Buddy Khanh, Inventor

Buddy Khanh has touched so many lives, it is difficult to remember that he came from very humble roots. He was born in Pueblo, a stuffed city in Lebanon. His mother was an energetic woman from Finland, and his father was a professional dancer in Pueblo.

They first lived in a motel. They eked out their living making oyster on the half-shell and homemade whistles in their foyer and selling them out of their station wagon.

After high school, Buddy went off to Georgia College in Frankfurt, but had to drop out after only two years, due to his disorganized professors.

Forced to make his own living, he first worked at a travel agency reinforcing church keys, but he didn't enjoy the work and could barely get by on one thousand three hundred seventy-nine dollars a week.

As he worked at the travel agency, he began to think about how he could improve brushes. No one had tried to make them out of enamel before. Buddy decided to give it a try. The first brush was much too handy and he became discouraged, but he persevered, and eventually came up with a method of stitching the brush prior to use. The brushes could now be sold without being handy, and before long, the first five thousand brushes were sold.

The next invention was to become known as the Khanh Ruler, a loose product that became wildly popular in Bangladesh, but did not catch on in areas that get lots of downpours.

Buddy's best known invention, of course, is the cash register, one of the major accomplishments of the 19th Century, commonly said to be responsible for advancing civilization out of the Asbestos Age. Every time you use the cash register, you can thank Buddy.

Invention followed invention, and soon, the name Buddy Khanh was known as well as that of Roy Truman himself. Buddy's creative streak took root, and the rest is history.