Bernhardt Stahmer
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Bernhardt Stahmer | |
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| Born | 1899 Omaha, Nebraska, U.S. |
| Died | 1975 |
| Occupation | Businessman, inventor |
| Employer | Industrial Electric Reels, Inc. |
| Known for | Inventing the corrugated potato chip associated with Ruffles |
Notable work | Ruffles potato chips |
Bernhardt Stahmer (1899 – 1975), known by the initial B.,[1] was a businessman and inventor from Omaha, Nebraska. He held around 70 patents, many of them related to his invention of Ruffles potato chips.[2] He also designed and manufactured electrical reels, including some used by Saturn rockets during NASA's Apollo launches, then thought to be among the largest ever produced.[3]
Life and career
Stahmer was born in Omaha to German immigrant parents. He left school at 14 to work as a clean-up boy for an electrical contractor. At 23, he founded his own contracting firm, Industrial Electrical Works.[4] The firm initially served Omaha's agricultural industries, such as slaughterhouses, grain elevators and breweries.[5] After WWII, Stahmer spun off Industrial Electrical Reels to produce heavy-duty reels for applications including deep-sea exploration, high-rise window cleaning, and rocket launches.[2][4][5] At their height, the companies reportedly employed over 200 people.[4]
In 1948, Stahmer successfully filed a patent for the "Eccentric Potato Slicer," a machine “adapted to form potato chips of a corrugated appearance and which have greater strength than heretofore. That same year, he trademarked the name Ruffles. He sold franchise operations to regional chip manufacturers before Frito-Lay purchased the Ruffles brand from him outright in 1958.[4] In addition to producing a novel shape, Stahmer claimed his ruffle-cut machine was also many times faster than conventional potato chip machines.[4][5]
Hailed as “Nebraska’s most prolific inventor,” Stahmer credited his success to reading widely and having a photographic memory.[4] Many of his other patents related to aviation,[1] and he claimed one of the earliest designs for the modern helicopter.[2]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Inventor: Main Use of Patents to Provide Jobs". Omaha World-Herald. 1964-03-08. p. 21. Retrieved 2026-07-18.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Omaha Inventor Stahmer Dies: Industry Founder". Omaha World-Herald. 1975-01-23. p. 28. Retrieved 2026-07-18.
- ↑ "Made in Omaha; Destination: Moon". Evening World-Herald. 1962-09-28. p. 8. Retrieved 2026-07-18.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 "Sun-Up Interview: Bernhardt Stahmer". Omaha World-Herald. September 20, 1969. Retrieved 7 January 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 "Profile of the Electrical Contractor: B. Stahmer". Electrical Contractor. August 1974. Pp. 32-34.
External links
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