– 1967
It's
a bird—it's a plane—no, it's a flying saucer!
Or........ an inexpensive plastic toy?
On
this day in 1967, a newer, better version of the popular flying disc
that we call Frisbee was patented by Wham-O inventor Ed Headrick. But
the invention of the frisbee started long before then...
The
Frisbie Baking Company of Bridgeport, Connecticut, made pies, and
some claim that the inventors of the Frisbee were workers tossing and
catching empty pie tins. Others say that college students in New
England were the first to find the fun in flinging the Frisbie pie
tins—and several different universities claim the honor of being
the “first to fling.”
In
1948, a Los Angeles building inspector named Walter F. Morrison
created a plastic version of the Frisbie pie tin. He fiddled with his
invention until he came up with one that flew better than a pie tin
could, and he named it a “Pluto Platter” in order to cash in on
the UFO craze. A company named Wham-O, famous for the Hula-Hoop and
Super Ball, bought Morrison's design—and he received a million
dollars in royalties. The head people of Wham-O decided to drop the
name “Pluto Platter” and go back to the original name with a fun
new spelling: “Frisbee.”
Later,
Ultimate Frisbee and Frisbee Golf were invented. The U.S. Navy has
studied Frisbees in wind tunnels, using cameras and computers, in
order to learn more about flight for their vehicles and flare
launchers. And more than 200 million modern Frisbees have been
manufactured and sold!
Also
on this date:
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