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BINDERBOARD®
patent # 5,372,535 January 28, 1994, and
# 5,618,220
April 8, 1997
loose cell management systems for solitary bees.
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Click
on photo for a closer look.
What
is binderboard?
Advantages?
Processing boards
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Binderboards®
for orchard bees.
now with bolts for increased tension |
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Advantages?
Processing boards
Developers and promoters.
Currently available?
What is needed? |
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Binderboard® is a simple,
efficient, automated system for managing leafcutting bees. It utilizes a
stack of laminates attached at the back with dark PVC cloth. The laminate
layers open like a book, hence the name Binderboard®.
The simple addition of a
permanent backing allows for rotary movement in a processing machine. The
board opens, bee cells are safely removed, and the board closes in one
smooth motion on the machine. The backing keeps laminates in place and
insures proper fit between laminates with minimum effort. This reduces the
time required to process bee cells, reducing the cost of bee management.
Cell breaking and cleaning features can be added to the system in one
automated process.
The best Binderboard® are
constructed of wood. Alternative, less expensive but durable materials are
under consideration. |
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Contacts for more
information
Loose cells at bee emergence, male leafcutting bee
resting.
Photos of
processing machine |
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The Binderboard® bee
management system has all of the advantages of plain laminates and loose
cell management in general, and more. Binderboard® laminates fit more
snugly than traditional laminates, reducing the risk from parasites. As
with laminates alone, and polystyrene nesting materials, bee cells can
be removed from the Binderboard® in the fall or winter so that predators
and dead larvae are eliminated, and cells can be assessed for diseases
and parasites by x-ray analysis. In addition, Binderboard® and bee
cells can be treated yearly with fumigants, hypochlorite or fungicides
to control chalkbrood and other diseases.
Where appropriate,
Binderboard® and cells can be treated simultaneously, and with
the minimum active concentration of hypochlorite.
The Binderboard® system avoids the problem of dilution
of hypochlorite when nests and cells are dipped.
Less concentrated hypochlorite is used than when boards are
dipped in a large vat, so vapors are minimized.
By treating the nests and cells with liquid as the cells are
extracted, the dispersal of
chalkbrood spores in dust and debris is minimized.
This dispersal of spores from the cell processing equipment is
one of the most important sources of the spread of chalkbrood disease,
but it is little understood and not controlled in current management
techniques.
Tumbling and breaking of cells is incorporated into the
Binderboard® production line to separate predators, parasites and dead
larvae from the cells containing live prepupae.
Tumbling and breaking takes place continuously with small numbers
of cells as they are stripped from the laminates, rather than as a
separate process on a large scale after cell striping. At the
end of processing we envision that the boards will be ready to stack for
reuse the following year, and bee cells are loaded into trays ready for
winter cold-storage. Tunnel depths of 4 or 5 inches can be used with Binderboard®
because the nests are easy to open for cell removal. Deep tunnels
have been shown to have more female offspring than shallow tunnels.
Bee managers who have been using tunnel diameters of 3 - 3.5 inches may
see an increase in female bee yields. In
summary, the Binderboard® system improves the efficiency of traditional
loose cell management, which allows for easy storage of cells during the
winter and incubation in the spring so bee emergence can be synchronized
with alfalfa bloom.Top of Page |
| What
is binderboard?
Advantages?
Processing boards
Developers and promoters.
Currently available?
What is needed?
Contacts for more
information
Processing machine
More photos of processing
machine
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Processing is accomplished by feeding the Binderboard® into
the machine, entrance holes up. The board advances into a rotating carousel.
The first laminate is opened and pulled down, and the first of four combs
(similar to the rods used in other bee harvesters) on the carousel, above the
laminate, will remove (strip) the cells from the exposed tunnels.
A push bar under the first laminate will move the Binderboard® ahead one
laminate and begin again with the second comb on the carrousel. One rotation of the carousel cleans four laminates. A
typical four foot long Binderboard® has about
120 laminates, and the machine can
extract these in about one minute.
The diameter of the carousel is determined
by the angle at which the machine opens the laminates like a book, one page at a
time. This allows the comb to travel relatively flat along the two exposed
laminates: top and bottom of one
tunnel. The machine can be adjusted to clean Binderboard®
with laminates 3.5 to 6 inches deep,
5 -12 inches wide, and with a variety of tunnel diameters.
Where wet treatment for chalkbrood is desirable, nozzles can be
situated on the sides of the machine to spray directly into the laminates
as they are opened, sterilizing the board. Additional nozzles can wash
the bee cells down their path.
The bee cells will fall into a cell breaker and
tumbler from which they can be spread into incubation trays. The boards
will come out of the processing machine empty and clean, or ready to
fumigate, and go back to work. Clean bee cells tumble out into incubation
trays.
Photos of processing machine
Top of Page |
| What
is binderboard?
Advantages?
Processing boards
Developers and promoters.
Currently available?
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For the past 9 years, inventor Jerry Mills has been working with grower Lawrence
Whitsell, both from Emmett, ID, to develop the Binderboard® management
system. Mills holds the
patents on Binderboard®.
Pollinator Paradise is facilitating
research on and promotion of the system, and is developing a similar
management routine for orchard mason bees, including the blue orchard
bee, Osmia lignaria and the hornfaced bee, Osmia cornifrons.
Top of Page |
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What is needed?
Contacts for more
information
Prototype Processing Machine
Photos of processing machine
What
is binderboard?
Advantages?
Processing boards
Developers and promoters.
Currently available?
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Jerry Mills has purchased the laminate business and machinery from
Ustick Bee Boards and now has the ability to make Binderboard® rapidly and in
large quantities. The boards themselves
are now ready for field testing
on a small scale for trial or for research. Hand scrapers are available
for small scale processing.
Purchase Binderboard from Pollinator Paradise (see price
list).
Photos of processing machine
An improved prototype
of the processing equipment is under construction. A sequential drive
mechanism that coordinates all the essential operations of the machine
has been developed.
We seek advice, encouragement, and funding from
producers and industry representatives with an understanding of
leafcutting bee management, and from individuals with engineering
expertise, to help us complete a working model of the processing
equipment, and to develop low cost laminates as an alternative to wood.
Top of Page |
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What is needed?
Contacts for more
information
Board entering prototype machine
Laminates open, combs positioned
to strip bee cells.
More photos of processing
machine What
is binderboard? |
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What is needed for a working prototype of the equipment?
The features that the processing machine
requires are: 1) a sequential drive mechanism
that turns four times faster than the carrousel. Levers can be
easily attached to the drive system that will run through a series
of steps to rapidly move the board forward one laminate at a time, to
open the tunnels formed by the laminates, and to strip them out of the
tunnels. 2) a carousel with four spring-loaded combs; 3) an advance
bar; 4) a set of laminate flipper arms; 5) a set of support arms to
maintain laminate position while they are combed; 6) a toothed laminate
separator for opening each laminate as they move forward; 7) a set of
stop arms for catching the board as it moves forward; 8) a motor and
drive train; 9) linkage to go from the drive train to the
operating arms; 10) the structure that holds
these devices, guides for the Binderboard®, and a conveyance for the bee
cells.
Photos of
processing machine
The current prototype
machine has a mock-up of these features assembled in such a way as to
simulate these functions by hand. The construction is sufficient to
continue fabrication in making a working model. Our goal is to be able to
butt boards end to end through the machine so that it runs continuously,
stripping the cells and preparing them for cold storage.
Top
of Page
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Advantages?Processing boards
Developers
and promoters. |
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We have small sample Binderboards®
available for a small fee ($10 plus shipping, or free if you are
contemplating an order of $200 or more). Contact any of us directly: |
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Currently available?
What
is needed? |
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Jerry
Mills, Inventor
208-365-6164
e-mail
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Lawrence Whitsell, Grower
208-365-6598
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| Photos
of processing machine |
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Karen Strickler, Pollination
Consultant
208-722-7808
e-mail |
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