WEBVTT - How Trampolines Work 0:00:01.120 --> 0:00:03.400 Welcome to Stuff you should know, a production of My 0:00:03.600 --> 0:00:12.680 Heart Radios How Stuff Works. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. 0:00:12.760 --> 0:00:15.680 I'm Josh Clark, and there's Charles w Chuck, Brian, there's 0:00:15.760 --> 0:00:19.400 Jerry over there, and we're just bouncing around with giddiness 0:00:19.880 --> 0:00:23.599 about this episode on trampolines. That's all that coming from 0:00:23.600 --> 0:00:26.479 a mile away. You did not. I knew there would 0:00:26.480 --> 0:00:30.240 be some jumpy, bouncy metaphor. Well, you know me very 0:00:30.240 --> 0:00:34.000 well after these eleven years eleven years, good, you didn't 0:00:34.000 --> 0:00:37.240 disappoint good. I don't like disappointing you, Chuck. It feels 0:00:37.280 --> 0:00:42.400 really rotten. Yeah, especially since I'm wearing a T shirt 0:00:42.479 --> 0:00:46.239 that says You've disappointed me again, Josh. And it's got 0:00:46.280 --> 0:00:49.279 that pointing finger right at me. Oh my, Josh. Yet 0:00:49.360 --> 0:00:51.880 actually is three dimensional. It comes out of the shirt 0:00:52.000 --> 0:00:53.599 just so you know I'm pointing at you. I can 0:00:53.600 --> 0:00:57.240 see it. It's like a magic Guy poster. Oh goodness. 0:00:57.800 --> 0:01:01.640 So speaking of goodness, Chuck, we're talking about trampolines. But 0:01:01.720 --> 0:01:04.320 it's funny that I would say goodness, because it turns 0:01:04.319 --> 0:01:07.760 out trampolines have a lot of badness to them. Yeah, 0:01:08.200 --> 0:01:12.520 they're danger pits. Yeah, they are big time pits. If 0:01:12.520 --> 0:01:15.040 it's one of those built into the ground things. Yeah, 0:01:15.120 --> 0:01:19.240 trampoline in a pit. Have you ever been on a trampoline? Sure? 0:01:19.319 --> 0:01:22.280 I had one in in high school. Really you owned one. 0:01:22.560 --> 0:01:25.600 It was inherited from the people who previously owned the house. 0:01:25.920 --> 0:01:29.399 That old move and they took they took maybe half 0:01:29.440 --> 0:01:32.279 of the springs with them when they moved, apparently because 0:01:32.319 --> 0:01:34.840 you could make contact with the ground pretty easy on 0:01:34.880 --> 0:01:38.600 that one. And um and actually, if you go onto 0:01:38.640 --> 0:01:42.040 my Instagram josh um Clark, you can see a little 0:01:42.080 --> 0:01:45.720 photo spread of me bouncing around a trampoline park, totally 0:01:45.720 --> 0:01:48.440 oblivious to the amount of danger. I was actually in 0:01:48.640 --> 0:01:51.680 what what do you mean? What I mean I got 0:01:51.680 --> 0:01:55.120 to look that up. I didn't know that existed. I 0:01:55.240 --> 0:01:57.600 talked to you about my Instagram account like every every 0:01:57.640 --> 0:02:00.560 couple of days. Well, I mean pictures of the trampoline 0:02:00.640 --> 0:02:03.080 A and B. I'm not on Instagram at all, so 0:02:03.200 --> 0:02:07.240 I gotta like, you know what you have to what? Well, 0:02:07.280 --> 0:02:08.840 I don't know, I mean, how do you find something 0:02:08.840 --> 0:02:11.080 on Instagram if you're not on Instagram? Can you? I 0:02:11.120 --> 0:02:14.160 think you have to go? You gotta know you can? 0:02:14.280 --> 0:02:16.720 You can? You can just Google it, I believe. I'll 0:02:16.720 --> 0:02:19.080 show you later. I'll show you after this, but anyway, 0:02:19.080 --> 0:02:20.799 it's pretty great. You're gonna love it. But there was 0:02:20.880 --> 0:02:23.400 one point in time where I landed flat and this 0:02:23.480 --> 0:02:26.239 is in the photos, flat on the back of my head, 0:02:26.360 --> 0:02:29.480 upside down and there was a crack and everything, and 0:02:29.480 --> 0:02:32.720 I was like, whoa, that was crazy. But after researching 0:02:32.760 --> 0:02:36.280 this chuck, I was like, I can't wait to die 0:02:36.400 --> 0:02:39.040 and go to heaven. There is such a thing in 0:02:39.080 --> 0:02:41.840 a place. Um so I can be like, I've got 0:02:41.840 --> 0:02:45.359 to know how close was I to full body paralysis 0:02:45.400 --> 0:02:48.280 that one time at that trampoline park. And I guarantee 0:02:48.320 --> 0:02:51.200 when they tell me, I'm gonna shut her with just 0:02:51.440 --> 0:02:55.760 um uh, I don't know, some sort of proximity fear maybe, 0:02:56.200 --> 0:02:57.919 I don't know what else you would call that kind 0:02:57.919 --> 0:03:01.240 of thing. Or what if they say, uh, here, I'm 0:03:01.240 --> 0:03:03.160 going to issue a ticket number and you're gonna have 0:03:03.200 --> 0:03:07.640 to go down that wing where they handle near death experiences. 0:03:08.680 --> 0:03:11.240 That's fine, I'd go. I go spend the time. It's eternity. 0:03:11.280 --> 0:03:12.959 After all, I've got time to kill. It feels like 0:03:13.000 --> 0:03:16.000 it would be very bureaucratic. I could see that. Sure. 0:03:16.040 --> 0:03:20.360 A lot of pencil pushing. I haven't you know I 0:03:20.400 --> 0:03:24.920 had trampoline experience. In My only trampoline experience really was 0:03:24.960 --> 0:03:29.000 elementary school. Uh when we had a you know how 0:03:29.000 --> 0:03:32.639 an elementary school, at least at mine, they would have um, 0:03:32.720 --> 0:03:34.440 I don't know, you do like one sport for a 0:03:34.480 --> 0:03:38.000 month or something. Yeah, we did trampolines for a little while. 0:03:38.040 --> 0:03:41.880 And our our gym teacher was a legit um gymnast 0:03:41.920 --> 0:03:44.920 of some kind, and he could do all the things. 0:03:44.960 --> 0:03:48.440 And we and we had the uh nineteen eighties you 0:03:48.440 --> 0:03:52.360 know rectangular Uh, they weren't even the mats, as we'll learn. 0:03:52.400 --> 0:03:54.120 We'll learn all about the trampoline a minute. But the 0:03:54.160 --> 0:03:57.200 little bouncy part you bounce on it was not solid. 0:03:57.280 --> 0:04:03.440 It was like a a checkerboard. I don't understand. Well, 0:04:03.440 --> 0:04:09.280 it wasn't a solid piece of of fabric. It was invisible. 0:04:09.480 --> 0:04:12.320 It was a weave, okay, but I mean like a 0:04:12.360 --> 0:04:15.520 little tiny with with little squares in between, so like 0:04:15.600 --> 0:04:20.840 a net. Yeah. I have never seen what you're describing. Wow, 0:04:21.400 --> 0:04:24.240 but tokud go through it. So Chuck, let me ask 0:04:24.240 --> 0:04:28.080 you this thing. When did you in that when you 0:04:28.120 --> 0:04:31.440 would rotate out for new things like every month, did 0:04:31.440 --> 0:04:33.839 you guys ever do the thing where like everybody, you'd 0:04:33.880 --> 0:04:37.040 have a parachute and everybody would pull and lift the 0:04:37.080 --> 0:04:38.960 parachute up at once, and it would be somebody's turn 0:04:39.000 --> 0:04:40.599 to run underneath, and you had to make it to 0:04:40.640 --> 0:04:44.479 the other side before the parachute covered you. I remember 0:04:44.520 --> 0:04:48.600 that sort of yes, okay, Now, had your gym teacher 0:04:49.880 --> 0:04:52.159 done the opposite of that, where you put somebody in 0:04:52.200 --> 0:04:54.480 the middle of the parachute on top and everybody pulls 0:04:54.520 --> 0:04:57.000 it taught so that the person has launched in the air. 0:04:57.240 --> 0:05:01.560 The Lebowski. Yes, yeah, the Lebowski. You would have been 0:05:01.600 --> 0:05:05.640 doing what is one of the only things that somebody 0:05:05.680 --> 0:05:08.520 can point to as a predecessor to the trampoline, because 0:05:08.560 --> 0:05:12.360 it is almost virtually its own invention. Yeah, I love 0:05:12.920 --> 0:05:15.960 I love how you brought that around. Thank you. Um 0:05:16.120 --> 0:05:18.040 the Grabster wrote this for us, and he he does 0:05:18.120 --> 0:05:22.000 make a point that even before that, people just liked 0:05:22.040 --> 0:05:24.839 anything that could bounce on. It's just sort of, uh, 0:05:24.880 --> 0:05:27.960 it seems intuitive as a human that that's fun and thrilling. 0:05:28.680 --> 0:05:32.520 Whether it's like, hey, this this log that fell across 0:05:32.640 --> 0:05:36.359 the creek has some spring to it and that's fun, 0:05:36.880 --> 0:05:42.080 what you know? Sure, or this board that spans an opening. 0:05:43.040 --> 0:05:45.919 What was the opening called in that horror story? Have 0:05:46.080 --> 0:05:48.880 you lost your mind? I remember the horror Halloween horror 0:05:48.880 --> 0:05:50.960 thing that we did with the creek in the what 0:05:51.080 --> 0:05:55.800 was that called? I don't oh, oh remember there was 0:05:55.839 --> 0:05:58.200 a word and you looked it up. Yeah, and it 0:05:58.279 --> 0:06:02.320 was a specific place anyway on the board spanning that 0:06:03.279 --> 0:06:06.800 you're talking about bridges, we're talking about trampolines today you 0:06:06.920 --> 0:06:12.039 realize we're talking trampoline like hallucinating. So it's coming through 0:06:12.080 --> 0:06:16.680 loud and clear, buddy. UM. So so there's the the 0:06:17.120 --> 0:06:19.440 cloth or fabric that you could launch somebody up in 0:06:19.480 --> 0:06:25.120 the air. There was the log apparently that people jumped on. UM. 0:06:25.160 --> 0:06:28.000 But there was this kind of people figured out that 0:06:28.040 --> 0:06:30.159 it was kind of fun to get up into the air. 0:06:30.480 --> 0:06:33.000 And I saw it was one of those things. You know, 0:06:33.160 --> 0:06:35.039 we're always warning people when they ask us how to 0:06:35.080 --> 0:06:37.599 research that. If you see the same thing everywhere on 0:06:37.640 --> 0:06:41.040 the internet, it's probably wrong. I saw that about how 0:06:41.040 --> 0:06:45.920 there was there's UM in China, Iran and Egypt. There's 0:06:46.160 --> 0:06:50.200 depictions of people using trampoline like devices. Didn't see anything 0:06:50.240 --> 0:06:54.359 beyond that, so it's probably made up. But UM we 0:06:54.480 --> 0:06:57.520 can point to when the trampoline was vented, and it 0:06:57.560 --> 0:06:59.720 was actually fairly recent like what we think of the 0:06:59.760 --> 0:07:03.120 tram plane came about, and I think like the nineteen thirties, 0:07:03.200 --> 0:07:05.680 over the period of a few years. Yeah, Now, are 0:07:05.680 --> 0:07:08.360 we gonna tell people what a trampoline is? First? Are 0:07:08.360 --> 0:07:11.280 we going to talk about the history and then tell people? No, 0:07:11.480 --> 0:07:14.000 I'm glad you did this, Chuck, because yes, not only 0:07:14.040 --> 0:07:15.680 do we have what a trampoline is. I got a 0:07:15.680 --> 0:07:17.840 little a little bit of physics to to throw into 0:07:18.080 --> 0:07:21.360 I had a feeling. Okay, so a trampoline. If you've 0:07:21.400 --> 0:07:27.560 never driven out into rural Georgia, um, that's where I 0:07:27.600 --> 0:07:30.920 see them. Yeah, the people in the rural areas like 0:07:30.960 --> 0:07:33.760 the trampolines. There's not a lot to do out that's 0:07:33.800 --> 0:07:35.360 the deal. I was kind of wondering, like why do 0:07:35.440 --> 0:07:37.360 I see those when I drive out to you know, 0:07:37.440 --> 0:07:39.560 the country, But I don't see him as much in 0:07:39.720 --> 0:07:42.680 urban areas, and I think of space A and B. 0:07:42.840 --> 0:07:44.840 It's just a very cheap way to be like here 0:07:44.880 --> 0:07:47.440 you go, kids, knock yourself out for the next ten 0:07:47.520 --> 0:07:53.320 years literally literally. Alright, So, trampoline is a frame, uh 0:07:53.360 --> 0:07:55.160 that has a bouncy surface in the middle of it. 0:07:55.920 --> 0:07:59.600 The frame is a very rigid usually steal frame um 0:07:59.640 --> 0:08:03.120 and then the matt as it's called, is held together 0:08:04.080 --> 0:08:06.600 with these tight coiled springs are not held together but 0:08:06.880 --> 0:08:10.040 strapped to the frame. And it's not you know, it's 0:08:10.080 --> 0:08:12.520 those springs is where you get the bounce. It's it's 0:08:12.560 --> 0:08:16.040 not the actual material, although that could have a little 0:08:16.400 --> 0:08:19.080 bounce to it. It's got a little give because it's woven. 0:08:19.160 --> 0:08:22.960 It's like it's like a seatbelt. Yeah, so super tightly 0:08:23.040 --> 0:08:27.240 woven that that um fabric. That matt is right, and 0:08:27.280 --> 0:08:31.040 that's the larger trampolines. They do have the little smaller 0:08:31.640 --> 0:08:33.959 like I guess people used to use them to exercise 0:08:34.000 --> 0:08:36.880 and stuff like that. Did you not have one of those? Now? 0:08:36.920 --> 0:08:39.000 We never had one of those. I think I had 0:08:39.040 --> 0:08:41.480 to do with jazz or size maybe or something. So 0:08:42.440 --> 0:08:46.160 I've seen those more often at like NBA games when 0:08:46.160 --> 0:08:49.240 they bring the guys out in between the time outs 0:08:49.320 --> 0:08:52.240 or whatever and they do the high flying dunks. Yeah, 0:08:52.280 --> 0:08:54.400 those are awesome to see. Do you like those? I 0:08:54.520 --> 0:08:58.640 love watching this shot. I never get up during halftime 0:08:58.880 --> 0:09:01.480 because of that. Yeah, all right, I'm strapped to my 0:09:01.520 --> 0:09:04.040 seat you know what they should do to me, in 0:09:04.080 --> 0:09:07.960 my opinion, at every sports game ever during the halftime, 0:09:08.480 --> 0:09:11.080 the only thing they should do is have the little 0:09:11.160 --> 0:09:14.320 league teams play. Oh that gets you, huh. It's just 0:09:14.360 --> 0:09:16.079 the cutest thing ever. Like, I don't need to see 0:09:16.080 --> 0:09:19.880 a dance routine or some corny anything. But whenever they 0:09:19.880 --> 0:09:22.320 have like the five year olds out there playing basketball 0:09:22.360 --> 0:09:25.559 in the big court or football, that's that's all I need. 0:09:25.840 --> 0:09:29.680 What about the guy who's who climbs an increasingly high 0:09:29.760 --> 0:09:32.719 stack of chairs. I like that guy a lot. It's 0:09:32.720 --> 0:09:37.120 not bad spinning a plate. No, no, he just sometimes 0:09:37.160 --> 0:09:40.120 he'll do handstands on the top. It's really thrilling. You 0:09:40.200 --> 0:09:45.000 need you need to watch more halftime shows. But um, okay, 0:09:45.080 --> 0:09:48.760 So so that's basically what you described as a trampoline. 0:09:48.800 --> 0:09:51.200 That's a trampoline. There's like variations to it, for sure, 0:09:51.320 --> 0:09:56.520 there's competition trampoline's they tend to be rectangular. Um. They 0:09:56.520 --> 0:10:00.400 actually have specific dimensions because their competitions, so they have 0:10:00.480 --> 0:10:03.080 to all kind of have like a universal size, but 0:10:03.160 --> 0:10:07.080 usually something like ten feet by seventeen feet um. I 0:10:07.120 --> 0:10:08.679 think the ones that they use in college are a 0:10:08.679 --> 0:10:12.280 little smaller, but not too much. Um, did you watch 0:10:12.320 --> 0:10:15.880 any of that stuff? Yeah, it's and it's it's entrancing. Yeah, 0:10:15.920 --> 0:10:19.080 it's kind of cool because it's it's in It's not 0:10:19.200 --> 0:10:21.240 slow motion when you're the one doing the bouncing, but 0:10:21.280 --> 0:10:26.000 when you're watching it from afar, because the mind kind 0:10:26.040 --> 0:10:29.080 of makes the point from when you bounce to when 0:10:29.120 --> 0:10:33.400 you next bounce again is kind of like one complete cycle. 0:10:34.040 --> 0:10:36.200 It it does kind of take a second, so it 0:10:36.280 --> 0:10:38.199 does kind of seem like the whole thing is happening 0:10:38.200 --> 0:10:41.200 in slow motion to the mind. Is very Maybe that's 0:10:41.200 --> 0:10:45.480 why I'm tired. I think it is because you're lulled 0:10:45.520 --> 0:10:48.839 to sleep by trampoline watching. So yeah, the rectangular ones 0:10:48.880 --> 0:10:51.040 are the competition, but when you go out to the 0:10:51.080 --> 0:10:54.920 country is when you'll see the round ones, the octagonal ones, 0:10:55.040 --> 0:10:58.200 and the hexagonal ones. Yeah, and the ones that you 0:10:58.240 --> 0:11:00.679 see like that people have bought for their home use, 0:11:01.160 --> 0:11:05.080 they're very frequently they're going to have um nets around 0:11:05.120 --> 0:11:08.440 the sides so that if you start to go off 0:11:08.480 --> 0:11:10.880 the side of the trampoline, the net catches you and 0:11:10.880 --> 0:11:13.839 throws you back into the center the mat of the trampoline, 0:11:13.880 --> 0:11:15.960 which we did not have when we were children. No, 0:11:16.160 --> 0:11:18.480 we did not. It was it was your off. It 0:11:18.559 --> 0:11:20.680 was it's called thinking the herd I think was the 0:11:20.760 --> 0:11:23.040 model I had the herd thinner. Yeah. In fact, they 0:11:23.080 --> 0:11:27.719 even had a landmoat full of nails and sharp glass 0:11:27.720 --> 0:11:33.640 surrounding the trampoline. That's right, And Armadilla is with leprosy um. 0:11:33.679 --> 0:11:36.560 But the ones in competition they don't have nets. And 0:11:36.600 --> 0:11:39.080 there's a really good reason why. Not because they're they're 0:11:39.200 --> 0:11:41.800 they're devils and thrill seekers, but because the people in 0:11:41.880 --> 0:11:46.280 competitions tend to jump so high that the nets wouldn't 0:11:46.320 --> 0:11:48.840 do any good. They just go right over the side 0:11:49.080 --> 0:11:51.959 unless they had super tall nets. I guess so. But 0:11:52.080 --> 0:11:54.480 I mean, once you get into nets that are too tall, 0:11:54.480 --> 0:11:57.120 it becomes kind of cost prohibitive, you know. Yeah, Plus 0:11:57.120 --> 0:11:58.800 it looks it ended up looking like one of those 0:11:58.880 --> 0:12:02.800 uh indoor skydide tubes, right, which we've done. That was fun. 0:12:03.120 --> 0:12:05.199 It was kind of fun. And that that footage is 0:12:05.280 --> 0:12:07.560 lost forever. I can't find it anyway. Oh thank god. 0:12:07.840 --> 0:12:09.880 Oh I like that one. It wasn't me or you 0:12:09.920 --> 0:12:11.600 that got thrown against the side at the end. It 0:12:11.720 --> 0:12:13.880 was me. For those of you that don't know we're 0:12:13.880 --> 0:12:16.920 talking about, we did some Toyota commercials years ago. It 0:12:17.000 --> 0:12:19.360 was funny. We were much more marketable early on than 0:12:19.400 --> 0:12:22.800 we are now. Yeah, but yeah, they flew us out 0:12:22.800 --> 0:12:26.600 to California and we did Toyota commercial and as we 0:12:26.600 --> 0:12:32.319 were both indoor skydiving, and it was pretty interesting and fun. Yeah. 0:12:32.520 --> 0:12:35.360 I think my line was, you're just telling me that now, 0:12:36.360 --> 0:12:39.319 and then I lose control and bump into the side 0:12:39.320 --> 0:12:41.559 of the wall. That's it's harder than it looks. You 0:12:41.600 --> 0:12:43.800 don't just you know, it's very taxing on the muscles, 0:12:44.120 --> 0:12:46.440 really is. It was fun though, too. I had a 0:12:46.440 --> 0:12:51.480 good time. Should we take a break? Uh no, no, no, 0:12:51.600 --> 0:12:54.240 because we're not We're not done with this part yet. Okay, Okay, 0:12:54.240 --> 0:12:56.760 you're ready, Yes, we're We're getting there, Chuck, we're gonna 0:12:57.000 --> 0:12:59.240 By the way, I should probably explain to everybody, Chuck 0:12:59.280 --> 0:13:02.760 thinks that this is going to be like the The 0:13:02.880 --> 0:13:06.000 jackhammera episode which he and I agree is our worst 0:13:06.000 --> 0:13:09.560 episode ever. I think that that's patently wrong, So let's 0:13:09.559 --> 0:13:13.839 prove him wrong, everybody. Okay, So, um, there's one other 0:13:13.880 --> 0:13:15.439 thing I wanted to talk about before we go to 0:13:15.520 --> 0:13:18.800 break chalk, aside from where the trampoline is, which I 0:13:18.800 --> 0:13:20.680 feel like we've done a pretty good job of defining 0:13:20.720 --> 0:13:25.120 it to this point, right. The physics of a trampoline 0:13:25.160 --> 0:13:28.760 are actually pretty fascinating because if you look at the 0:13:28.800 --> 0:13:31.360 outside of the trampoline, it's like you said, that matt, 0:13:31.480 --> 0:13:34.080 that fabric that you actually jump on has a little 0:13:34.080 --> 0:13:36.320 bit of give, But where the trampoline gets the most 0:13:36.520 --> 0:13:39.840 give is from those springs that are attaching the fabric 0:13:39.960 --> 0:13:44.360 matt to the frame. Correct. Okay, So what that means 0:13:44.400 --> 0:13:47.199 then is because there's all these springs working together, the 0:13:47.280 --> 0:13:53.160 trampoline itself is actually, physics wise, a giant spring. And 0:13:53.200 --> 0:13:55.560 the reason why when you jump on a trampoline it 0:13:55.600 --> 0:13:57.719 shoots you back up into the air is because you're 0:13:57.720 --> 0:14:02.880 combining two kinds of energy. Kinetic energy, which is the movement, 0:14:02.960 --> 0:14:05.760 the energy from you jumping up and down on something, 0:14:06.360 --> 0:14:10.080 and then there's also potential elastic potential energy, which is 0:14:10.080 --> 0:14:13.640 the stored energy those springs have when they're extended and 0:14:13.679 --> 0:14:16.200 they want to go back to their normal shape. And 0:14:16.240 --> 0:14:19.400 so as all of this energy gets stretched out and 0:14:19.440 --> 0:14:23.040 then goes back to its normal tension, uh, it directs 0:14:23.040 --> 0:14:25.720 all that stored energy and that energy that's turned into 0:14:25.760 --> 0:14:28.520 actual energy towards the center, which is where you happen 0:14:28.560 --> 0:14:30.680 to be, and it launches you back up into the 0:14:30.720 --> 0:14:35.440 air somewhere. Tracy Wilson is smiling right exactly. One more 0:14:35.480 --> 0:14:39.840 thing mouth parts. So, uh, I think now we can 0:14:39.840 --> 0:15:04.560 take a break, don't you. Yes, Okay, So all right, Chuck, 0:15:04.760 --> 0:15:08.280 we're back, and I think it's time to talk a 0:15:08.320 --> 0:15:12.880 little history of trampoline. Yeah. So earlier you t s 0:15:13.040 --> 0:15:16.880 that this was sort of, um an invention of its own, 0:15:17.600 --> 0:15:20.440 like there was no predecessor really to the trampoline, aside 0:15:20.480 --> 0:15:24.840 from Inuit people tossing people up in the air Lebowski style. 0:15:26.000 --> 0:15:29.440 Uh So the credit for the trampoline is is roundly. 0:15:29.600 --> 0:15:32.320 I don't think there's anyone that disputes us, right, No, No, 0:15:32.480 --> 0:15:35.640 it's it's George Nisson, for sure. Yeah. George Nisson and 0:15:35.800 --> 0:15:42.440 a man named Larry Clark Griswold, right, um, And and 0:15:42.640 --> 0:15:44.680 we'll we'll get to their story and how Larry figured in. 0:15:44.720 --> 0:15:48.600 But it was really George Nisson's brain child, um, between 0:15:48.720 --> 0:15:50.920 nineteen thirty and nineteen thirty six. Like you said earlier, 0:15:50.920 --> 0:15:52.320 it took a little while to get it just right. 0:15:53.040 --> 0:15:56.600 But when George was a little boy in nineteen thirty. 0:15:56.720 --> 0:16:00.360 He was sixteen, I guess, medium sized boy, and he 0:16:00.440 --> 0:16:02.400 was watching the trapeze artist and you know how they 0:16:02.400 --> 0:16:05.280 have that net and they leap off the trapeze at 0:16:05.320 --> 0:16:07.680 the end and they do a flourish and they land 0:16:07.720 --> 0:16:09.840 on the net, and then they usually do a couple 0:16:09.840 --> 0:16:12.160 of little flips and then land on the net again 0:16:12.600 --> 0:16:15.280 and then that cool move where they hold onto the 0:16:15.280 --> 0:16:18.239 net and flip out and land on their feet very gracefully. 0:16:18.560 --> 0:16:22.400 Right right. Little George saw this and was like, everyone's 0:16:22.440 --> 0:16:26.160 wild about this trappeeze. He's like, the best part is 0:16:26.200 --> 0:16:28.200 that end when they get on that net. I should 0:16:28.240 --> 0:16:31.120 make one of those. Yeah. He wanted one where you 0:16:31.160 --> 0:16:34.000 didn't just bounce once basically get one bounce, but that 0:16:34.240 --> 0:16:37.320 you could just keep bouncing and bouncing and bouncing. And 0:16:37.360 --> 0:16:39.680 he's like, I'm going to go home and make something 0:16:39.760 --> 0:16:41.960 like this because he was a he was a gymnast 0:16:41.960 --> 0:16:44.040 at the time already. Yeah, that makes a lot more 0:16:44.040 --> 0:16:46.040 sense once you know that. I think exactly, he was 0:16:46.080 --> 0:16:49.680 a gymnast who went to circus performances and then was 0:16:49.800 --> 0:16:52.960 inspired by that net, and so he actually went home 0:16:53.520 --> 0:16:56.440 got I guess spare metal parts from like a junkyard 0:16:56.520 --> 0:16:59.040 from what I can tell, got his hands on a 0:16:59.080 --> 0:17:05.000 canvas mat and fixed the two things together, and um, 0:17:05.240 --> 0:17:08.600 he broke his ankles. Basically, it did not work very 0:17:08.600 --> 0:17:11.360 well at first. I mean, it had some bounce to it. 0:17:11.359 --> 0:17:14.159 It was as far as like an early proof of 0:17:14.240 --> 0:17:16.920 concept goes. It worked in that respect, but that was 0:17:16.960 --> 0:17:19.680 about it. And he called it a bouncing rig and 0:17:19.800 --> 0:17:22.159 he put it down in his parents basement, I believe, 0:17:22.240 --> 0:17:24.800 and then went off to the University of Iowa to 0:17:24.840 --> 0:17:28.879 study business and joined the gymnastics team. And joining the 0:17:28.920 --> 0:17:31.320 gymnastics team at the University of Iowa turned out to 0:17:31.359 --> 0:17:33.720 be pretty faithful because it was there that he met 0:17:34.400 --> 0:17:36.760 who the man who would become his co inventor in 0:17:36.800 --> 0:17:39.800 the trampoline, Larry Griswold. Yeah, I wonder if he if 0:17:39.880 --> 0:17:44.800 leaving that trampoline prototype and his parents basement was it 0:17:44.840 --> 0:17:47.439 had to be the first instance of what would be 0:17:47.560 --> 0:17:52.320 hundreds of thousands of many trampolines left in their parents basements. Yeah, apparently, 0:17:52.560 --> 0:17:57.000 um uh. George Nisson's dad was not all that happy 0:17:57.040 --> 0:18:00.600 about the trampoline. He was not a true lever as 0:18:00.640 --> 0:18:03.879 far as the trampoline was concerned, all right, so he 0:18:03.920 --> 0:18:08.000 goes to school, Like you said, he met coach Larry Griswold. Uh, 0:18:08.160 --> 0:18:11.919 we call him Clark around here, and I guess he 0:18:12.119 --> 0:18:13.760 thought this was a good idea. He shared it with 0:18:13.760 --> 0:18:16.080 his coach and he's like, you know what, I'm a 0:18:16.119 --> 0:18:18.240 little older, have a little more experience. Why don't you 0:18:18.320 --> 0:18:20.760 let me help you with this thing? And they built 0:18:21.320 --> 0:18:24.600 a different prototype. This time. They had a nylon matt. 0:18:24.800 --> 0:18:28.840 They used groments, which obviously made a little sturdier, and 0:18:28.920 --> 0:18:33.000 the springs they subbed in bicycle inner tubes. Yeah, because 0:18:33.080 --> 0:18:35.600 I'm not even sure that he used springs. He just 0:18:35.680 --> 0:18:38.679 somehow attached the canvas to the frame. So when they 0:18:38.720 --> 0:18:43.520 added bicycle tubes, that gave it way more give and 0:18:43.520 --> 0:18:46.399 and it worked a lot better. And they knew that 0:18:46.400 --> 0:18:48.880 they were onto something just with this they I'm sure 0:18:48.880 --> 0:18:50.840 they knew that could be improved, but they this was 0:18:50.920 --> 0:18:53.280 a pretty good first start that they worked on at 0:18:53.320 --> 0:18:57.760 the University of Iowa. Yeah, so between then and I 0:18:57.800 --> 0:19:02.040 guess nineteen thirty seven, Um, they introduced the steel coils 0:19:02.080 --> 0:19:05.320 in nineteen thirty four, and they really had the trampoline 0:19:05.320 --> 0:19:08.280 going at this point. Um, although it was not called 0:19:08.280 --> 0:19:13.320 the trampoline until uh Nissen in nineteen thirty seven, traveled 0:19:13.320 --> 0:19:17.199 all over North America performing routines under the name with 0:19:17.240 --> 0:19:20.040 two of his friends under the name the Three Leonardo's, 0:19:20.760 --> 0:19:24.480 which is very ninety seven thing to do. Uh. And 0:19:24.520 --> 0:19:26.800 they went to Mexico and they learned that there was 0:19:26.960 --> 0:19:31.359 a a name, a Spanish name for this bouncing rib 0:19:31.880 --> 0:19:36.160 rig like the springboard called a trampoline or I guess 0:19:36.280 --> 0:19:39.359 lean without the E on the end. And he said, Hey, 0:19:39.480 --> 0:19:41.720 I'm just gonna add an E on the end trademark 0:19:41.800 --> 0:19:45.879 that thing. And uh, I've appropriated something from another culture. 0:19:47.280 --> 0:19:50.760 I read I read on educator pages dot com that 0:19:50.880 --> 0:19:53.720 he while down in Mexico he learned the Mexican word 0:19:53.760 --> 0:20:00.200 for springboard was trampoline. Yeah, the Mexican word. Oh, that's 0:20:00.200 --> 0:20:03.720 what they said on educator pages dot com. I was 0:20:03.800 --> 0:20:06.720 just disappointed enough that I wanted to point it out. Well, 0:20:06.760 --> 0:20:10.359 I mean, sure, there are Mexican specific words, this is 0:20:10.400 --> 0:20:14.119 not one of them. Okay, this is the Spanish word. 0:20:14.200 --> 0:20:17.240 I got you. I was just trying to make that clear. So, 0:20:17.480 --> 0:20:20.920 um so, George, this is like, this is great. I've 0:20:20.920 --> 0:20:24.200 been calling this thing a bouncing rig, but this tramplin 0:20:24.280 --> 0:20:26.679 word is way better. I'm going to call this a trampoline, 0:20:26.720 --> 0:20:30.560 like Chuck said, and um in trade market. And that 0:20:30.680 --> 0:20:35.080 was a huge, huge improvement for this thing because they 0:20:35.080 --> 0:20:37.120 had something. By this time, they had a really great 0:20:37.160 --> 0:20:39.560 invention going. But now they had a name and kind 0:20:39.600 --> 0:20:42.240 of a catchy name and one that even made sense 0:20:42.280 --> 0:20:44.520 as well. A springboard, by the way, is one of 0:20:44.560 --> 0:20:46.960 those you know those little um things you jump on 0:20:47.040 --> 0:20:51.040 to get onto the pole or the pommel horse. Yeah, 0:20:51.080 --> 0:20:56.560 that's a springboard, yeah, or or what's it called the vault? 0:20:56.600 --> 0:20:59.680 Is that what they used for the vault? Yes? Right, yeah, 0:21:00.160 --> 0:21:02.280 So this is kind of what what inspired him to 0:21:02.280 --> 0:21:05.240 say that is somewhat tied to this is a great name. 0:21:05.520 --> 0:21:07.760 I'll probably never sell one of these in Mexico. I'm 0:21:07.800 --> 0:21:10.240 just gonna take it and like you said, appropriate it. 0:21:10.400 --> 0:21:12.680 So now he had a great invention, he had a name, 0:21:13.359 --> 0:21:16.960 and he and griz Wald founded the griz Waldniss And 0:21:17.520 --> 0:21:23.120 Trampoline and Tumbling Company UM in nine two and started 0:21:23.119 --> 0:21:26.600 selling these things, not exactly like hot cakes at first. 0:21:26.920 --> 0:21:30.720 I believe they sold ten in their first year, and 0:21:30.760 --> 0:21:35.160 George Nisson's dad suggested that they had satisfied the world's 0:21:35.240 --> 0:21:38.320 need for trampolines by this time. In the first ten 0:21:39.400 --> 0:21:42.480 I'm telling you he wasn't really on board. He's but 0:21:42.560 --> 0:21:45.199 his son ended up really rubbing the dog poop in 0:21:45.240 --> 0:21:49.160 his dad's face because trampoline started to take off pretty quick. 0:21:49.480 --> 0:21:53.600 So they both agreed though, the two partners, Griswaldnis and 0:21:53.680 --> 0:21:56.720 that in order to sell this thing, they had to 0:21:56.760 --> 0:21:58.640 demonstrate it. It's not the kind of thing you can 0:21:58.680 --> 0:22:01.879 just it was so revolutionary, my friends, that they couldn't 0:22:01.880 --> 0:22:06.520 just throw an ad up. But at the time, Griswald, 0:22:06.880 --> 0:22:11.679 the former coach, had a little touring routine a diving. 0:22:11.720 --> 0:22:14.520 They were both divers. I don't think we mentioned that, like, uh, 0:22:14.640 --> 0:22:18.400 you know, competitive divers. George Nisson was too. Oh yeah, 0:22:18.480 --> 0:22:20.800 Thissen well, not a competitor or not a professional, but 0:22:20.840 --> 0:22:23.040 he was. He did two things he would did gymnastics 0:22:23.080 --> 0:22:27.800 and diving. So Griswald was touring the country doing a 0:22:27.800 --> 0:22:31.959 comedy act, a diving board comedy act, uh called what 0:22:32.000 --> 0:22:34.320