WHAT DO YOU KNOW about Texas Inventors?

WHAT DO YOU KNOW about Texas inventors? There were some who were tinkers and struck it rich quite by surprise, others were creative thinkers finding solutions to problems, and my last example was man who inherited millions from his father but also made a name for himself. ________ In 1829 Texas was still part of Mexico. Gail Borden Jr. joined his father who printed the newspaper in San Felipe, an early Texas settlement. The father-son team printed the original Texas Declaration of Independence. But Borden Jr. was also and inventive thinker. He created a horse-drawn wagon that was also a boat. More importantly he found a way to evaporate 60 percent of the water from milk, resulting in milk that didn’t go bad in the Texas heat. This was a boon for a society that didn’t yet have refrigeration. Much later sugar was added to the vacuum sealed milk and it lasts for years. I think it is still on grocery store shelves today with the name “Eagle Brand Condensed Milk.” ________ Native Texan Scott Joplin learned piano from a German immigrant. As a teen he played gigs in honky-tonks in East Texas. His style was called Rag. “Maple Leaf Rag” was his composition demonstrating his unique talent and music sophistication. It became the most popular Ragtime piece ever published. It is said to define the era and capture the spirit of early 20th century America. ________ Have you ever wondered who invented White Out? In 1950, Dallas-born secretary Bette Nesmith was not a good typist. She invented a water-based concoction that matched the color of the office stationery, called it “Mistake Out” and sold it to other secretaries and finally to business supply stores. She earned a patent for her liquid paper and shortly was producing 500 bottles a minute, YES a minute in a Dallas warehouse. The next year over 25 million bottles were produced and in 1979, Bette sold her invention to Gillette for $47.5 million. It’s now on the shelves as White-Out by Bic. ________ In Washington D. C. the Smithsonian has the first frozen margarita machine. This machine was invented in Texas in 1971! Dallas restauranteur Mariano Martinez tossed out his blender and modified a soft-serve ice cream machine to churn out a frozen version of this favorite tequila drink. Now his machine is a must for any respectable Tex-Mex restaurant anywhere serving margaritas. ________ Howard Hughes Jr, a rich kid from Houston, is known today as an eccentric hermit. He inherited his father’s oilfield equipment empire. In Hollywood in the 1920s he attempted movie making but his interest was aviation. In 1938 he set a record flying around the world in three days, nineteen hours and seventeen minutes. He returned to Houston and was greeted with a downtown parade and a banquet where the mayor named an airport for him. He is quoted as saying, “I’m not a paranoid deranged millionaire. I’m a damned Billionaire.” Carole Sikes 5/2021 Ref. Yesterday’s America, an online publication by Arcadia Publishing, Inc.