Actually they all copied John Colbert's method. He is the one who filed the original patent on the device in 1991. Dick Weiss bought his patent and developed the "Pureing" method based on Colbert's idea.
CB (I think I got it right)
Patent #4,958,834 (issued Sept 25, 1990) was invented by John Colbert. There is a cutaway in the images of a spinefinder which is a tube with ball bearings at each end. I can't vouch for Dick Weiss' having bought the patent (there is no assignee listed on the patent, and "PUREing" is based on FLO and not bearing-based spinefinding), but you definitely got the rest of it right. Well, actually, it is earlier than you thought.
Cheers! DaveT
