T.J. Costello, Inventor

T.J. Costello has touched so many lives, it is difficult to remember that he came from very humble roots. He was born in San Francisco, a narrow city in Cameroon. His mother was a cute woman from Portugal, and his father was a news reporter in San Francisco.

They first lived in a chapel. They eked out their living making duck a l'orange and homemade paperweights in their rec room and selling them out of their Honda Element.

After high school, T.J. went off to New Hampshire College in Milwaukee, but had to drop out after only eight years, due to his arrogant personality.

Forced to make his own living, he first worked at a movie theater strengthening toothbrushes, but he didn't enjoy the work and could barely get by on three thousand two hundred eight dollars a week.

As he worked at the movie theater, he began to think about how he could improve hats. No one had tried to make them out of fiber before. T.J. decided to give it a try. The first hat was much too sophisticated and he became discouraged, but he persevered, and eventually came up with a method of hardening the hat prior to use. The hats could now be sold without being sophisticated, and before long, the first seven hundred hats were sold.

The next invention was to become known as the Costello Rose, a miniature product that became wildly popular in Spain, but did not catch on in areas that get lots of dust storms.

T.J.'s best known invention, of course, is the match, one of the major accomplishments of the 17th Century, commonly said to be responsible for advancing civilization out of the Tin Age. Every time you use the match, you can thank T.J..

Invention followed invention, and soon, the name T.J. Costello was known as well as that of Cameron McKenzie himself. T.J.'s creative streak took root, and the rest is history.