Abner Peeler was the inventive genius behind the first airbrush. One of the many unsung heroes of his day, he came from a family who were jewelers by trade and inventors as a sideline.

 

He designed for sewing machines, developed an early version of a typewriter some 20 years before one was patented, and even Airguns that were considered unfair weapons as they would not be heard by the enemy when they were fired!

 

As this article notes, he sold the original model for $10 and went on to sell the patent to the Walkup Brothers in 1882 for $700. Quite a sum of money for that time.

Peeler was not one to develop his own ideas and he always sold them on whenever possible. It is for this reason that the Walkups were able to build a company based on Peeler's idea.