During an interview with Slate , Sheffield explained how the idea for a banana slicer was not the direct result of fruit-cutting frustration, but rather a vision from God. The banana chips cutting machine can not only apply for cutting banana slices but also for cutting root vegetables such as onion rings, carrots, lotus roots, etc.

Thanks to all of these great reviews, I now know what I am going to get my in-laws for Christmas this year. Thanks in part to Sheffield's banana slicer, Pathway now serves more than 500 people daily and has helped over 22,000. Currently, banana chip slicer machines generally have the disadvantages of uneven slicing and low efficiency.William Sheffield's love of the law would lead him down yet another unbelievable path – suing Pope Paul VI over a St Bernard puppy. In 1969, while working toward a degree in philosophy from Cal State–Long Beach, Sheffield collaborated with Steven Spielberg—a fellow Long Beach classmate and friend—on a film project titled Who Collects the Garbage? Sheffield says that the VP initially declined, responding that Chiquita’s “business is bananas, not banana slicers,” but he was soon sold on the product after he saw how much his kids loved it. As a law student at University of California, Berkeley, Sheffield successfully sued Pope Paul VI over a St Bernard puppy that was never delivered to him from a monastery in Switzerland. Then a swaggering second-year law student – he earned his Juris Doctor degree in 1971 – he was feeling bold.

In 1969, while working toward a degree in philosophy, Sheffield collaborated with Steven Spielberg – a fellow Long Beach classmate and friend – on a film project titled Who Collects the Garbage? More than 60 percent of the proceeds went directly to fund the orphanage in India, now known as Pathway. Sheffield's grandiose stories perfectly mirror his advice on innovation: "If you have the tenacity, the energy, and commitment to do it, it doesn't matter if it is a banana slicer, an automobile, or an iPhone 5. Sheffield found himself walking through the crowded streets of that city one day, brainstorming potential ways to help the director of a small orphanage in India whom he and his wife had recently met. Sheffield’s grandiose stories perfectly mirror his advice on innovation: “If you have the tenacity, the energy, and commitment to do it, it doesn’t matter if it is a banana slicer, an automobile, or an iPhone 5.

The patent describes the banana slicer as a "tool which has a frame circumscribing an area into which a typical banana readily fits, and a plurality of spaced ribs or blades disposed transversely to the longitudinal axis of the frame and interconnecting opposite sides of the frame". Sheffield found himself walking through the crowded streets of that city one day, brainstorming potential ways to help the director of a small orphanage in India he and his wife recently met. After filming each interview, he would send film back to Spielberg, with whom he held weekly telephone conferences. Regarding the pontiff, Sheffield laughs, explaining: "I served him a deposition, but he never showed up. More than 60 per cent of the proceeds went directly to fund the orphanage in India, now known as Pathway.