M. E. Nichols always had a gift for inventing things and spent a good deal of time building devices to speed up work around the house. He even designed and built his own lawnmower. Friends and neighbors saw it and they wanted one, too. In 1948, Nichols founded the Whipper-Clipper Company. He developed a reputation for producing quality equipment, and was selling mowers as fast as he could build them. His mowers had a simple design and they lasted. By the early 1960`s lawnmower sales began to drop off due to competition from such upstart companies as Toro, Snapper and Lawn Boy. Nichols responded by designing a new product, the famous Whipper-Clipper Edger-Trimmer. Edger sales quickly eclipsed lawnmower sales, and before long became the main product of the company.