Hi Joe,
 
I would be interested in receiving information concerning this subject.
My electronics knowledge is a little limited, but would like to see the
description(schematic?) of the apidictor.
 
This is a very exciting idea.
 
Paul
 
Joe Hemmens wrote:
> Several years later I was lucky to come across an article by an UK
> beekeeper called Rex Boys.  It described the work of a beekeeper and
> BBC sound engineer called Eddie Woods from the late thirties to the
> late fifties.  Rex (who was a colleague of Eddie Woods and who still lectures
> about his work) very kindly sent me some articles about Eddie Woods'
> work.
> He found that an apiary of 30 colonies could be 'measured'  in about 3
> minutes
>
> Most of the development of the Apidictors was carried out in the late
> forties and early fifties and although I know little about
> electronics I reckon this was pretty clever stuff.  The Apidictor was
> produced in small numbers on a commercial basis,  but the price and
> the attitude of beekeepers prevented it from becoming a success.
>
> My guess is that today an improved Apidictor could be produced in
> quantity for little more than a couple of jars of honey.  I have
> copies of the technical descriptions of the Apidictor if anyone is
> interested.  Surely there must be a subscriber to Bee-Line who knows
> about electronics!
>
> Eddie also had an article published in New Scientist in the fifties
> describing the frequency of the worker's wingbeat.  As he describes
> it,  previous measurements had been made by measuring the wingbeat of a
> fanning worker or by mechanically restraining the bee (pinnning?!).
> These give a figure of about 180 beats per second.  Because Eddie had
> such a fine ear he could tell when playing keys on the piano and
> comparing the sound with the buzz of a bee flying in his room that
> this was incorrect.  He explained that the centre of motion of a bee
> in flight changes and hence the frequency is about 250 beats per
> second.  He later confirmed this with an oscilloscope.
>
> IBRA have copies of Eddie's work and the BBKA have put together a
> tape made from rather aged recordings of  'Sounds from the Beehive'
> including one called something like 'Murder in the Apiary'  which is
> a recording of the emergence and battle of young queens and their
> piping.
>
> I would be happy to forward any information that I have
> available about the work of Eddie Woods to who anyone shares my rather
> esoteric interest in the noises made by bees!
>
> Best wishes
>
> Joe Hemmens