His inventions relating to envelope making revolutionized the envelope industry. He sold his envelope rights to United States Envelope company, contributing mightily to the success of that company.

In 1915 he began manufacturing tractors, leading to inventions relating to brakes, clutches, transmissions, internal combustion engines, and associated automotive and vehicular parts and equipment. He developed, patented, manufactured and marked a very early all purpose tractor, as well as power brakes for all kinds of vehicles. He was an early developer of fluid drive transmissions for automobiles. He was the first to use roller bearings and rubber tires on tractor wheels. Other inventions and patents are in fields as diverse as phonographs, garage door openers, electric power assists, and fluid power amplifiers.

Edwin Gustave Staude

(1876 - 1964) Staude was a versatile, inventive genius with 143 U.S. patents and numerous foreign counterparts in many diverse fields including paper-box making machinery, envelope-making machinery, automotive equipment, phonographs, garage door openers, and power amplification systems. His first two patents (the first obtained at age 19), related to mowing machines, reflecting his farm background. His next several patents related to packaging and package making machines. In 1905 he founded the E.G. Staude Mfg. Co. to build the machinery he invented. He developed, patented, manufactured and sold millions of dollars worth of paper box machines made in Minnesota and used around the world. At the same time he was constantly inventing and patenting new and improved packaging and package making machinery. His company was, in its time, the world's leading manufacturer of paper box-making machinery. The business was sold and moved out of state in the 1950s, but his inventiveness and entrepreneurship contributed greatly to the early industrial development of Minnesota.