Background
Ballas was born in Ruston, Louisiana. He was the son of Charles Ballas and Maria (née Lymnaos), who were Greek immigrants.
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George Ballas
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He invented the first string trimmer, known as the Weed Eater in 1971. He enlisted in the United States Army at the age of 17 in 1942 during World World War II and was a bombardier. Ballas would later serve in the Korean War.
He had five children, Corky Ballas, George Ballas, Junior., Michelle Ballas Pritchard, Maria Ballas Jamail, and Lillian Ballas Miles.
He had six other grandchildren. Ballas got the idea for the trimmer while driving through an automatic car wash, where the rotating brushes gave him an idea.
Using a tin can laced with fishing line and an edge trimmer, he tried out his idea, which worked. After some refinements, he shopped it around to several tool makers, who all rejected his invention.
He went on to develop the garden tool himself.
The first year, sales were over a half million dollars. By 1977 they were $80 million, and Ballas sold his company the following year to Emerson Electric Company.
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Born
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Died
June 25, 2011 (aged 85) -
Nationality
United States