Happy Birthday Weed Eater
Happy Birthday Weed Eater!
This is the 35'th spring that has sprung since you made lawn care easier for all of us.
The Weed Eater was invented by George Ballas, a real estate agent living in Houston, Texas.
Ballas got the idea in the late 1960's while watching the spinning brushes of a car wash. In 1971 Ballas tied some fishing line to a popcorn can, bolted the can to a lawn edger, and presto ... the first Weed Eater was born. Eventually Ballas and a machinist friend refined the machine into a saleable product. Ballas started the Weed Eater company in 1972.
The Weed Eater story fully demonstrates the hubris of the phrase, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!"
Before the Weed Eater, companies were fixated on blade trimmers. Each year a feature was added: a motor, wheels, a full height extension handle, etc... And they all worked; they weren't broke.
No company managed to think, "Maybe we ought to stop thinking about better trimmers and start thinking about better ways to cut grass."
In order for that to have happened companies had to be willing to believe their blade trimmers were broken, even though they did exactly what they were designed to do. It takes an Unusual Mind to think like that - especially when big dollars are at stake.
Thank you George Ballas for giving us 35 years of easy trimming and a great example of why things that ain't broke should be fixed.
Document Number: 0064168E.Media Link: Weed Eater.
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