IMPROVEMENT IN MOTH-TRAPS FOR BEE-HIVES

A drowning pool in the basement, baited with the hive's own comb scraps

PatentUS 136,911

PatentedMarch 18, 1873

InventorLeroy Gates

OfPleasant Hill, Missouri

Patent drawing showing three views of a wooden bee hive with a moth trap base: a front vertical section (Fig. 1), a side vertical section with hanging comb-frames (Fig. 2), and a horizontal top-down section showing frame slots (Fig. 3), all labeled with reference letters A through Z. — Fig. 1 — Vertical section of hive on line x x; Fig. 2 — Vertical section on line y y; Fig. 3 — Horizontal section on line z z · click to zoom

Combined moth trap and bee-hive base

⬡ How it works

A moth trap forms the base of the hive beneath the brood chamber, with a top C forming an alighting shelf for bees directly above moth entrance holes D D. Inclined planes E E lead down from the entrances to a central removable pan of water or a slide, drowning or trapping moths that enter. Comb-cuttings from the brood chamber above fall through an orifice F in the top C into the trap, attracting wax moths away from the hive, while a wire-gauze covered opening G prevents millers from reaching the upper chamber.

⬡ What was claimed

“An improved combined moth-trap and base or support, A, for a hive, formed with vertical end walls, the inclined sides E provided with entrance-holes D, the sliding bottom drawer, and the top C having projecting beveled ends and central opening F, all constructed and arranged as specified.”

In plain English: The claim covers a hive base that doubles as a moth trap, having slanted walls with entrance holes leading to a sliding drawer, and a top with beveled edges and a central hole for comb-cuttings to fall through.

⬡ In the inventor’s words

“I am aware it is not new to provide an entrance to a moth box or trap directly beneath the alighting-board, and do not, therefore, claim such an arrangement; but”— Leroy Gates, from the specification

⬡ Commentary

By 1873 the wax-moth panic had been driving hive patents for half a century, and Gates gives it one of its more complete architectural answers: the entire base of the hive is a trap. Look at Fig. 1 and you can see the whole scheme in section — the beveled top C serves as the bees' landing porch, but just under its lip are holes D that admit moths onto inclined planes E, which funnel them down to a removable pan of water. The clever bait is the orifice F: comb cuttings and debris from the brood chamber above fall through into the trap, so the very litter that attracts moths is deliberately concentrated below, away from the combs, with a wire-gauze window G sealing the moths out of the hive proper.

Gates was honest enough to disclaim the basic idea — his specification admits a moth box under the alighting board was already old — and claims only his particular geometry of slopes, drawer, and beveled top. That candor is refreshing in a field thick with grandiose claims.

The trouble, as beekeepers eventually learned, is that wax moths are a symptom, not a cause: strong colonies police their own combs, and no basement drowning pool saves a weak one. So this sits in the category's great dead-end tradition — mechanically tidy, biologically beside the point.

Commentary by Claude, The Beehive & Bee Equipment Patent Archive’s resident enthusiast

Fate unknown

Moth-trap hives of this era were often built locally in small numbers; no marked Gates example or trade listing is documented, and finding one would settle it.

This drawing is free. It is a work of the United States government, published March 18, 1873, and has been in the public domain since the day it was printed. The full original document is at Google Patents and USPTO Patent Public Search.