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Flying Saucers Come from Southern California
Do YOU HAVE spots before your eyes? Do vari-colored
discs flutter and sail in the air in front of you? Do you
see flying saucers in the skies ?
If you do, don't call the doctor nor jump on the wagon.
And don't worry. Other persons are seeing flying saucers
too-seeing them fly through the air-an.:l seeing them
on the sales counters of the stores. You can even pick
them up and feel them, and, preferably, buy them to play
with.
It all started many years ago-long before the recent
flurry of flying saucers-
when a little boy named Freddie
used to play with his mother's pie tins. If he threw them
with just the right twist of the wrist, they spun and turned
in fascinating curves.
Freddie grew up into a man called Fred Morrison, who
always remembered what fun he had had playing with the
pie tins. As a grown-up, he applied his knowledge of
aerodynamics to the problem of developing a disc which
could be thrown and tossed and its flight controlled by
the thrower.
He evolved a metal model that sailed through the air
in a most satisfactory manner. The curved disc was 9 in.
in diameter and a scant 2 in. deep, with radiating arc­
shapped fins and a heavy outside rim. A snap of the wrist
when throwing gives a centrifugal motion to the disc
which in turn gives. guidance in flight. The radial fins
create a vacuum on top of the whirling disc, and stability
from beneath is provided by the heavy rim.
The metal model sailed through the air beautifully­
but also, being metal, it sailed through windows and
hedges and other obstacles, somewhat after the manner of
a miniature cyclone. A material other than metal seemed
a wise idea if the disc-or flying saucer-were to become
a commercial product.
.
A lightweight, slightly flexible plastics looked like the
answer, and Morrison brought his metal model to Southern
California Plastic Co., Glendale, Calif., to see what might
be done in plastics. Stanley J. Gray and Edward L. Ken­
nedy, president and secretary of the firm, took the metal
disc out on the lawn to "demonstrate" its possibilities
and were soon breathlessly convinced that a great deal
of fun could be had by young and old alike.
A plastics model of the disc was carved from a solid
block of material, and then a mold made in the shop of
Southern California. Engraving of the mold was done
by United Engravers, Los Angeles.
Then came the problem of the right material. A search
was made throughout the range of thermoplastic molding
compounds to find the proper material that combined
flexibility, impact strength, and stability while in motion.
(The discs achieve considerable speed--and strain- when
in flight.) Cellulose acetate provided the best combination
of properties to do the job. Acetate discs will not break
glass windows, nor shatter when falling from a great
height, nor scar the finish on automobiles, nor injure the
players.
That's a real Flyin' Saucer this young mon has just thrown into
th,
air-molded of tough and lightweight cellulose acetate by
Soulhern California Plastic Co., Glendale. Designed in occordance
with aerodynamic principles, the Flyin' Saucer spins through the air
with the greatest of ease. Note the radial fons on the disc in the
boy's left hand.
An in• .,esting part of the story is that producing the
acetate "Flyin' Saucer" is only part of the story. It is a
product with a wide market (how many yo-yos were sold
in the US last ·ear, do you suppose?) ; but it must be
demonstrated to be sold. Everyone who sees a Flyin'
Saucei in action is enthusiastic. Anyone who sees one
lying on a sales counter is likely to p:iss by.
That presents a merchandising problem that has the
sales staff of Southern California Plastic hard at work,
thinking up ways and means for demonstrations, action
publicity, visual promotional stunts. With a record of
steady-selling staple consumer items now on the market,
Southern California has no intention of letting the Flyin'
Saucers sit on the sales counters.
Carefully-controlled
distribution, related to on-the-spot demonstrations or pro­
motional campaigns, has been the rule so far. National
markets will not be tackled until all the promotional kinks
have been unraveled.
. l
Reprinted from PACIFIC PLASTICS, August 1948