> I don't know how the "Flow" is intended to work...

Not as complicated as one might think - if you click on the "patent" link I
included in the first post in this thread, you can see the drawings, which
show plastic fully-drawn comb where each vertical column of cells is formed
in two halves, split down the middle.  A camshaft arrangement at the top
moves the left half of each column of cells up, while moving the right half
of each column of cells down.   The resulting "honey pachinko machine"
should allow honey of sufficiently low viscosity to run down the comb, where
it is collected in a reservoir built into the bottom of the comb, to which
the tubing is attached.  So while the design is "plausible" I think that the
primary ingredient required for success here would be "heat".  That said, a
patient man can see that honey will drip out of a very small hole, even at
mild ambient temperatures.

Given that the inventors come from Australia, one can imagine that the temps
at harvest time are hot enough to make this scheme work perfectly.  The
cooler the weather, the less likely this will happen quickly, and there is a
temperature at which one needs to crank the extractor up to 800 rpm ("Warp
factor 8, Mr. Scott...") to get one's honey out of the comb.

> I am sorry, but this type of invention is a continuation 
> in the long line of know nothing beekeeping...

This is simply unfair and cruel.
Why would the offering of a new gizmo imply that the bees would be any less
well-cared-for?
One could also toss supers of Ross Rounds or Hogg Cassettes on a hive to
avoid the problems of extracting.  Do Ross Rounds promote "know-nothing
beekeeping"?

I will defend my fellow tinkerers and inventor brethern, as without us,
everyone would still be eating their meat raw, not having learned that the
trick is to bang the rocks TOGETHER.

There is no reason to claim that the inventors are promoting anything but
"ease of use" and perhaps "lower cost" for someone with one or two hives.
Can you imagine the hassle I face, living in a one-bedroom apartment in a
Manhattan co-op and wanting to use an extractor and uncapper?  First, they
have to be stored somewhere.  Second, I have to call for my car, which is
stored deep in the bowels of subterranean New York.  Then I have to drive to
the secret site where I keep all my bulky beekeeping stuff.  Then I have to
load up the Volvo, and drive to the extracting site du jour, most often a
bar or restaurant owned by a member of our little group of a few hundred
beekeepers.  Then we have to give everything a wash, set up, check drive
belts, align the uncapper blades, and so on. NOW we can extract some honey.
When done, the process is reversed.  But it takes time and effort, and is
only practical when one has a group who can agree on a day to extract.

As a comparison, this might be a viable alternative for some folks, and I do
NOT see this as unworkable, as compared to what one would otherwise do,
unless one had the money and space for a "honey house".

There is no cause to be disdainful or hateful.  
Yes, I painted it in a humorous light, as I take nothing seriously, as it is
all just bees.  And the film clip where someone brought pancakes out to the
hive?  Come on, that was hilarious. 

But I am likely to buy one.  This is how the ball gets moved down the field,
one not-quite-ready for prime time idea after another.

Jerry, if you look at the artist renderings of the Phillips "window hive"
with the bell-pull honey harvesting, 
http://inhabitat.com/philips-unveils-sexy-concept-bee-keeping-gadget/
http://tinyurl.com/coe6uaw

...one sees wax combs, strangely tilted at about a 45-degree angle to the
horizon.  The person who drew that had zero understanding of basic bee
biology, behavior, or management.  But worse yet, the "designer" (and I use
the quotes to make clear that this person was a mere artist, and not a part
of the fine tradition of tinkering and inventing that brought us out of the
trees, and then put us back up in the sky and into space) put some pretty
flowers on the outside.  How does one plant flowers so high up without a
window that opens nearby?  Is it a good idea to have a "window box" 30
stories above the pedestrians below?   More to the point, was the designer
aware of the average velocity of the laminar air flow around the sides of
most tall buildings?  I doubt that the entrance would be even approachable
in many possible installations, and you can know with certainly that I have
installed a good number of observation hives around the city and dealt with
this interesting little physics problem first hand.

But the takes-the-cake example of charlatanism has to be this:
http://www.naturalbeekeepingtrust.org/sun-hive-biodynamic-initiative-0
http://tinyurl.com/8o3xfpa

Yep, it is a skep!  And it hangs from something, and the promoters are
trying to link it to Biodynamic beekeeping, or as we Germans call it,
"Steinerism".
I can't imagine a better example of enforced "leave alone" beekeeping by
well-intentioned but clueless "know-nothing" hipsters. 

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