In 1838, Johann Dzierzon, a Polish Roman Catholic priest and beekeeper devised the first practical movable-comb beehive, allowing for the manipulation of individual honeycombs without destroying the structure of the hive. This idea was further developed by L. L. Langstroth, an American pastor and beekeeper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania who patented his beehive design in 1852. These frames were a major improvement over the old method of beekeeping using allowed tree trunks and skeps. However, no method had been found to easily extract the honey.