Wootten, inventor of more than 200 products, dies

Thursday, Dec. 2, 1999 | 10:03 a.m.

William Wootten was a prolific inventor whose projects ranged from improving common household items to designing complicated steam-recycling turbine systems.

When you open a box of Post shredded wheat, you see Wootten's work -- a sealed paper wrapper that keeps the food fresh.

When the inventors of the paper tabs on cigarette and chewing gum packages were frustrated that their wrapper-opening devices tore the covers, they called on Wootten. Thanks to him, when you pull those tabs today, the packages remain intact.

And when you watch old shows on television, you can be sure that Wootten helped in some way to capture the events for eternity. He had more than two dozen inventions in that area, including an April 12, 1948, U.S. patent on a system for television program film and a June 15, 1965, U.S. patent for recording signals with magnetic tape.

William A. "Bill" Wootten, who as a naval officer was the director of photography on the 1944 Academy Award-winning feature-length documentary "The Fighting Lady," died Saturday of prostate and bone cancer at the Boulder City home he designed and built overlooking Lake Mead. He was 81.

Services for the Boulder City resident of 14 years, who had more than 225 inventions, 22 U.S. patents and 45 foreign patents, will be 3:30 p.m. Friday at Palm Mortuary-Henderson.

"My husband was so unassuming that many people who knew him did not know of his many accomplishments because he did not talk about them," Georgia Nelson Wootten said. "He never retired. He was working right to the end."

The basement of Wootten's home features sophisticated drawing equipment and a model for his latest of three patents he received this year -- a turbine operated by ball bearings that recycles steam. When developed, his Toroidal Rolling Ball Turbine may one day be used to run everything from a lawnmower to a huge factory.

Another of his latest inventions, for which he also received a patent this year, is a coal gasification apparatus for gas and liquid recovery.

Despite such complicated and important inventions, Wootten's wife believes her husband perhaps will be best remembered for his simpler devices, such as the shredded wheat wrapper and the modified paper pull tabs.

Born Nov. 21, 1918, in Kansas City, Kan., Wootten was the son of Kansas City, Mo., printer Earle Wootten and the former Louise Dallas Williams.

At age 11, Wootten attended school by day and worked at nights in a dairy to help support his family during the Depression. After graduating from Southwest High School in Kansas City, Mo., in 1936, Wootten attended the New York Institute of Photography, from which he graduated in 1939.

While attending the Kansas City Art Institute in the early 1940s, Wootten worked as a newsreel cameraman.

He joined the Navy in 1942, where he attained the rank of lieutenant junior grade. During World War II, Wootten modified cameras for combat photography and worked as a cinematographer on the 20th Century Fox documentary "The Fighting Lady."

The film utilized Wootten's twin-camera, a device that filmed both a closeup and wide-angle shots simultaneously. Crammed into a cockpit with his camera, Wootten made 88 flights in six weeks to record spectacular combat footage that was used in the film. He later received a citation from the secretary of the Navy for his work.

Wootten left the Navy in 1946 and got in on the ground floor of the new medium of television. He worked for 20th Century Fox Studios in Beverly Hills in 1946 and NBC in New York in 1947. He served as motion picture consultant while helping to launch KTTV television in Los Angeles in 1947.

In 1948, Wootten opened Wootten Television Recording System and served as president of Magnetic Film & Tape Co. in Los Angeles from 1955 to 1961.

He remained in the film and television business as a process engineer throughout the 1960s, before branching out to other areas. Wootten was president of William A. Wootten Inc., in Fountain Valley, Calif., in the 1970s and William A. Wootten Patent Holdings in Boulder City from 1985 until his death.

Wootten's other inventions included a two-story onion-crushing machine, an oil-entrapment block for cleaning up after oil tanker spills, a single-pocket pool game and an eyeglass cheek support.

In addition to his wife, Wootten is survived by three daughters, Sigrid Fessenden of El Cajon, Calif., Victoria Parret of Irvine, Calif., and Dorothy Kimelman of Greensboro, N.C.; a stepdaughter, Stephanie Cameron of Manhattan Beach, Calif.; a stepson, Jonathan Yost of Brentwood, Calif.; nine grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

The family says donations can be made in Wootten's memory to the Salvation Army or the Rehabilitation Institute, 3011 Baltimore, Kansas City, MO 64108.

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