The white out also known as liquid paper is a correctional fluid which is opaque and is mainly used to cover mistakes made on paper and saving one the trouble of having to retype the entire content. The invention of the white out is attributed to Bette Nesmith Graham who was a secretary at a bank and single mother living in Texas. Graham had always desired to be an artist.
The white out idea came to her as workers painted bank widows during the holiday season, and once they made a mistake in painting they covered it in white. She noticed that the same concept could be used on paper and started using white tempera paint which was oil based and applying it on errors she made while typing using a thin paint brush. She named it the Mistake Out. Initially she
White out or Liquid paper
kept the white out a secret but a colleague noticed and asked for it and from then on people got to know about it. However, it is not until 1956 that Graham got to sell the first bottle of Mistake out in 1956.She started her own company called Mistake Out Company but was later on renamed to Liquid Paper which ended up being quite a success for Graham.