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| The
Frisbee |
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The World's
First Frisbee (1948)
A baker named William Russell Frisbee,
of Warren, Connecticut, came up with a clever marketing idea
back in the 1870’s.
He put the family name in relief on the bottom of the light
tin pans in which his company’s home-made pies were
sold.
The pans were reusable, but every time
a housewife started to bake a pie in one, she would see the
name Frisbee and, it was hoped, think, "How much easier to buy one". Eventually
Mr. Frisbee’s pies were sold throughout much of Connecticut.
Then, in the 1940s, Hungry Yale students began sailing these
same pie tins through the air and catching them.
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 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. The 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 for his flying disc. Morrison
has 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). Headrick invented the great aerodynamic
qualities of the perfectly curved modern frisbee.
In 1967, high school students in Maplewood, New Jersey invented
Ultimate Frisbee, a recognised 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.
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