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.
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