Edwin F. Peterson

Edwin F. Peterson (December 14, 19091981) was an American Inventor and businessman. Raised in Kewanee, Illinois, he was a first-generation United States citizen, born of Swedish Immigrants. Edwin worked in patternmaking, beekeeping, and local government, while he started his own business, Martin Engineering, which has grown into a leading international company to improve bulk-materials handling in basic industries.
Early life
Edwin Franklin Peterson, the son of Swedish immigrants Lawrence Franklin Peterson (1879-1966) and Emma (Matson) Peterson (1884-1915), was born in Kewanee, Henry County, Illinois December 14, 1909. His father, Lawrence, was raised on a family farm in Malmö, Sweden, during the late 1880s. From a young age, Lawrence learned how to keep bees and produce honey in the family’s apiary. In school, he became apprenticed in pattern making. At the turn of the 20th Century, Lawrence and his younger brother Mauritz (1886-1970) joined the many immigrants making their way to the United States. Edwin's father, Lawrence, soon began his own patternmaking business in his basement, while growing the family apiary in the Kewanee area. Edwin, as a child in Kewanee, observed his father working in the apiary and in patternmaking, later helping with the bees and in the patternmaking business. In high school, Edwin took classes in drafting and patternmaking. Upon graduation, he worked in his father’s basement producing patterns for Walworth Foundry, Kewanee Boiler Corporation, Kewanee Corporation, and other large manufacturers in the Kewanee, Illinois area. The honey became so well known at the fair that the Illinois Governor would personally come to the booth each year and place an order for 50 pounds of Peterson Honey. and 1933, Secretary for 1934 and 1935, and three terms as President in the early 1940s. He also was appointed by the governor of Illinois to head the State Bee-Keepers' Commission in 1942. Known as "Honey Peterson," Edwin spoke to clubs and other interested parties about beekeeping.
Involvement in Local Government
Edwin became active in local government beginning in the early 1940s, while working as a beekeeper in his aviary and as a patternmaker at Wm. Demmler & Bros. before establishing Martin Engineering. In 1943, he was appointed to the post of City Treasurer of Kewanee, and the following year he was elected by the city council to the position of city clerk. He also served as Commissioner of Water and Light, Street Commissioner, and acting Mayor of Kewanee for nearly seven months to complete the term of Mayor Fred J. Brown, who resigned to enter active duty as captain in the Army during the Korean War in October, 1951. In addition, after moving to Neponset, Illinois, from Kewanee, Edwin was elected Mayor of the village of Neponset on April 16, 1957, and he served as mayor until 1968. He also was elected President of the Board of Trustees of Neponset April 18, 1961 and April 24, 1965. He was then elected by the stockholders as President of Whaples and Farmers State Bank in Neponset from 1970 to 1976. This extensive involvement in local government lead to Edwin's election in a nonpartisan election on November 18, 1969, as one of one hundred sixteen delegates, two for each of the state senatorial districts, to serve as delegate from the 36th Senatorial District on the Sixth Constitutional Convention. The Con-Con officially convened on December 8, 1969, and adopted the 1970 Illinois Constitution on September 3, 1970. Edwin was one of the fourteen members of the Local Government Committee, serving along with Richard M. Daley under Chairman John C. Parkhurst and Vice Chairman Philip J. Carey.
Creation of Martin Engineering
Working in a foundry, Edwin had come to observe the use of hammer force to release products from molds. He began to theorize ways to use vibration in order to release the products with less destructive force and noise and more efficiency. where it has grown into a global corporation that has developed hundreds of products, with over 130 patents and trademarks worldwide, to make bulk-materials handling cleaner, safer, and more productive.
Edwin F. Peterson Life Achievements
* Secretary, Vice President, and President of Illinois State Beekeepers' Association
* City Clerk, Treasurer, Road Commissioner, Commissioner of Water and Light, and acting Mayor of Kewanee, Illinois
* Two terms Mayor of Neponset, Illinois
* Delegate from 36th Senatorial District to the 1970 Illinois Constitutional Convention
* First patent for the ball-type rotary vibrator and multiple ground-breaking patents in vibratory industry
* Martin Engineering, the company he founded in 1944 that now holds strong global presence in bulk materials handling industry with business units / offices in over 20 countries
Death
He died in 1981.

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