The string trimmer was introduced in the early 1970′s by George Ballas of Houston, Texas. He stumbled upon the idea while getting his car cleaned in an automatic wash. As he watched the revolving action of the cleaning brushes he came up with the idea of attaching pieces of heavy-duty fishing line to an empty popcorn can bolted to an edger.
He went on to refine the idea until he had invented the string trimmer and he dubbed his invention the “Weed Eater” because of the way it chewed up grass and weeds around trees. The brand name “Weed Eater” eventually became a generic term describing many models based on George’s original design.
George’s original idea has grown to the point that generic weed eaters are now known as a Strimmer, string trimmer, line trimmer, Weedeater, Weedwhacker or weed wacker, Weed Whip, weedy, whipper snipper (in most parts of Australia), garden trimmer, grass trimmer, or Trimmer.That’s a lot of nicknames for one product and is a testament to it’s growth and popularity.