box comprising brooder mounted on a base, a super chamber mounted on the said brooder and covered with a roof and components like dummy, brood frame, super frame, cover and entrance road are moulded in dies from a slurry using fly ash, paddy husk and cement with reinforcement using coconut husk fibre, jute sticks and coconut leaf midribs and the said bee box is placed on a riser provided with a bee box mounting platform and a base trough for watering and the said riser is made of an asbestos pipe. The nature of the invention, its objective and further advantages residing in the same will be apparent from the following description made with reference to non-limiting exemplary embodiments of the invention - 3 - represented in the accompanying drawings. Brief description of the drawings Figure 1 shows the detail of the bee box Figure 2 shows the detail of dummy bee box Figure 3 shows the detail of the brood frame of the bee box Figure 4 shows the detail of the super frame of the bee box Figure 5 shows the detail of the cover/roof of the bee box. Figure 6 shows the detail of the entrance road of the bee box. Figure 7 shows the detail of the riser with water trough. Figure 8 shows the detail of the bee box mounted on a riser as in Figure 7. Detailed description of the invention Different moulds /dies are first made for casting the different components of the bee box. A slurry is made using fly ash, paddy husk and cement- The slurry is poured inside the moulds/dies and is uniformly spread and packed using a stirrer. For reinforcement, coconut husk fibre, jute sticks and coconut leaf mid-ribs are used. A setting period of 24 hours are allowed before removing the moulds/dies. - 4 - The brooder (1) and super chambers (2), the base plate (8) and cover/roof (3) are thus constructed as independent units. The hive frames like super frame (6) and brood frame (5) , dummy (4) and entrance road (9) which are normally made from wood are now made out of bamboo. Only the crown board or cover (7) is made from 4 mm plywood. After proper airing and drying, the components of the bee box are assembled and is placed or mounted on a riser (11). The riser (11) which is made of asbestos pipe of 15 cm dia and 45 cm height, and stone chips, and sand alongwith portland cement as binder. At the top of the riser (11) is provided a bee box moulding platform ( 12) and at the bottom a base trough for watering (10) is provided having dimension 30 cm dia and 10 cm height. Both the bee box mounting platform (12) and the base trough for watering (10) are made in a mould/die by casting the slurry comprising flyash, Paddy husk and cement as bonding material. Figure 8 shows the bee box assembly mounted on the platform ( 12) of the riser (11) with a base trough for watering (10). After proper curing and drying, the components of the bee box (A) were assembled on a riser (11). Water in the base trough for watering (10) of the riser (11) prevents ants and other creeping vermin from entering the hive. To make the bee box (A) rain-water-proof, it was coated externally with beeswax. To make the box (A) operational, a colony of bees with a queen, workers - 5 - and males was introduced in the brooder (1 ) chamber. The colony was allowed to grow to full strength for a period of about 3 months. Thereafter, super (2) chamber was completed with portions of hive from the brooder (1) chamber. In about 5 months, the box (A) became operational and honey would be harvested periodically by removing the frames (6) of the super (2) chamber only. Each frame (6) of the super chamber, at full loading, weighed 180 to 250g at the time of harvesting honey. The empty frames (6) were replaced in the super (2) chamber for refilling by the bees. Normally there are 8 frames (6) in each super (2) chambers. The invention described hereinabove is in relation to a non - limiting embodiment and as defined by the accompanying claims. WE CLAIM: 1.1. A low-cost honey bee box comprising brooder (1) mounted on a base (8), a super chamber mounted on the said brooder and covered with a roof (3) and components like dummy (4), brood frame (5), super frame (6), cover (7) and entrance road (9) are moulded in dies from a slurry using fly ash, paddy husk and cement with reinforcement using coconut huskS fibre, jute sticks and coconut leaf mid-ribs and the said ' bee box is placed on a riser (11) provided with a bee box ¦ mounting platform ( 12) and a base trough1 for watering (10) and the said riser is made of an asbestos pipe. ' 2,, A low-cost honey bee box as claimed in claim 1 wherein cement is/ used as bonding material in the said slurry of flyash and paddy husk. 3. A low - cost honey bee box as claimed in claims 1 and 2 wherein the slurry after casting in the mould is allowed to set at least for 24 hours. 4. A low - cost honey bee box as claimed in claim wherein the hive frames ( 5, 6) are made out of bamboo. 5. A low - cost honey bee box as claimed in claim 1 wherein water in the trough ( 10) of the riser (11) prevents ants and other creeping varmin from entering the honey bee box. 6. A low - cost honey bee box as claimed in claim 1 wherein the said honey bee box (A) is coated with bees wax. . - 7 - 7. A low - cost honey bee box as claimed in claim 1 wherein there are eight super frames (6) in the said super (2) chamber. 8. A low - cost honey bee box as claimed in claim wherein each of the super frame (6) weighs 180 to 250g at full loading. 9. A low - cost honey bee box substantially as herein described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings. - 8 - A low-cost honey bee box " 11 comprises brooder mounted on a base, a super chamber mounted on the said brooder and covered with a root and components like dummy, brood frame, super frame, cover and entrance road. They are moulded in dies from a slurry using fly ash, paddy husk and cement with reinforcement using coconut husk fibre, jute sticks and coconut leaf mid-ribs and the said three box 15 placed on a riser provided with a bee box mounting platform and a base trough for watering and the said riser is made of an asbestos pipe.

Documents:

00235-cal-1999 abstract.pdf

00235-cal-1999 claims.pdf

00235-cal-1999 correspondence.pdf

00235-cal-1999 description(complete).pdf

00235-cal-1999 drawings.pdf

00235-cal-1999 form-1.pdf

00235-cal-1999 form-18.pdf

00235-cal-1999 form-2.pdf

00235-cal-1999 form-3.pdf

00235-cal-1999 g.p.a.pdf

00235-cal-1999 letters patent.pdf

00235-cal-1999 reply f.e.r.pdf