On this date in 1964, Terry Potter launched Fargo’s Rollo-Matic Co. to mass-produce his innovative squeeze-bottle paint roller, which quickly gained distributors and strong sales.

Here is the complete story as it appeared in the paper that day:

By Stan Cowan

An idea born a couple of years ago while he was painting the interior of his house has developed to the point where Terry C. Potter has established a manufacturing plant in Fargo.

Potter, now 23, using a roller to paint walls of his house, thought there must be an easier way. Using a plastic ketchup bottle and a plastic tube, he filled the bottle with paint and, by squeezing, forced the paint into a roller attached to the end of the tube. It worked.

Through a series of trial and error tests, he improved on the idea and came up wit

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