[GH85Carrera]

Back in 1963 we moved to Maxwell, AFB in Montgomery. AL. They have a minimum security federal prison on base, and have the prisoners get "on the job training" in yard care, and golf course management. So all the yards on base were mowed on for free, even the base housing yards. For a kid that mowed yards for money, competing against free is impossible. The one task the prisoners did not do was edge the yards. So my brother and I split the cost of a 3.5 HP Sears bladed edger, and went door to door. Dad gave us a loan that we had to repay 100%. Most yards had not been edged in years, so we had a ton of business. Lots of edging to do.

Inevitably someone would ask us to edge up around the bushes. The blade could be rotated 90 degrees and trim the grass around the bushes. On occasion wack, the blade got too close to the bush, and it was cut off. Oops. We would just stuff the top of the bush into the ground and pretend it was always that way. I don't know why that bush died!

We got to thinking, and my brother thought up removing the metal blade, and looping a piece of parachute cord around the center shaft, and clamping down the large washer. With knots in the end of the cord, we just invented the Weed Eater. It worked great, and did a perfect job up under and around the bushes where the Bermuda grass would grow. It worked great against curbs were grass came up to. We used the parachute cord as much as the metal blade.

Of course we had no ideas at all of a patent, we were just teenagers trying to compete against free mowing. If only we knew about patents.