During the 1950s and 1960s, Paul Zimmerer, working in his auto and farm equipment repair shop in Lindsay, Nebraska, invented a series of irrigation products that changed the landscape of Nebraska agriculture. One was the tractor-towed Towline, which allowed farmers to move a connected-pipeline irrigation system from field to field and featured his patented flexible leak-proof coupler, the Quick-Tach. In 1968, Zimmerer, with sons Art and Bernie, developed one of the first electric center-pivot irrigators, the Zimmatic, whose Uni-Knuckle joint enabled the system to irrigate rough terrain, unlike the original water-driven pivots that could irrigate only relatively flat fields. The Zimmatic also used an external collector ring to transfer electrical power throughout the system. These developments, along with the establishment of a manufacturing plant on Paul's farm just east of town, made Lindsay an industry leader and major supplier of irrigation equipment throughout the U.S. and worldwide, and the Zimmerers' entrepreneurship and innovation greatly benefited Lindsay, the surrounding rural community, Nebraska, and the world.