Administrative History

The Rayo Incubator Co. Inc. was established in 1908 by John McKeen, F. W. Arndt, E. S. Beaty, and Lou Vaughn in Blair, Nebraska, for the production of artificial egg incubators to hatch chicks. On May 3, 1910, Louis N. Porter, an assignor to the Rayo Incubator Co., received U.S. Patent No. 0956600 for "new and useful Improvements in Incubators." In 1912, the company built a new factory to produce at least 5,000 incubators per year in Omaha. At that time, C. W. Chestnut was the president and D. M. Davis was secretary and treasurer.

Many advertisement from the Nebraska and regional newspapers similarly advertise the benefits of a Rayo Incubator toward making a profit from incubation and chicken-raising. Generally, Rayo touts its superiority in time and fuel saving, easy egg management, cleanliness, and safety among other attributes.

External sources:

Missouri Valley (Iowa) Times. , December 3, 1908, page 7, available online from the Library of Congress's Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers, https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84038335/1908-12-03/ed-1/seq-7/

"Incubator Factory Has Moved to Omaha." Omaha Daily Bee. November 12, 1912, page 7, available online from the Library of Congress's Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers, https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn99021999/1912-11-12/ed-1/seq-7/

"Poultry, Eggs, and Supplies." Evening World-Herald (Omaha). February 9, 1914, page 9.

Advertisement for Rayo Incubator, Farmer's Wife (St. Paul, Minn.), January 1, 1912, page 29, available online from the Illinois Digital Newspaper Collections at the University of Illinois Library, https://idnc.library.illinois.edu/?a=d&d=FFW19120101.2.54.3

Louis N. Porter, assignor to the Rayo Incubator Company, "Incubator", U.S. Patent No. 0956600, United States Patent and Trademark Office, https://ppubs.uspto.gov/dirsearch-public/print/downloadPdf/0956600

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