“It is impossible to fathom the impact Fred Morrison has had on the world…”

…through the invention of such a simple object know as the Frisbee”

Who hasn’t owned and thrown a frisbee, one of a handful of quintessentially-American inventions whose trademarked name became the descriptor of the entire category.

Fred Morrison put his World War II experience as a fighter pilot to peaceful use by inventing what became known as the Frisbee.

The Frisbee became the frisbee; Kleenex became kleenex.

Raised in Utah and California, Mr. Morrison began his fascination with flying disks as a teen, throwing popcorn lids and then cake pans on the Santa Monica beach. In a memoir, Mr. Morrison wrote that a stranger once offered to buy one of his pans for a quarter.

“At the time cake pans cost about a nickel,” Mr. Morrison wrote. “A business was born!” Mr. Morrison’s toy business was interrupted by World War II, during which he piloted bombers and fighters. He was shot down while flying a P-51 Mustang over Italy in 1945 and held as a POW. After the war, he used the knowledge he had gained in the Army Air Corps to design a more aerodynamic flying cake pan.

Because theretofore cake pans weren’t suitable for efficient flight?

Morrison died this week and we will remember him by these words:

“I never liked the name Frisbee…I thought it was stupid.”

…but it paid the bills.

5 thoughts on ““It is impossible to fathom the impact Fred Morrison has had on the world…”

  1. In accordance with his wishes, Morrison’s remains will be thrown into the air and retrieved by a dog wearing a bandanna.

  2. Morrison leaves three children, seven grandchildren and his longtime companion, Oliver N. Hackeysack.

  3. Morrison originally called his plastic disc toy the ‘Pluto Platter’, muchly based on the popularity of UFO’s with the American public. (Doesn’t really have branding written all over it, does it?)

    This from: Mary Bellis, About.com:Inventors: “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. They 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.
    Today the fifty year old Frisbee® is owned by Mattel Toy Manufacturers, only one of at least sixty manufacturers of flying discs. Wham-O sold over one hundred million units before the selling the toy to Mattel.”

    No di$$in’ on Morri$on: that$ a lotta Fri$bee$.

  4. While I was reading the article I was thinking of a dog retrieving a Frisbee. But I hadn’t been thinking in the same terms as AC. Hilarious, thanks AC!

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