Toy company Wham-O produces first Frisbees
On this day in 1957 machines at the Wham-O toy company roll out the first batch of their aerodynamic plastic discsnow known to millions of fans all over the world as Frisbees.The story of the Frisbee began in Bridgeport Connecticut where William Frisbie opened the Frisbie Pie Company in 1871.Students from nearby universities would throw the empty pie tins to each other yelling Frisbie as they let go.In 1948 Walter Frederick Morrison and his partner Warren Franscioni invented a plastic version of the disc called the Flying Saucer that could fly further and more accurately than the tin pie plates.
After splitting with Franscioni Morrison made an improved model in 1955 and sold it to the new toy company Wham-O as the Pluto Platteran attempt to cash in on the public craze over space and Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs).In 1958 a year after the toys first release Wham-Othe company behind such top-sellers as the Hula-Hoop the Super Ball and the Water Wigglechanged its name to the Frisbee disc misspelling the name of the historic pie company.A company designer Ed Headrick patented the design for the modern Frisbee in December 1967 adding a band of raised ridges on the discs surfacecalled the Ringsto stabilize flight.By aggressively marketing Frisbee-playing as a new sport Wham-O sold over 100 million units of its famous toy by 1977.High school students in Maplewood New Jersey invented Ultimate Frisbee a cross between football soccer and basketball in 1967.
In the 1970s Headrick himself invented Frisbee Golf in which discs are tossed into metal baskets there are now hundreds of courses in the U.S.with millions of devotees.There is also Freestyle Frisbee with choreographed routines set to music and multiple discs in play and various Frisbee competitions for both humans and dogsthe best natural Frisbee players.Today at least 60 manufacturers produce the flying discsgenerally made out of plastic and measuring roughly 20-25 centimeters (8-10 inches) in diameter with a curved lip.
The official Frisbee is owned by Mattel Toy Manufacturers who bought the toy from Wham-O in 1994.
