Weed Eater is a

string trimmer A string trimmer, also known by the portmanteau strimmer and the trademarks Weedwacker, Weed Eater and Whipper Snipper, is a garden power tool for cutting grass, small weeds, and groundcover. It uses a whirling monofilament line instead of a b ...

company founded in 1971 in

Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

by George C. Ballas, Sr., the inventor of the device. The idea for the Weed Eater trimmer came to him from the spinning nylon bristles of an automatic car wash. He thought that he could come up with a similar technique to protect the bark on trees that he was trimming around. His company was eventually bought by

Emerson Electric Emerson Electric Co. is an American multinational corporation headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. The Fortune 500 company delivers a range of engineering services, manufactures industrial automation equipment, climate control systems, and p ...

and merged with

Poulan Poulan is a brand name of the Sweden, Swedish manufacturer Husqvarna AB. History Poulan was founded as Poulan Saw Co. in 1946 by chainsaw pioneer Claude Poulan in Shreveport, Louisiana. Purchased in late 1950s or early '60 by the Beaird Company, ...

. Poulan/Weed Eater was later purchased by

Electrolux Electrolux AB () is a Swedish Multinational corporation, multinational home appliance manufacturer, headquartered in Stockholm. It is consistently ranked the world's second largest appliance maker by units sold, after Whirlpool Corporation, Whi ...

, which spun off the outdoors division as

Husqvarna AB The Husqvarna Group () is a Swedish manufacturer of outdoor power products including robotic lawn mowers, chainsaws, trimmers, brushcutters, cultivators, and garden tractors. Founded as a firearms manufacturer in 1689, it is one of the old ...

in 2006. Inventor Ballas was the father of champion

ballroom dancer Ballroom dance is a set of European partner dances, which are enjoyed both socially and competitively around the world, mostly because of its performance and entertainment aspects. Ballroom dancing is also widely enjoyed on stage, film, and tel ...

Corky Ballas and the grandfather of ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Strictly Come Dancing (widely known as Dancing with the Stars)'' is an international television franchise based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing,'' itself a successor to the show ''Come Dancing'' (1950–1998) ...

'' dancer

Mark Ballas Mark Alexander Ballas Jr. (born May 24, 1986) is an American dancer, choreographer, singer-songwriter, musician, and actor. From 2007 to 2022, Ballas was a professional dancer on the ABC dance competition program ''Dancing with the Stars'', w ...

. George Ballas died on June 25, 2011. Husqvarna revived the Weed Eater brand in the US in 2023 and Canada in 2024

References

External links

Weed Eater official siteCorporate websiteOther goods from company
{{Power tool manufacturers Agricultural machinery manufacturers of the United States Brands that became generic