Earl Tupper grew up dirt poor and never got beyond high school. Still, he dreamed of becoming a millionaire by the time he was 30, deciding his route to success would be inventing.

Earl fancied himself to be the next Thomas Edison or Henry Ford. He carried little pads of paper in his shirt pocket for scribbling down ideas. He elaborated on them in his invention notebooks, where he also jotted aphorisms and advice to himself. His crudely drawn ideas were, for the most part, improvements on everyday devices and gadgets.

Earl sent letters and prototypes to companies all over the country, hoping to sell his inventions. But they all said no. In spite of this, Earl continued to plug away. His knack for tinkering finally paid off when he invented the first Wonderbowl, with its famous burping seal.

Take a tour of Earl's invention notebooks.