I am looking for information on Edmund C. Porter, the inventor of the Porter bee escape.  When I began keeping bees, there were still some who used the Porter bee escape.  Does anybody still use them?  In looking through the archives at Cornell it seems that in the 1890’s there was quite a competition for making the best bee escape.  Edmund sold his escapes for 20 cent... 130 years later they sell for $4.00.  

I am also interested in the origin of the oval hole in the inner cover that the escape was placed in.  Was there an oval hole before Porter’s introduction of his escape or was it created to facilitate the escape?  Although I found his obit in Lewiston, Illinois, I found no picture of him.  Does one exist?

Edmund learned beekeeping from his father, Rufus.  Do they have any other place in the history of beekeeping?  Edmund died in 1911, but I found no mention of him in Pellett’s history of American beekeeping from 1938.

Any info or leads would be appreciated.

Larry Krengel
Marengo, IL

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