Prototype of the "weed eater"

In 1971, George Ballas was inspired by the spinny thingamajigs in an automatic car wash to apply a similar principle to cutting grass. Nobody wanted his idea, so he started selling his “Weed Eaters” himself. By the time he sold the company in 1976 it was a $40-million-a-year business.

Text credit 22 Words.  Photo credit Houston Chronicle/AP, via an obituary of Mr. Ballas in My San Antonio.