Weed Eater Line

Inventor of Weed Eater Started a Revolution

This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

George Ballas of Houston, Texas, lived a long life. He was a businessman and property developer. A university lecturer and author. A dancer and dance studio owner whose son Corky and grandson Mark followed in his footsteps into the dance world.

And Mr. Ballas was the inventor of the Weed Eater.

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The man who found an easier way for people to cut grass and weeds died in Houston on June twenty-fifth. He was eighty-five years old.

George Ballas was born in Louisiana. He joined the military at seventeen. He served in World War Two and the Korean War. After the military, he became a dance teacher and executive in the dance school industry.

In the nineteen fifties, he built a dance studio of his own in Houston. People called it the biggest in the world. Dance City USA had one hundred twenty teachers. Mr. Ballas sold the studio in nineteen sixty- four.

By the early seventies, he was on to the next big thing. The idea had come to him at a car wash. He watched the needle-like bristles of the brushes as they went round and round against his car. Could a similar idea be used to cut grass in places out of reach of someone pushing a lawn mower?

To find out, he placed lengths of fishing line through holes in a tin can. He attached the can to the spinning part of a motorized grass edger. The result? A revolution for millions of people who cut grass for a living or just to keep their neighbors happy.

His invention grew into a company which he later sold.

George Ballas became known as the "Weed King." As he once told the Houston Chronicle, "A Weed Eater comes along once in a lifetime."

Today the idea lives on in a new generation of string trimmers and edgers that people often call weed whackers.

The noise may not be the nicest, but neither is a loud mower. Trimmers work well in corners and along walls and fences. And, as weed expert Bill Curran at Penn State University points out, they avoid the use of chemicals. Or the labor of pulling weeds by hand.

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Of course, in the wrong hands, a weed whacker can do damage like any other power tool. The high-speed cutting line can whack pieces out of trees, wood fences, stone surfaces or birdbaths.

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In nineteen fifty-two, George Ballas married Maria Louisa Marulanda, a flamenco dancer and film actress. They were together for fifty-nine years until his death.

Weed Eater RTE115C 15-Inch 4.5 Amp Twist-N-Edge Electric String ...

I purchased this weed eater a few months back. It is very powerful for an electric, so that is a positive. The worst part (at least for me) has been the mechanism which delivers more string when needed. The other negative is the "trimmer guard" which you attach when you are assembling it. (Not the big plastic shield that prevents grass from flying everywhere, but the little metal piece that goes right in front of the spinning head.) It's very difficult to get that off after you've assembled it, so I recommend you leave it off completely. In my case I couldn't get it off, so I took some tin snips to it and cut it off. It serves no purpose. The main problem with the feeder mechanism is that I almost always found myself with about 1-2 inches of string coming out of the head. This was so frustrating I wanted to literally throw the weed eater off a cliff. I was almost to the point where I was never going to use it again. That's when I tried some different string. I went to Lowes and purchased Heavy Duty 2mm (.080") titanium trimmer line. Thank the Lord that solved my problem! This weed eater is now an unstoppable CUTTING MACHINE and I love it. I would give this product 5 stars if it came with this string. But because it gave me so many problems before cutting off the guard and switching the string, it gets a 3. Lightweight, efficient, and exceptionally easy to use, the Weed Eater RTE115C 15-Inch 4.5 Amp Twist-N-Edge Electric String Trimmer helps you create and maintain a beautifully manicured lawn and yard. This user-friendly tool boasts innovative features that give you greater control for more precise results, and a robust electric motor for plenty of power. Sturdy, Flexible Design for Trimming and Edging JobsDesigned to make trimming and edging a lawn quicker and easier than using hand tools, the RTE115C includes a Twist-N-Edge shaft that gives you the flexibility to take on even hard-to-reach areas. Access narrow places under shrubs or in corners your mower just can't get to, dismantle tough weeds and tall grass along fences, or clear up stubborn growth on your driveway. The tool's 15-inch cutting path makes it easier to get more done in less time. And with just the push of one button, the RTE115C converts from a trimmer to an edger for maximum convenience. Cost-Effective, Electric Operation Saves Money and Protects the EnvironmentPowered by a 4.5 Amp electric engine, this string trimmer offers plenty of power to get the job done in an efficient package.

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