Dear ray_on_the_web-ga;
Thank you for allowing me an opportunity to answer your interesting
question.
This same question was asked on the “PMI Paintball Information
Exchange” and is answered in their “Paintball FAQ”:
The explanation is that paintballing originated when farmers
discovered that they could shoot their cattle with color-coded paint
so as to distinguish them from cattle in other categories. As word of
this spread, it eventually grabbed the interest of sportsmen who saw
the potential for gaming and thus the sport was born.
This sounds like a plausible explanation but the truth is that the
very first paintball gun was invented by Charles Nelson, who
co-founded Nelson Paint Company, around 1940, and was not intended for
the sport of Paintball, but for use in the forestry industry to mark
trees for scheduled for cutting. Likewise, the first commonly used
Paintball gun was actually designed for the forestry industry - the
Nelspot 007, invented by James C Hale (U.S. patent 3,788, 298 issued
on January 29, 1974.)
The first gun specifically designed for the sport of Paintball was
called “The Splatmaster” and was invented by Robert G Shepherd (U.S.
patent number 4,531,503; granted July 30, 1985). Later
electropneumatic markers were developed like the Shocker and the
Angel.
As necessity is the mother of inventions, George A Skogg invented a
"washable marking fluid formulation for soft gelatin capsules" - a
non-permanent Paintball bullet recipe (U.S. patent 4,634,606 granted
January 6, 1987.) The fluid was packaged in a soft gelatin capsules
and proved to be more accurate, stable and made bright, highly visible
(and washable) marks on impact. Skogg, who also worked for the Nelson
Paint Company, invented the ingredients that are still used in
Nelson’s paint ball “bullets” today.
I hope you find that that my research exceeds your expectations. If
you have any questions about my research please post a clarification
request prior to rating the answer. Otherwise, I welcome your rating
and your final comments and I look forward to working with you again
in the near future. Thank you for using Google Answers.
Best regards;
Tutuzdad-ga
INFORMATION SOURCES
“PMI Paintball Information Exchange”
http://pub52.ezboard.com/bpmipaintball
“Paintball FAQ”
http://pub52.ezboard.com/fpmipaintballfrm39.showMessage?topicID=3.topic
“Paintball - History - Guns and Markers”
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blpaintball.htm
“Nelson Paint Compay”
http://www.nelsonpaintball.com
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SEARCH ENGINE USED:
Google ://www.google.com
SEARCH TERMS USED:
Invented paintball
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