Honey Extractors
Table of Contents
History of the Honey Extractors
Franz Hruschka invented honey extractor in 1865 in Italy. Although the exact date is not known, he announced his invention at Brno Beekeeper Conference in September 1865. The initial invention was a simple tin box attached to a wired cord and a funnel at the bottom. A glass was fastened to the funnel to collect honey. This extractor was to be spun by the beekeeper by spinning his arm and required a lot more effort. Then the second addition can with an attached arm at a tripod.
This version was easier to spin over the tripod. Finally, the final model came out that resembled today’s extractor with a round tub. This idea went got popularity and various vendors came to the scene to manufacture the honey extractor on a large scale.
Types of Honey Extractors
There is not much variety in the honey extractors. As the only principle behind them is the centrifugal force. There are only two types based on frame orientation in the basket.
One is a tangential extractor in which one side of the comb faces outward and the other is radial extractor in which the frame is placed vertically with the top bar of the frame facing outward.
Working Principle
Before starting centrifugation, the wax cap is removed manually. And then the frames are placed inside the basket of the extractor. Extractor spins with sufficient speed to force the honey out of the uncapped wax cells. The honey runs down the extractor’s walls and collects at the bottom.
