William Hoskins

William Hoskins (1862–1934) was an American inventor, chemist, electrical engineer, and entrepreneur in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, most active in Chicago, Illinois. He became the co-inventor in 1897 of modern with professional carom billiards player William A. Spinks. He is, however, best known for the invention of the electric heating coil (the basis for numerous ubiquitous household and industrial appliances, including electric stoves, space heaters, and toasters) and the invention of the first electric toaster.

Career Early life William Hoskins was born in 1862 to parents John and Mary Ann Hoskins, in Chicago. of which he was the chairman in 1897, Hoskins's own innovations include superior chalk for billiards, several materials used in construction of race tracks, paper used for bank checks, a method for destroying weeds, and a gasoline blowtorch. The heating coil was created using nichrome, and was later used in early versions of the toaster and the electric kettle. The heating coil was one of the first projects for Hoskins Manufacturing Co.; Hoskins had considered manufacturing toasters, but later abandoned those plans, and focused on the coil itself.

Billiard chalk alt=Box label reading "One dozen pieces Spinks Billiard Chalk", with various promotional claims like "best and cheapest" and "used by all professional players". Concludes with "Wm. A. Spinks & Co., Chicago U.S.A." and a quoted endorsement by a pro. Label of a box of a dozen cubes of William A. Spinks Company billiard chalk, 1900–1910. Note the endorsement by champion Jacob Schaefer Sr.

In the late 19th century, actual chalk (generally calcium carbonate, also known as calcite or carbonate of lime) was often used in cue sports on the leather tips of cue sticks to better grip the cue ball, but players experimented with other powdery, abrasive substances, since chalk itself was abrasive, and over time damaged the game equipment. In 1892, founding the William A. Spinks Company in Chicago after Hoskins moved on to other projects.