Tuesday, April 26, 2011

ANSWER: Inventions

Mike Nesmith

Bette Claire Graham (23 March 1924 – 12 May 1980) was an American typist, commercial artist, the inventor of Liquid Paper, and mother of musician and producer Michael Nesmith.

It was very difficult to erase mistakes made by early electric typewriters, which caused problems for Graham. In order to make extra money she used her talent painting holiday windows at the bank. She realized, as she said, "with lettering, an artist never corrects by erasing, but always paints over the error. So I decided to use what artists use. I put some tempera water-based paint in a bottle and took my watercolor brush to the office. I used that to correct my mistakes."

Graham secretly used her white correction paint for five years, making some improvements with help from her son's chemistry teacher at Thomas Jefferson High School in Dallas. Some bosses admonished her against using it, but coworkers frequently sought her "paint out." She eventually began marketing her typewriter correction fluid as "Mistake Out" in 1956. The name was later changed to Liquid Paper when she began her own company.

Matt: CORRECT
Record: 348-306

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