Bee space

In modern beekeeping, a Langstroth hive is any vertically modular bee hive that accepts frames that are locally referred to as "Langstroth" frames. The actual dimensions of so-called Langstroth frames differ by region or manufacturer. These modern Langstroth hives have little in common with Rev. L. L. Langstroth's bee hive that was originally patented in 1852 and manufactured until approximately 1920.

Historically, a "Langstroth hive" is the hive that was designed by Rev. L. L. Langstroth in 1852. The historical Langstroth hive had a portico entrance, integrated floor and non-removable brood box, a single removable honey box (using the same frame size as the brood box) that sat inside an outer box that extended from the brood box, and a hinged roof. L. L. Langstroth's famous book on beekeeping went through several editions until about 1900, but in all of them the hive that is illustrated is the same as the original design. The original Langstroth frame dimensions are no longer in use.

Similar designs is the standard beehive used in many parts of the world for beekeeping. The advantage of this hive is that the bees build honeycomb into frames, which can be moved with ease. The frames are designed to prevent bees from attaching honeycombs where they would either connect adjacent frames, or connect frames to the walls of the hive. The movable frames allow the beekeeper to manage the bees in a way which was formerly impossible.

Other inventors, notably François Huber in 1789, had designed hives with frames (the so-called leafe or book hive), but Langstroth's hive was a practical movable frame hive, which overcame the tendency of the bees to fill empty spaces with comb and to cement smaller spaces together with propolis. In contrast to August von Berlepsch's frame-movable side-opened hive (May 1852, Germany), Langstroth's hive was top-opened, as was the Bevan top-bar hive (1848, UK). These combined adaptations led to the Langstroth hive design being preferred by beekeepers over all others, and his hive is used throughout the world.

In 1851, the Reverend Lorenzo Lorraine Langstroth (1810–1895), a native of Philadelphia, noted that when his bees had less than 9 mm (3/8 inch) of space available in which to move around, they would neither build comb into that space nor cement it closed with propolis. This measurement is called "bee space". During the summer of 1851, Langstroth applied the concept to keeping the lid free on a top-bar hive, but in autumn of the same year, he realized that the "bee space" could be applied to a newly designed frame which would prevent the bees from attaching honeycomb to the inside of the hive box. This attachment of comb to the hive wall was a difficulty with frameless designs, such as Dzierżon's frameless movable-comb hive (1835). US Patent 9300 was issued to Langstroth on October 25, 1852, and remained valid despite numerous attempts to challenge it based on its alleged use of prior art. However Langstroth was in contact with Dzierzon who used successfully the ⁵⁄₁₆ inch (7.9 mm) groove to move bars in his hives much earlier. The presently so-called "bee space" had been incorporated by Berlepsch following Dzierzon’s discoveries, from the years 1835-1848, into Berlepsh's frame arrangement (Bienen-Zeitung, May 1852). Langstroth made many other discoveries in beekeeping and contributed greatly to the industrialization of modern beekeeping.

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