"Graphite" shafts began to emerge in the late twentieth century. The graphite shaft was invented by Frank Thomas in 1969 while working as Chief Design Engineer for Shakespeare Sporting Goods, in collaboration with Union Carbide. The original graphite shafts manufactured by Shakespeare Sporting Goods were filament wound, had extremely consistent properties and were extremely expensive. Subsequent, less expensive flagwrapped versions of the graphite shaft introduced by other manufacturers several years later had inconsistent properties and as a result professionals and skilled amateurs were initially skeptical of the new technology when compared to steel; however, advances in technology, developed by Bruce Williams, an engineer working with an Ohio-based composites company, eventually changed this perception.