Who invented the Frisbee?
The Frisbee was invented in 1957 by a Californian UFO enthusiast named Walter Frederick. But he didn’t call it a Frisbee. The Wham-O company bought his idea for a toy saucer, and later named it after a popular pie restaurant in Bridgeport, Connecticut. William Frisbie’s pies were very popular with kids who liked to throw the tins around after they ate the pie! Hence, the Frisbee!
At first glance in the park or at the beach, you may confuse it for an UFO (unidentified flying object) and rush home thinking the Martians have really landed from outer space! Soon it becomes clear that the “spacecraft” is actually a harmless toy — a colourful Frisbee, and the creature from outer space is the boy next door! Today, almost all of us have seen one or sent a Frisbee gliding through air. We have seen dogs chase it and leap to catch these flying discs. The toy has proved enormously popular and there are Frisbee throwing competitions held in America. The flying disc was named Frisbee after a 19th century Connecticut Yankee called William Russell Frisbie, a baker by profession. In 1871, he was hired to manage a branch of the Olds Baking Company. He soon bought it outright and named it the Frisbie Pie Company. It offered a variety of baked goodies, including pies and cookies. The pies and cookies were packed in round tin containers and sold to the students of Yale University,
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. 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 Americ
