A millionare inventor and huckster, Ron Popeil is better known by his company and products' name, Ronco. His television sales techniques might be considered the origin of Infomercials.
Born: 1935
Some of his better-known products:
Popeil Pocket Fisherman
Mr. Microphone
Inside-The-Shell Egg Scrambler
GLH-9 Hair in a Can spray
Drain Buster
Electric Food Dehydrator
Showtime Rotisserie and Barbeque - "Set it, and forget it!"
"But wait, there's more!"
Popeil learned his trade from his father Samuel who was also an inventor/carney salesmen of kitchen-related gadgets such as the Chop-o-matic (later called the Vegomatic - "It slices, it dices, it makes julienne fries!"). The invention of the Vegomatic caused a problem which marked the
entrance of Ron Popeil into television. It turned out that the Vegomatic
was too efficient at chopping vegetables, and that it was impractical for
salesman to carry the vegetables they needed to chop. The solution was
to tape the demonstration. Once the demonstration was taped, it was a
short step to broadcasting the demonstration as a commericial.
External Links:
http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventors/popeil.htm (an interesting, and short biography of the man)