>The box is the width of a Lang, same depth as a deep Lang box, and 4' long,
with a rabbet running the whole length.  This yields enough
>space for 33 deep frames....  This design has the weight benefits of a TBH
but is more compatible with your existing equipment and allows you to use an
extractor if you want.
...
>The Dartington Long Deep (DLD) hive takes 
14 x 12 inch and can take up to 17 frames. It is possible to have 2 
colonies in the brood box as there is an entrance at either end. It has 
half size honey supers which take 6 frames can be used which are lighter
 than full supers and are therefore easier to lift.[18] The Dartington was 
originally developed by Robin Dartington so that he could keep bees on 
his London rooftop (everything permanently kept under one long roof so
avoiding spare empty boxes that blew away).

The Dartington Long Deep actually takes 21 frames 14" x 12" plus a dummy
frme each end - it is a double UK National hive so can hold a full colony
when artificially divided with a simple vertical board into 'swarm' and
'parent' for swarm control. 'Deep' refres to the use with one level of half
sixed supers boxes each taking 5 wide shallows - the depth is then 18ins ,
enough to allow the brood nest to be a perfect ball with honey stored above
and beside the brood - as bees like. 

The Langstroth frame is really too wide and too shallow really for this
conformation - the brood nest will be squashed wider than it is long - and
the old fault of too much honey being stored uneconomically at the sides of
the brood patches will re-appear. 
The height to length ration in the illustrated Langstroth Obs Hive is about
1:4, which has been found to make it difficult for the bees to ventilate to
mature nectar in a wet season.  The Dartington ratio is only 1:2. But use
today of mesh floors may improve removing surplus water in nectar by
diffusion, reducing reliance on fanning.   

Robin (Dartington) 

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