The man credited for inventing that most ubiquitous of backyard toys, the frisbee, has died at his home in Monroe, Utah, aged 90.
Walter Frederick Morrison, a pilot and a carpenter, conceived and developed his aerodynamic plastic disc in the 1950s, and hundreds of millions have been sold worldwide since.
Frisbee historian Phil Kennedy said Mr. Morrison and his future wife, Lu, got the idea from playing with a metal cake pan on the beach in California.
He originally called his toy the Pluto Platter, where the platter’s novel aerodynamic shape allowed it to hover briefly or travel surprisingly long distances, kept aloft by its rotation.
He would hawk the discs at local fairs and eventually attracted Wham-O Manufacturing, the company that bought the rights to Morrison’s plastic discs.
Lawyer Kay McIff, who represented Mr. Morrison in royalty cases, said: “That simple little toy has permeated every continent in every country. As many homes have Frisbees as any other device ever invented.”
Quierosaber's Blog 