 Hoskins became a recognized scientific expert witness in lawsuits, took out 37 US patents, and in Hoskins's lab, Albert L. Marsh developed nichrome under supervision of Hoskins.Hoskins's own innovations include a superior billiard chalk, materials used to construct race tracks (including the Washington Park Race Tracks in Chicago), safety paper for bank checks, a method for destroying weeds, and a gasoline blowtorch.William Hoskins is credited with invention of the electric heating coil.