Who Invented Frisbee? - Walter Fredrick Morrison

Well I never played frisbee, never tried it. May be one day. However, I am completely aware what it is and what it does. In case, if you don't know, it is a flying disc, or gliding disc that is tossed among players. Usually it is used for beach or outside activities and it can be a real fun to play.

The reason I decided to write about the frisbee, is that every toy or every thing in this world holds an inventor. May be not every thing, but almost. The inventor of the frisbee was Walter Fredrick Morrison. He recently passed away at the age of 90 on February 9th, 2010 at his home in Monroe, Utah. Unfortunately age and cancer were the factors of his death, however, he had good long life. Never know may be the active frisbee life kept him going. We all know that any sort of exercise is good for us.

Believe or not Morrison never liked the Frisbee name and thought that it didn't mean anything, but that's what usually happens when you sell the rights of your invention.

It all started when Morrison and his wife to be Lu were tossing a tin cake pan on the beach in California. Others like the idea, so Morrison apparently ended up selling tin cake pans for 25 cents, and it cost him only 5 cents to buy. The idea grew bigger since Morrison recognized the market for his new toy. He invented his flying plastic disc which was flying and gliding better than the tin cake pans, and then he started to manufacture his new Pluto Platters in 1948.

As I mentioned he then sold the rights to Wham-O Manufacturing company who called Morrison's flying disk a frisbee. The frisbee name originated from the college students in New England. The students were calling Pluto Platters a frisbee. Going one step back, the frisbee name for Pluto Platters by students came from the Frisbie Pie Co., a bakery whose empty tins were tossed like the new Pluto Platter Frisbee.

The Great Canadian Invention Series: Pablum Baby Food or Cereal

Time to feed your baby solid food. What are you going to feed her or him? Or do you have any ideas for breakfast for babies. Let me give you one suggestion, how about baby pablum - another great Canadian invention. Did you also know that Bobby Orr, Margaret Atwood, Margaret Trudeau and Anne Murray had pablum baby cereal for breakfast when they were infants. Well, I did not. The pablum baby food story started with three doctors working at the SickKids Hospital at Toronto back in 1930s who were concerned about the nutritional value of baby's daily diet. Back then cereals were part of the baby's diet, but there was not enough vitamins and minerals to ensure healthy growth and development. First, the nutritional biscuit for children was invented which was fortified with vitamins. After intensive research and testing in that area this lead to invention of the pre-cooked highly in the nutritional value cereal called pablum. It was based on the wheat meal, oatmeal, cornmeal, wheat germ, bone meal, dried brewer's yeast and alfalfa, and so it is now.

The Great Canadian Invention Series: Mashed Potato Flakes and Other Instant Food Processes

It was Dr. Edward Asselbergs from the Canada Department of Agriculture in Ottawa who in 1961 develop a process for making instant mashed potato flakes that tasted like real homemade version of mashed potatoes. From this idea Dr. Asselbergs moved to make instant meat, chicken, fish and cheese products. If you interested Google Patent search engine is excellent for listing all kinds of patents, and here what I found for mashed potato flakes: PREPARATION OF DEHYDRATED COOKED MASHED POTATO Patent number: 3260607 Issue date: Jul 1966 Inventor: Asselbergs et al.

In addition, it was Dr. W. H. Cook from the Canadian National Research Council, a Director of the Applied Biology Division who came up with several methods to meet the emergency food requirement for troops during World War II. His invention was a special refrigerated storage system used to transport close to 20% of the perishable foods to Britain. He also devised an improved process for drying whole egg powder.

The Great Canadian Invention Series: Why the McIntosh Apple is called McIntosh?

The McIntosh apple was discovered in 1811 by John McIntosh on a little farm Dundas County, Ontario, Canada. John McIntosh found a group of trees growing wild on this farm, and since the apples then where part of farmer’s nutritious diet, he moved all of them closer to his farm house. To his and other farmer’s surprise one of the trees was producing juicy, crispy and very fragrant apples. However, it was only one apple tree that was bearing them. Branches of that one apple tree were grafted to other apple tree, a technique where branch from one fruit are transplanted into another tree. The result was successful. And this is how the McIntosh apple became the most popular apple in Canada started by the McIntosh family.

Are You Ready to Make Your Own Apple Sauce?
Yes you are because it is very simple. Get your ingredients, the McIntosh apples – as many as you wish. Peel, slice or dice all the apples, and cooked them in covered pot until mushy – low heat please. Serve warm or cool, with ice cream, yogurt, or oatmeal.