Who Invented The Trampoline

Have you ever jumped on a trampoline? You probably have. Trampolines can not only be fun but can also be a great way to exercise. Do you know where all that fun started? Probably not. I bet you did not know that the trampoline was invented in 1930 by a 16 year old boy named George Nissen. He invented the trampoline in his parents’ garage by making a metal frame and stretching canvas over it. Nissen called his invention the “bouncing rig.” He got the idea for his invention after he saw trapeze artists dropping into a net below and the end of their routine. He thought it would be more exciting if the artists did not have to end their routine when they dropped and could just keep bouncing around, so his parents’ garage became the birthplace of a favorite backyard toy.

Nissen formed the "rebound tumbling" act the Three Leonardos in 1937 and performed in Mexico, which is where the idea for his invention’s name was born. By simply adding an “e” to the end of Spanish word for “diving board” he came up with an innovative name for his invention: the “trampoline”. No one had ever seen anything like it, so there was no market for it. Nissen traveled the world “demonstrating its worth”. He even rented a kangaroo to perform with him during a demonstrations in Central Park, New York.
Nissen said, “And that was alway my forte. I like to make new things and then market them.”

In the United States, the trio performed at school assemblies.
They would invite children to have a go on their trampoline and found that it was very popular. Then, in 1942, the Griswold-Nissen Trampoline & Tumbling Company was formed, making trampolines commercially. The trampoline has been used by everyone from circus tumblers and children to American pilots and navigators training during the Second World War. American and Soviet astronauts have even used the trampoline in their training. Over the years, Nissen continued to perfect his invention, and he eventually replaced the canvas with nylon, which was being developed for parachute straps, to create more
bounce.

Nissen went on to invent the game of Spaceball and produce new designs for gymnastics equipment, such as parallel bars, pommel horses and balance beams, but his enthusiasm for his original invention never waned. In 1977, he performed acrobatics in Egypt on a trampoline on top of a pyramid with a flattened top. Nissen eventually sold his company but continued to come up with inventions, such as the Laptop Exercycle for passengers on long-haul flights. He could even still do a headstand at the age of 92! He died in April of 2010 in San Diego, California at the age of 96 from complications from pneumonia.