# In Tribute to Langstroth and those whom we follow



## GaSteve (Apr 28, 2004)

Speaking of Rev. Langstroth, not only were his ideas revolutionary for the time, but in my opinion, he was an excellent writer as well. I'm about half way through his book. While all the current beekeeping books read like text books, his is never dry and a true pleasure to read.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

A lot of the old beekeeping books are in more of a narrative style than a "textbook" style. I find it refreshing also. Plus it's sometimes very enlightening to follow their thought processes to the conclusions they came to.


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## wayacoyote (Nov 3, 2003)

I haven't really done the research on the history of beekeeping equipment, but I have read some history. And I would have to say that I agree, David. Before, I had gotten the idea that I would go TBH only. Then as I came here and other sites and read of all the tweaking that some were doing to get things going smoothly, I became convinced that the only pro I wasn't able to meet with a Langstroth was the cost. But time being $$, I decided that Langstroth would be just fine with me. I think that, if I had the patience and experience of others, I could eventually get a TBH going. I still have hopes of eliminating that initial set-up cost that comes with Lang. hives. Which is why I return to this page so often. Until then, I'll have to stick with the old reliable.
WayaCoyote


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## BWrangler (Aug 14, 2002)

Hi Guys,

I've ordered the fascimile of Langstroths book. I really enjoy reading the historical books and empathizing, somewhat, in their experience. It's also amazing just how much more we know than our grandfathers did, about bee biology. Yet the escence of that experience has remained about the same.

Regards
Dennis


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

I have both the reprint (you can get from Amazon.com) and an 1860 version.


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## The Honey House (May 10, 2000)

You can download free copies from the US Patent Office at http://www.uspto.gov/

You'll have to have the software to read a TIFF file. I downloaded them, printed them and then rescanned them as a couple of the original are crooked. I saw copies for sale on ebay, but that's another story.


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## danno1800 (Mar 13, 2004)

Someone gave me the reprint of the Langstroth book for Christmas. Thanks for the reviews. I can't wait to read it.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

I tred to find the original patent at the US Patent office site and never could find any patents that old available. I ended up buying reprints of the patents. I had the patent number and everything and never found it.

How did you get access to it?


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## bobobee (May 21, 2004)

The Mann Library at Cornell has a great collection of old beekeeping books for view. I was only able to download one page at a time which is a real disadvantage but their collection is really worth checking out: http://bees.library.cornell.edu/

Alethea


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## Jerry C (Feb 7, 2004)

I also enjoy the Cornell library. After stumbling around a bit I could download the entire book at once. Only problem is most fractions didnt OCR correctly so you have to go back to the original scan if you want the correct number.


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## The Honey House (May 10, 2000)

Step 1: go to http://www.uspto.gov/ 
Step 2: Left side of page, click on search.
Step 3: Left side of page, click on Patent Number Search
Step 4: Query = 9300
Step 5: Click on "Images" at the top of page.
Step 6: Save page.

Left side has a page area - step through each of the ten pages, saving as you go.


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## BWrangler (Aug 14, 2002)

Hi David,

Congrats on your first year of beekeeping. My first trip to a beeyard was with a large commercial beekeeper. When we arrived at the yard, he took a large rope, tied it around my waist and tied the other end to the bee truck. Then he went about working the hives. After awhile I got the courage to ask him about the rope. He said that he often looses his help when they work their first yard and he didn't want me running off. :>)

He didn't know it, but I would have worked for free! But that's another story.

Congrats again.

Regards
Dennis


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

Got it. Thanks. I searched on "Langstroth" as the patent holder. I searched on "Beekeeping" "Beehives" etc. and found many patents but not his.

Here's the link to the first page:

http://patimg1.uspto.gov/.piw?Docid=00009300&homeurl=http%3A%2F%2Fpatft.uspto.gov%2Fnetacgi%2Fnph-Parser%3FSect1%3DPTO1%2526Sect2%3DHITOFF%2526d%3DPALL%2526p%3D1%2526u%3D%2Fnetahtm l%2Fsrchnum.htm%2526r%3D1%2526f%3DG%2526l%3D50%2526s1%3D9300.WKU.%2526OS%3DPN%2F9300%2526RS%3DPN%2F9300&PageNum=&Rtype=&SectionNum=&idkey=2B749092EA5D


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## dcross (Jan 20, 2003)

<<He didn't know it, but I would have worked for free! But that's another story.>>

Heh heh, I almost ended up working for next to nothing for a neighboring farmer, till he found out I was sweet on his daughter! Considering what he was offering in wages, I guess he really didn't have much use for me before that either


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## BWrangler (Aug 14, 2002)

Hi Guys,

I am reading through my copy of 'The Hive and the Honey bee' by Rev. Langstroth. It's a great read and I agree with BerkeyDavid that he achieved his objectives with his hive design.

In his day, beekeeping was being advanced by the observations and practices of the 'common' man. Science has filled in some of the details, but I think it's still the common man who advances beekeeping today.

Regards
Dennis
Thinking that most scientific effort is applied where the most of the money is spent, like blasting holes in comets or something :>)


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