The Frisbie Truck |
The aforementioned "platter" |
Well, today we celebrate the invention of the Frisbee - a misspelling of the pie maker's name.
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 Platter"--an attempt to cash in on the public craze over space and Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs). It hit the market today, this date, in 1957.
In 1958, a year after the toy's first release, Wham-O--the company behind such top-sellers as the Hula-Hoop, the Super Ball and the Water Wiggle--changed its name to the Frisbee disc, misspelling the name of the historic pie company.
So there you go. Armed and dangerous. Head to the water-cooler and I'll tell ya' a story.