{"id":13640,"date":"2024-01-10T13:05:52","date_gmt":"2024-01-10T18:05:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/i-houston.com\/?p=13640"},"modified":"2024-01-10T13:05:54","modified_gmt":"2024-01-10T18:05:54","slug":"how-george-ballas-invented-the-string-trimmer-in-houston","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/i-houston.com\/en\/eternal-how-george-ballas-invented-the-string-trimmer-in-houston","title":{"rendered":"How George Ballas Invented the String Trimmer in Houston"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For centuries, gardeners trimmed lawns by hand or with manual mowers until George Ballas from Houston invented the Weed Eater trimmer. This innovator significantly simplified the process of mowing grass, which is why he was nicknamed the “Weed King.” Read more  about the life and invention of Ballas at i-houston<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Entrepreneur and teacher<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

George Ballas was born on June 28, 1925, in Ruston, Louisiana, to a family of Greek immigrants who owned a restaurant. At 17, George enlisted in the army and served as a bombardier during World War II. Later, he was engaged in the Korean War.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After his military service, Ballas worked as a dance instructor. In addition, he traveled to various cities to increase the revenue of dance studios. In the late 1950s, he moved to Houston and opened his own studio, Dance City USA. Having 120 instructors and covering 43,000 square feet, it was recognized as the largest dance studio in the world. In 1964, Ballas sold this business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interestingly, George\u2019s wife, Maria Louisa, was a well-known flamenco dancer who appeared in a number of films. Her instructor was Carmen Amaya herself, a Spanish dancer, singer, actress and legendary flamenco performer. The couple’s son, Corky Ballas, became a ballroom dancing champion. Their grandson, Mark Ballas, is also a professional dancer who began his career in London. He gained popularity when performing on the TV show Dancing with the Stars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moreover, George contributed to the construction of the 13-story Hilton Houston Westchase hotel, which opened in 1980. He then worked as an associate professor at Rice University, where he taught entrepreneurship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Weed Eater<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One day, when one of Ballas’s employees was trimming the grass edges with scissors, he was suddenly bitten by a snake. It was then that Ballas began to think that there had to be a more effective way to deal with grass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once, while waiting in a car wash, George wondered if the principle of a rotating brush for washing cars could be applied to cut grass and weeds in areas a lawnmower couldn’t reach. He conducted an experiment with a fishing line, which he pulled through holes in a tin can attached to a rotating trimmer. The experimenter discovered that the spinning wires can easily cut through the grass. Soon, he created a device based on this operating principle. Thus, the string trimmer was invented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After some modifications, Ballas offered his invention to several garden tool manufacturers, but they all rejected the request. So, the innovator decided to develop the trimmer himself. In 1971, he founded the Weed Eater company in Houston and named the invention after it. Garden trimmers made a big splash in lawn care.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sales skyrocketed thanks to TV advertising. In the first year, trimmers were sold for half a million dollars. By 1977, this figure had grown to $80 million. Some models were equipped with an internal combustion engine, while others were powered by electricity, which required long extension cords. It is surprising that the original gas garden trimmer cost more than most trimmers of the 21st century. In 1978, George sold his company to Emerson Electric. Under the terms of the contract, he was not allowed to disclose the amount he received, even to his family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since then, the design and function of trimmers have almost not changed. The Weed Eater model became a source of inspiration for further achievements in lawn care. Undoubtedly, even a cheap Weed Eater is a much better option than a set of pruning shears.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For centuries, gardeners trimmed lawns by hand or with manual mowers until George Ballas from Houston invented the Weed Eater trimmer. This innovator significantly simplified the process of mowing grass, which is why he was nicknamed the “Weed King.” Read more  about the life and invention of Ballas at i-houston. Entrepreneur and teacher George Ballas […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":323,"featured_media":13514,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4819],"tags":[5961,5962,5969,5964,5963,5965,5970,5968,5960,5967,5966],"moimportance":[35],"motype":[4825],"moformat":[88],"class_list":["post-13640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-innovator","tag-ballas-offered-his-invention-to-several-garden-tool-manufacturers","tag-but-they-all-rejected-the-request","tag-dance-city-usa","tag-entrepreneur-and-teacher","tag-garden-trimmers-made-a-big-splash-in-lawn-care","tag-gardeners-trimmed-lawns-by-hand-or-with-manual-mowers-until-george-ballas-from-houston-invented-the-weed-eater-trimmer","tag-georges-wife","tag-he-moved-to-houston-and-opened-his-own-studio","tag-how-george-ballas-invented-the-string-trimmer-in-houston","tag-in-the-late-1950s","tag-this-innovator-significantly-simplified-the-process-of-mowing-grass","moimportance-retranslyacziya-v-agregatory","motype-eternal","moformat-copywriting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-houston.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-houston.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-houston.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-houston.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/323"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-houston.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13640"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/i-houston.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13640\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13641,"href":"https:\/\/i-houston.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13640\/revisions\/13641"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-houston.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/i-houston.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-houston.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-houston.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13640"},{"taxonomy":"moimportance","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-houston.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/moimportance?post=13640"},{"taxonomy":"motype","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-houston.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/motype?post=13640"},{"taxonomy":"moformat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i-houston.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/moformat?post=13640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}