On July 25, 1944, just a month shy of his eighteenth birthday, young J.M. Lapeyre filed his first patent for a shrimp peeling machine that would revolutionize how his father, the founder of Grand Caillou Packing Company, did business. The patent was issued in 1947, and in 1949, J.M. along with his father Emile and uncle Fernand founded Peelers, Incorporated, which later became Laitram Corp.