Peter said:

A standard wood top bar is about an inch thick.
The bees get to that point and they regard it as the “end of the comb”.

 
 
In a 'natural' hive - and by that, I mean a standing tree, the combs are hung from the wood at the top of the cavity.  There is no space above the comb.  Any space above the frames is probably for the convenience of the beekeeper who wants to remove the cover.

As per the question about slatted bottom boards running perpendicular to the frame, now parallel - I don't know who or why the original ran perpendicular to the frames.  

I first encountered these in Seattle, where it rains a lot.  Beekeepers were using slat boards to keep the water away from the bottoms of the frames - the slats were used in combination with tipping the hives so that the entrances were lower than the backs of the hives for better drainage.  The slats also gave the water some place to go rather than puddle on the bottom board right under the frames.  The slate running perpendicular to the frames might have been to provide a more open spaces btw frames and slats?  Just a guess.

The question I always ask, why are the frames in most hives parallel to the entrance?  Hives in trees  and other cavities seem to usually have the combs perpendicular to the entrance.  In cold climates, I'd assume that the face of the outer comb in front of the open entrance would better block the wind.  In my observation hive, when we get a cold wind in winter, the bees move away from the entrance tube and hang as far back on the  combs as possible.


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