Frisbee: The toy that emerged out of a random college sport
Imagine this: You are out for a picnic with your family and the elders are busy arranging everything. As you roam around, you suddenly notice something up in the sky. No, it’s not a bird, drone, or a UFO carrying aliens! It’s an object that looks like a flying saucer. We call it frisbee! As you gear up to start playing frisbee, let us tell you its fascinating backstory of this much-loved toy.
The story of empty pie tins
Let’s go back on time and land on the Yale College campus of the 1870s. Back then, the students of this prestigious college in Connecticut, US, were ardent fans of the pies sold by the popular Frisbie Pie Company. After having the pies, they would start playing around with the empty pie tins, tossing and catching them, shouting the term “Frisbie!” Also, a Yale undergraduate of that time, named Elihu Frisbie, mastered the art of throwing these tins and once even got hold of a passing collection (like the collection boxes we have in our temples) tray from a nearby chapel. He flung it into his campus. Many believe that both these events that led to the birth of the toy frisbee, as well as its unique name.
World welcomes the modern-day frisbee
By the mid-20th century, playing throw and catch with empty pie tins became quite popular among American college goers. However, in 1948, Los-Angeles based building inspector Walter Frederick Morrison and his friend Warren Franscioni came up with a better alternative. This is when they invented the first ever official frisbee which was a plastic disc. It could fly farther and with much better accuracy than an empty tin. Interestingly, all the physics involved in making a perfect frisbee was the doing of Morrison’s father, who was an inventor himself (he pioneered the automotive sealed-bean headlight). Legends also have it that the duo came up with frisbee as they both were World War II veterans and wanted to make a fun game suitable for soldiers.
From flying saucer to frisbee
Morrison and Franscioni called their invention ‘flying saucer’. However, when they sold the patents to the US-based toy company Wham-O in 1955, they changed the name to ‘pluto platter’. By 1957, the toy had become quite popular, but its name didn’t stick around. This is when Rich Knerr, an employee of Wham-O suggested the catchy name ‘frisbee’. Whether the misspelling (of Frisbie) was intentional or not, is still a mystery though! In 1964, frisbee got the recognition of an official sport.
Like most things, frisbee too evolved over the years. For instance, Ed Headrick, a Wham-O veteran upgraded the top with a band of raised ridges and called it ‘Rings of Headrick.’ Its flight was a lot stabler than that of the wobbly ‘pluto platter.’
How does frisbee work?
As we all know, throwing a frisbee is a piece of cake. In fact it’s so easy that even dogs know how to throw and catch it. It just requires a simple flick of the wrist, and the disc goes flying into the air forming a wide arc. But have you ever wondered how frisbee flies through the air? Is it magic? No. It’s pure science! In fact, it has got to do with their unique shape and ability to rotate.
When one throws a frisbee, it starts spinning, giving it stability and a long flight thanks, to the angular momentum that develops in the process. Additionally, the curved top of the frisbee gives it a lift when sent flying. In fact, if you notice carefully, you will see that the shape is wider in the middle and thinner towards the edges, much like aeroplane’s wing. This allows air to travel more rapidly over the frisbee, creating a low-pressure zone. Similarly, a high pressure is created below that pushes the frisbee upward, giving it the lift and the ability to fly.