h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I met the man who invented the first weed eater many years ago around 1970 in Louisville, Kentuky at the International Farm & Machinery Trade Show. His name is Bill Bellus and he is from Texas. He had a small field of trees that he cut the weeds by either pulling or with the old hand cutters. One day he was getting his car washed and in a moment of clarity saw the wave of the future. The plastic string that was washing his car just might cut his weeds. He had a sidewalk edger at home and he removed the metal blade from the machine. Next he punched a few holes in a pop corn can and ran heavy plastic fishing string in and out of holes. The can was then bolted onto the side walk edger and he ran the electric cord to some trees. It cut so easy he started making the machines and selling them for $650 retail. For years after that he improved and changed the first weed eater which was the name he came up with. He sold enough to place an add on the super bowl a few yeras later. Sold so many some big companies bought him out for lots of money. It was a much better way to do the weeding chores. Now hundreds of millions of people use a weed eater weekly. The best improvement I have seen in all this time is called Super Weed Cutter. You can see this at www.superweedcutter.com It is the only head in the world that will cut big weeds, light brush, and still cut grass. Whats even better is the trimmings do not get on your clothes and the stainless steel blades can last a whole season for the average person.

The man who invented the Weed Eater is GEORGE BALLAS,this man now has
his very own website called:zipworld.com He sold his company sometime
in 1977.BEFORE he did so,he had created a real doozie of an electric Weed Eater!His FIRST creation was a GAS one basically sold to people that had parks or golf courses to maintain,this GAS one was rather heavy for some of us average folk and he knew this...later creating a
easier to manage tool!!! I own 3 of this particular model he created,
ONE of them was my mother's which she personally purchased back in 1980.The other 2 are ones I located at a thrift store.I just got new
motor brushes put into them since this is all that was the matter with them! The thing weighs no more than about 7 pounds,has a manual line advance(just pull out more line!),easily unscrewable "cap" to
gain access to the spool and the trigger handle is unique in itself!
IT IS SLIGHTLY CURVED-SHAPED LIKE A BANANA SORT OF;AND HAS FINGER GRIPS!!!AND YES,THE THING'S GREEN AND YELLOW!!!OH,AND THE METAL "POLE"
BETWEEN THE FIRST HANDLE AND THE MOTOR IS MADE OF STEEL!!!NOT OF EASILY DENTED ALUMINUM!

Guess what nickname he gave to this particular model?...NEEDIE!!!
Needie was built with quality and durability in mind...that's what
George Ballas desired to achieve...quality and durability!

I've E-Mailed him in the past and he tells me that he wished now that he NEVER sold his company,because; like me, he sees the shoddy merchan
dise that Weed Eaters Inc. offers now days!Cheaply made junk as far as I'm concerned! The quality items ceased to exist sometime after 1980...I guess that's when the factory finally ran out of their stockpile of NEEDIES!I know George Ballas manufactured oodles and oodles of these NEEDIES...how many is really unknown...but, I was just
a small child when the things first hit the market!I seen TV ads on them as well!

Do you know WHERE I can get ahold of any video tape containing TV commercials involving Weed Eaters.In 1976,during a Super Bowl Game,
Weed Eaters Inc. aired its FIRST TV commercial!I'd like to get ahold of it!

Thankyou for any help you can give me here.
Rachel

PS>>>I do not mind E-Mails>>> [email protected]