William Hoskins (1862–1934)[1][2][3] was an American inventor, chemist, electrical engineer, and entrepreneur in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, most active in Chicago, Illinois.

[1] Hoskins, however, received "private instruction" in the field,[3] before joining (at age thirteen), the Illinois State Microscopical Society.

[2] After leaving high school in 1880 at age 17, Hoskins prepared chemical analysis samples[1] for Chicago-based consulting and analytical chemist George A. Mariner in the latter's commercial laboratory,[2] starting in February.

[1][9] Hoskins's own innovations include superior chalk for billiards, several materials used in construction of race tracks, paper used for bank checks, a method for destroying weeds, and a gasoline blowtorch.

[13] In 1892,[13] the aforementioned straight rail billiards pro William Spinks was particularly impressed by a piece of natural chalk-like substance obtained in France, and presented it to Hoskins for analysis.

[4] They settled on a mixture of Illinois-sourced[4] silica with small amounts of corundum or aloxite[5] (aluminum oxide, AL2O3),[14][15] founding the William A. Spinks Company in Chicago[4] after securing a patent on March 9, 1897.