Liquid Paper - Definition and Overview

Liquid Paper, a brand name of whiteout, white-out, or correction fluid, is used to cover up mistakes on paper without retyping the entire sheet. It was very important when material was typed with a typewriter, but less so since the advent of the word processor.

It was invented by Bette Nesmith Graham in 1951 and originally called Mistake Out. Graham was a typist who developed a type of white tempera paint to cover up her mistakes. Her first batch was mixed together in a common kitchen blender.

She offered the product to IBM, which declined. She sold the product, renamed Liquid Paper, from her house for 17 years. By 1968 the product was profitable, and in 1979 it was sold to the Gillette Corporation for $47.5 million and royalties.

Graham is also notable as the mother of Michael Nesmith, a member of the made-for-TV pop group The Monkees.

See also

• Correction tape
• Wite-Out

External link

• Liquid Paper on inventors.about.com (http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blliquid_paper.htm)