Draft:Bernhardt Stahmer
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Submission declined on 27 August 2026 by Josedimaria (talk).
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Submission declined on 21 January 2026 by Pythoncoder (talk). This draft appears to contain text generated by a large language model (such as ChatGPT). You cannot use LLMs to generate article content.
Declined by Pythoncoder 7 months ago.LLM-generated pages with certain obvious signs of being machine generated may be deleted without notice. Instead, only summarize in your own words a range of independent, reliable, published sources that discuss the subject. See the advice page on large language models for more information. | |
Comment: Thanks for the suggestion! I’ve now added Newspapers.com URLs to all cited historical newspaper sources, and also added a URL to the federal court case citation for ease of verification.
- Comment: Thanks for the suggestion! I’ve now added Newspapers.com URLs to all cited historical newspaper sources, and also added a URL to the federal court case citation for ease of verification.
- Comment: Thanks for the suggestion! I’ve now added Newspapers.com URLs to all cited historical newspaper sources, and also added a URL to the federal court case citation for ease of verification.
- Comment: overattribution —pythoncoder (talk | contribs) 19:52, 21 January 2026 (UTC)
- Comment: For your references that are from historical newspapers pages, please include a URL that points to the page where you found the information. It could be either from an aggregator like Newspapers.com, or from the newspaper's on website. While it isn't necessarily required, it makes it MUCH easier for readers (and also us, the reviewers) to verify claims in your text and do further research. EatingCarBatteries (contribs | talk) 04:07, 7 January 2026 (UTC)
- Comment: Thanks for the suggestion! I’ve now added Newspapers.com URLs to all cited historical newspaper sources, and also added a URL to the federal court case citation for ease of verification.
 | This is a draft article. It is a work in progress open to editing by anyone. Please ensure core content policies are met before publishing it as a live Wikipedia article. Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL Last edited by Friendlydaddy (talk | contribs) 6 days ago. (Update)
This draft has been submitted and is currently awaiting review. |
Bernhardt "B." Stahmer (1899 – 1975) was an Omaha businessman and inventor best known for Ruffles potato chips and heavy-duty electrical reels.[1] Variously hailed by the Omaha World-Herald as Nebraska’s "most prolific"[2] or "most versatile"[3] inventor, Stahmer also held a wide range of patents related to aviation.[4]
Life and career
[edit]The son of German immigrants, Stahmer left school at 14 to work as a clean-up boy for an electrical contractor.[5] At 23, he founded his own contracting firm, Industrial Electrical Works, serving Omaha's agricultural industries.[1][6] After WWII, Stahmer founded a second firm, Industrial Electrical Reels,[1] to produce heavy-duty reels for cords used in deep-sea exploration,[6][7] high-rise window cleaning,[5][6] and rocket launches.[1][5][6][8] The reels they manufactured for the Saturn rockets used in NASA's Apollo launches were reported to be the largest ever produced at the time.[9]
Called "the father of the potato chip with a ripple," Stahmer used corrugation to solve the problem of chips breaking off in the dip.[10] After developing a machine for slicing corrugated chips, Stahmer licensed franchise operations for producing Ruffles to regional chip manufacturers.[5] Frito-Lay later purchased the Ruffles brand and associated patents from him.[4][6][10] In interviews, Stahmer claimed that his ruffle-cut slicing process increased production speeds from several hundred to several thousand pounds of potatoes per hour.[5][6]
References
[edit]- 1 2 3 4 "Omaha Inventor Stahmer Dies: Industry Founder". Omaha World-Herald. 1975-01-23. p. 28. Retrieved 2026-07-18.
- ↑ "Ah, To Be 3 Feet Tall". Omaha World-Herald. 1974-12-02. p. 12. Retrieved 2026-09-04.
- ↑ "Omahan Has Solution To Fuel Problem". Omaha World-Herald. 1973-07-12. p. 2. Retrieved 2026-09-04.
- 1 2 "Inventor: Main Use of Patents to Provide Jobs". Omaha World-Herald. 1964-03-08. p. 21. Retrieved 2026-07-18.
- 1 2 3 4 5 "Sun-Up Interview: Bernhardt Stahmer". Omaha World-Herald. September 20, 1969. Retrieved 7 January 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Profile of the Electrical Contractor: B. Stahmer". Electrical Contractor. August 1974. Pp. 32-34.
- ↑ "Inventive Genius". Omaha World-Herald. 1971-11-19. p. 39. Retrieved 2026-09-04.
- ↑ "Omaha Firm's Reels Help Missle Firings". Omaha World-Herald. 1958-12-28. p. 18. Retrieved 2026-09-04.
- ↑ "Made in Omaha; Destination: Moon". Evening World-Herald. 1962-09-28. p. 8. Retrieved 2026-07-18.
- 1 2 "Patent Agent: Today's Inventor in Golden Age". Omaha World-Herald. 1978-03-20. p. 2. Retrieved 2026-09-04.
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