By
Mary
Bellis
Every object has a history, and behind
that history an inventor, the person who thought it up first. Sometimes
who was first can be a topic for hot debate: often several people independent
of each other will all think of the same good idea at around the same time
and will later have to argue "No it was me, I thought of it first." Many
people have claimed to have invented the Frisbee.
The
Frisbie
Baking Company (1871-1958) of Bridgeport, Connecticut, made pies that
were sold to many New England colleges. Hungry college students soon discovered
that the empty pie tins could be tossed and caught, providing endless hours
of game and sport. Many colleges have claimed to be the home of 'he who
was first to fling.' Yale College has even argued that in 1820, a Yale
undergraduate named Elihu Frisbie grabbed a passing collection tray from
the chapel and flung it out into the campus, thereby becoming the true
inventor of the Frisbie and winning glory for Yale. That tale is unlikely
to be true since the words 'Frisbie's Pies' was embossed in all the original
pie tins and from the word 'Frisbie' was coined the common name for the
toy.
In 1948, a Los Angeles building inspector
named Walter
Frederick Morrison and his partner Warren Franscioni invented a plastic
version of the Frisbie that could fly further and with better accuracy
than a tin pie plate. Morrison's father was also an inventor, who invented
the automotive sealed-beam headlight. Another interesting tidbit was that
Morrison had just returned to America after World War II, where he had
been a prisoner in the infamous Stalag 13. His partnership with Warren
Franscioni, who was also a war veteran, ended before their product had
achieved any real success.
Morrison (after his split with Franscioni)
produced a plastic Frisbie called the
Pluto
Platter, to cash in on the growing popularity of UFOs with the American
public. The Pluto Platter has become the basic design for all Frisbies.
The outer third of the Frisbie disc is called the 'Morrison Slope', listed
in the patent. Rich Knerr and A.K. 'Spud' Melin were the owners of a new
toy company called 'Wham-O'. Knerr and Melin also marketed the Hula-Hoop,
the Super Ball and the Water Wiggle. They pair first saw Morrison's Pluto
Platter in late 1955. They liked what they saw and convinced Morrison to
sell them the rights to his design. With a deal signed, Wham-O began production
(1/13/1957) of more Pluto Platters. The next year, the original Frisbie
Baking Company shut down and coincidentally Fred Morrison was awarded a
patent (Design patent 183,626) for his flying disc. Morrison received over one million dollars in royalties for his invention.
The word 'Frisbee' is pronounced
the same as the word 'Frisbie'. Rich Knerr (Wham-O) was in search of a
catchy new name to help increase sales, after hearing about the original
use of the terms 'Frisbie' and 'Frisbie-ing'. He borrowed from the two
words to create the registered trademark Frisbee ®. Sales soared for
the toy, due to Wham-O's clever marketing of Frisbee playing as a new sport.
In 1964, the first professional
model went on sale. Ed Headrick was the inventor at Wham-O who patented
Wham-O's designs for the modern frisbee (U.S. patent 3,359,678). Ed Headrick's frisbee
with its band of raised ridges called the Rings of Headrick had stablized flight
as opposed to the wobbly flight of its predecessor the Pluto Platter.
In 1967, high school students in
Maplewood, New Jersey, invented Ultimate Frisbee, a recognized sport that
is a cross between football, soccer and basketball. Ten years later, a
form of Frisbee golf was introduced, complete with
professional playing courses and associations.
Another
Great Frisbee Moment: In 1968, the U.S. Navy spends almost $400,000 to
study Frisbees in wind tunnels, following their flights with computers
and cameras, and building a special Frisbee-launching machine on top of
a Utah cliff to test a prototype flare launcher.
Today the fifty year old Frisbee®
is owned by Mattel Toy Manufacturers, only one of at least sixty manufacturers
of flying discs. Wham-O sold over one hundred million units before the
selling the toy to Mattel.
Disc
Golf
Ed Headrick, owner of the Disc Golf
Association, Inc.® founded the game of Disc Golf in 1976. The sport
is played by an estimated two million recreational players in the United
States and increasing. Headrick’s inventions
include the Wham-O Superball that sold over twenty-million units and the
utility patent for the modern day Frisbee, which has sold over two-hundred-million
units to date. Mr. Headrick led the Advertising program, New Products program,
was Vice President of Research and Development, Executive Vice President,
General Manager and served as CEO for Wham-O Inc. over a ten year period.
The patent drawing at the top of this article is from U.S. patent 3,359,678
- issued to Headrick on December 26, 1967.
Bibliography
Frisbee,
A Practitioner's Manual and Definitive Treatise Author Stancil E.D. Johnson,
M.D. Workman Publishing Company 231 East 51 Street
New York,
New York 10022 July, 1975
Dog &
Frisbee Photos: Mary Jo Sminkey© http://www.dogpatch.org
all other
artwork ©MaryBellis
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