Aberdeen Heights
Family happy hour
AUGUST 2019
Resident, inventor shares innovations
In February, Bill Hoskins, independent living resident, shared about his invention of the aluminum beer can. We were so impressed that we asked him back for the second presentation as part of our ongoing speaker’s series. This time, he talked about his invention of the Scotch Brite Pad.
Aberdeen Heights resident Bill Hoskins shares stories of his innovations.
As an employee of 3M, Bill and his team developed the Scotch Brite Pad. An engineer, most of Bill’s ideas came to him as solutions to problems he saw in day-to-day life.
The beer can invention, for example, came to him after he saw the waste of beer after his wedding because there was not a rust-free way to preserve it. His solution to that problem was the invention of the aluminum beer can, later on developing all the beer can plants and factories for Anheuser Busch. The Scotch Brite Pad was a solution to, you guessed it, hard to clean surfaces! He and his young bride had moved to an apartment. He noticed that when cleaning the counter tops, they just could not seem to clean them off well enough with the regular cloths they were using. With an idea, a bundle of nylon and many years of development, the Scotch Brite Pad came to be. A 1952 graduate of the South Dakota School of Mines, Bill attended college at a time when women were substantially outnumbered by men. He was asked if there were any women in his company or his college. Bill explained that there were, but not many. He and his fellow classmates noticed the lack of women in the school, and in the field of engineering. Their sophomore year of college, he and a few of his fraternity brothers started to go into schools, often in rural -Invention, continued on page 4
Nancy Lumpkin and family enjoyed the June happy hour. Our family happy hour had lots of residents and family and friends cool down inside on a hot day! Family happy hours are meant to be a time of friendship, fun and fellowship while you relax and enjoy each other on a weekend afternoon, listen to music and eat some light appetizers. Our June happy hour was no exception. Not to be missed was our 100-year-old birthday star, Nancy Lumpkin with family. Several volunteers and community residents joined. Jane Bollinger from our independent community was joined by her family in town from Dallas, as she celebrated a birthday, too. Dottie Gray attended as well, coming fresh out of the Senior Olympics! Go, Dottie, go! Lolita Manring was joined by her daughter and son-in-law and said -Happy hour, continued on page 2
Aberdeen Heights | A PMMA COMMUNITY
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