In the course of the beekeeping work of this Department we have had a number of hives weighed at regular intervals of about a week by means of a steelyard and tripod, and two permanently standing on platform weighing machine and weighed every day. The information obtained from these has been of great value in showing the seasonal variation in activity, the periods of honey flow, and the effect on the hives of the presence of enormous numbers of hornets in the late summer.

There were, however, many problems, such as the daily periods of activity and honey-collecting, the effect of high midday temperature, etc., that could only be dealt with by more frequent weighings, and it was felt that a machine to record continuously the weight of the hive by means of a rotating clock drum and pen would be a most valuable instrument of research.