The History of Commercial Beekeeping
Founder of Commercial Beekeeping
Petro Prokopovych – Invented the world’s first frame hive, which allowed an easier honey harvest. Another invention was a wooden partition with apertures passable only by worker bees, which we now call a “queen excluder”.
First Commercial Beekeeper in the USA
Moses Quinby – The first commercial beekeeper in the USA, with 1200 colonies. Invented the Bee smoker with bellows in 1873 which was the first modern bee smoker. Author of numerous articles and several books on beekeeping.
The langstroth beehive was patented in 1852 by Lorenzo Lorraine Langstroth. The design introduced a new method of beekeeping which was impossible previously to have movable frames and quickly manage a hive.
Commercial Honey Industry
Invented by Franz Hruschka was a simple machine for extracting honey from the comb by means of centrifugal force. It allowed for frames to be quickly returned back to the hive, undamaged but empty.
The Manual of the Apirary
Albert John Cook wrote and published “The Manual of the Apiary”. It presents all improvements and discoveries in apiculture for the practical man and scientist.
The Walter T. Kelley Company
Walter T. Kelley and his wife Ida started “The Walter T. Kelley Company” in 1926. He created his own versions of products such as ventilated bee gloves, wired foundation, bee blowers, and plastic bottom boards.