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Father of the Frisbee Dies At 90
theodp writes "Walter Fredrick Morrison, whose post-World War II invention of a 'flying' plastic disc became the American recreational icon known as the Frisbee, has died at age 90 of age-related causes (great obit pic). Wham-O Inc. has sold more than 200 million Frisbees since Morrison sold the company the rights to what he called the Pluto Platter in 1957. The roots of today's aerodynamic Frisbees go back to 1937, when Morrison and his future wife tossed a large popcorn can lid back and forth for fun during a Thanksgiving party."
His soul has gone up on the roof and gotten stuck there.
Farewell Sir, My dog thanks you.
I seem to recall watching a documentary that showed the frisbee being invented some time back in 1885 or 1886.
Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
The first Frisbies were pie pans from the Frisbie Pie Company of Bridgeport Conn, founded in 1871 by William Russell Frisbie. Yale students were using the term Frisbie for flying discs 50 years before the invention of the Pluto Platter.
When Wham-O bought the rights to the plastic version that Morrison invented one of their executives, Rich Knerr liked the marketability of the name and changed it to Frisbee.
Frisbie pies are still manufactured by Table Talk Inc.
Knerr was also responsible for the Hula Hoop which to this day is recognized as the benchmark American fad toy.
I invention of a 'flying' plastic disc
Why the quotes? A disc generates real aerodynamic lift; anyone who plays Ultimate can tell you that. Throw right-handed and drop the outside edge, and it will curve to the right. Raise it and aim a bit out and up, and you can throw an "outside in" (aim up and out because, like with a plane, you have to compensate for lift being generated at an angle, which means less lift straight-up. You also have slip.) Tilt the disc upwards but throw it downwards, and it'll appear to "bounce."
Also: don't call a "disc" a Frisbee around an Ultimate player. Why? Wham-O saw a bunch of people playing this game called Ultimate, freaked out that someone was using their product for a game. They then tried to a)control it and then when that failed, b)made their own game to try and drown it out. It was a pretty despicable and petty move. Now they mostly spend their time chasing down anyone who uses the word "frisbee". Had they simply been content to sell discs, they'd be selling them by the boatload to Ultimate players. Instead, they got greedy and it backfired on 'em.
Also, Ultrastar's discs (considered the standard) are much more easier on the hand for most, and tend to fly better.
Please help metamoderate.
I don't want to discus this.