Flying discs (commonly called frisbees) are disc-shaped objects, which are generally plastic and roughly 20 to 25 centimeters (8–10 inches) in diameter, with a lip. The shape of the disc, an airfoil in cross-section, allows it to fly by generating lift as it moves through the air while rotating. The name Frisbee is a registered trademark of the Wham-O toy company, but is often used uncapitalized generically to describe all flying discs.
Flying discs are thrown and caught for recreation, and as part of many different flying disc games. A wide range of flying disc variants are available commercially. Disc golf discs are usually smaller but denser and are tailored for particular flight profiles to increase/decrease stability and distance. Disc dog sports use relatively slow flying discs made of more pliable material to better resist a dog's bite and prevent injury to the dog. Ring shaped discs are also available which typically fly significantly farther than any traditional flying disc. There are illuminated discs meant for night time play that use phosphorescent plastic, or battery powered light emitting diodes. There are also discs that whistle when they reach a certain velocity in flight.
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The clay target used in trapshooting, almost identical to a flying disc in shape, was designed in the 19th century. The modern day era of flying discs began with the concept of designing and selling a commercially-produced flying disc.[1] In 1946 Walter Frederick Morrison sketched out plans for a disc he called the Whirlo-Way, which, co-developed and financed by Warren Franscioni in 1948, became the very first commercially produced plastic flying disc, marketed under the name Flyin-Saucer. Morrison had just returned to the US after World War II, where he had been a prisoner of war. His partnership with Franscioni, who was also a war veteran, ended in 1950, before their product had achieved any real success.
In 1955, Morrison produced a new plastic flying disc called the Pluto Platter, to cash in on the growing popularity of UFOs with the American public. The Pluto Platter became the design basis for later flying discs. In 1957, Wham-O began production of more discs (then still marketed as Pluto Platters). The next year, Morrison was awarded US Design Patent 183,626 for his flying disc.
In 1957,[2] Wham-O co-founder Richard Knerr, decided to stimulate sales by giving the discs the additional brand name "Frisbee" (pronounced "FRIZ'-bee"), after hearing that East Coast college students were calling the Pluto Platter by that name. The man who was behind the Frisbee's phenomenal success however was "Steady" Ed Headrick, hired in 1964 as Wham-O's new General Manager and Vice President in charge of marketing. Headrick soon redesigned the Pluto Platter by reworking the rim thickness, and top design, creating a more controllable disc that could be thrown accurately. [3]
Sales soared for the toy, which was marketed as a new sport. In 1964, the first "professional" model went on sale. Headrick patented the new design as the Frisbee patent, highlighting the “Rings of Headrick” and marketed and pushed the professional model Frisbee and "Frisbee" as a sport. (US Patent 3,359,678).[4]
Headrick, commonly known as the "Father of Disc Sports",[5] later founded "The International Frisbee Association (IFA)" and began establishing standards for various sports using the Frisbee such as Distance, Freestyle and Guts. Upon his death, Headrick was cremated, and his ashes, in accordance with his final requests, were molded into memorial Frisbees and given to family and close friends.[6]
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Lift is generated in primarily the same way as a traditional asymmetric airfoil, that is, by accelerating upper airflow such that a pressure difference gives rise to a lifting force. Small ridges near the leading edge act as turbulators, reducing flow separation by forcing the airflow to become turbulent after it passes over the ridges.
The rotating flying disc has a vertical angular momentum vector, stabilizing its attitude gyroscopically. Depending on the cross-sectional shape of the airfoil, the amount of lift generated by the front and back parts of the disc may be unequal. If the disc were not spinning, this would tend to make it pitch. When the disc is spinning, however, such a torque would cause it to precess about the roll axis, causing its trajectory to curve to the left or the right. Most discs are designed to be aerodynamically stable, so that this roll is self-correcting for a fairly broad range of velocities and rates of spin. However, many disc golf discs are intentionally designed to be unstable. Higher rates of spin lead to better stability, and for a given rate of spin, there is generally a range of velocities that are stable.
Even a slight deformation in a disc (called a "Taco," as extreme cases look like a taco shell) can cause adverse affects when throwing long range. It can be observed by holding the disc horizontally at eye level and looking at the rim while slowly rotating the disc.
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"Frisbee" is brand name by Wham-O for their flying disc. Other companies such as Discraft and DareDevil also make flying discs.
A flying disc is a flat round object with a thick rim. The rim make the disc easier to grip and throw, and also keeps the disc from turning over as it flies. Detailed throwing instructions are below, but the basic goal is to throw the disc while also making the disc spin.
Also mentioned below is a flying ring, made under the brand name Aerobie. Although these designs are very different, they both use air resistance in the same way to fly.
Unlike the Aerobie, flying discs are used in both Ultimate Frisbee and Disc Golf. The Frisbee brand of flying disc is rarely used in official competition in either game, which is why the team sport of Ultimate Frisbee is officially called simply "Ultimate." Still, as "Kleenex" was once a word used to mean "facial tissue," "Frisbee" is still broadly used as a synonym for a flying disc.
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The Aerobie Superdisk is an alternative design of flying disc that, although somewhat differently shaped, still has very similar properties to the conventional disc. It has less air resistance. Because there is less resistance to motion, the Aerobie discs can fly farther than the conventional disc. The Aerobie flying ring has minimal drag and holds the world record for the longest flight by a human-thrown projectile. However, due to the lack of a rim, the Aerobie is less suited to angled, curved flights and air-bouncing.[needs proof]
The spin of the disc helps to keep the disc stable in flight and prevent unplanned tilting. This is because a large angular momentum stabilises the disc in the same way that it keeps a gyroscope steady, with the angular force forcing the mass of the disc away from the centre of mass, perpendicular to the axis of rotation. Any unequal force acting on a particular area of the disc is quickly redirected to be equal over the circumference of the disc.
As the disc spins faster, it becomes more stable due to the rapidity of the equalisation of forces.
The force required to accelerate the disc is directly proportional to the mass of the disc. This decreases the acceleration of the disc, assuming that the force of projection is constant. Therefore, discs come in a variety of weights, although those used for Ultimate are mainly 175 g in mass, heavier than the majority of discs and considerably heavier than an aerobie.
Flying discs (including Frisbees) can be thrown in many ways. All involve spinning the disc to give it gyroscopic stability, and accelerating its mass to a certain velocity. Without spin, a disc will wobble and fall; without velocity, the disc will not go anywhere. Using these two guidelines, any number of throws are possible. Most discs are designed to create lift when thrown with the flat side up.
Right-side up throws are all similar in that they react the same way to the tilt of the disc when it is released. A disc thrown right-side up will accelerate in the direction of the low end of the disc. A disc tilted leading-edge up will lose speed at the end of the throw and make a gentle landing; if tilted sideways (known in aeronautics terms as roll), it can curve around objects.
There is a language for describing throws that curve. Both descriptions are relative to the direction the person is facing and intends to throw. This axis is marked in red in the picture.
This is probably the most commonly learned throw, and also one of the most powerful.
| [[File:|thumb|100px|Backhand Grip, Top View]] |
[[File:|thumb|100px|Backhand Grip, Bottom View]] |
This throw is also known as the flick, two-finger, or the side-arm. Focused in the wrist, this throw takes little time to execute. Along with the backhand, it is one of the two most common throws used in Ultimate.
[[File:|thumb|100px|left|Forehand Grip, Top View]] [[File:|thumb|100px|left|Forehand Grip, Bottom View]]
The forehand is a versatile throw, and can be adapted to many different situations.
| [[File:|thumb|100px|right|Push Pass Grip, Top View]] | [[File:|thumb|100px|right|Push Pass Grip, Bottom View]] |
The Push Pass: A relatively little-used throw, it is thrown with a grip similar to a backhand (index finger on the outer rim of the disc, thumb on top, other fingers curled underneath) but is released on the forehand side from a forehand stance. A pronating wrist snap similar to a forehand release pushes the disc forward, while spin is imparted "backwards" by rolling the disc off the index finger. A final flick of the index finger finishes the release. It is difficult to impart as much spin to the push pass as one can typically impart to a forehand or backhand, resulting in a less stable throw. It is useful in Ultimate for very short throws released to the forehand side.
The thumber forehand is also known as a The Beach Thumber, Peach, or in the sport of guts, simply as a thumber. Its primary advantage is that it can be thrown quite hard and with a great amount of spin, and is relatively easy to learn. It is often seen used in a game of Guts due to its power and velocity. It is unpopular in Ultimate due to several disadvantages when compared to the standard forehand. It is relatively difficult to impart different curves or release angles to, it is harder to release extended away from the thrower's body, and it makes for slow grip transitions to a backhand or hammer.
| [[File:|thumb|100px|right|Beach Grip, Top View]] | [[File:|thumb|100px|right|Beach Grip, Bottom View]] |
The Overhand (also known as Hungarian, flamingo, dragonwing, windmill , waffle , discus, wrist-hook, chicken wing , or biscuit) is rarely used among ultimate players, because the alternative, the traditional forehand, allows greater sideways arm extension, useful in moving the disc around defenders. The Overhand is most useful when the disc is caught above the head and must be thrown quickly without changing grips, such as during a Greatest attempt.
| [[File:|thumb|100px|left|Overhand Grip, Top View]] | [[File:|thumb|75px|left|Overhand Grip, Bottom View]] |
The Duck (also known as a bear claw, a duder, or a useless) is thrown with a similar grip to the Overhand, except it is the backward version of it. While the Overhand is thrown with counter-clockwise spin (for right-handers), the duck is thrown with clockwise spin. It is usually thrown with the arm out to the side or above the head. It is called the duck due to the shape of the gripping hand during the throw, as if making a duck shadow puppet. This throw is used in attempts at The Greatest (jumping out of bounds and throwing the Frisbee back in to play while in the air).
A disc thrown upside-down has a very different flight path than one thrown right-side up. The lift force does not enforce stable flight as it does on a right-side up disc, resulting in a more of a parabolic arc in flight. As with a right-side up throw, however, the flight path of the disc will curve toward the lower edge. This banking effect is most pronounced when the disc is at a 45 degree angle, and less pronounced when it is near-vertical, or near-horizontal.
Gyroscopic precession causes the disc to rotate toward horizontal through its flight path. Unlike a right-side up throw, however, an upside-down disc will not precess toward a stable flat state, and will in stead oscillate past horizontal and begin to bank in the opposite direction. This shuttlecock-like effect is known as "helixing", and is generally avoided due to the difficulty in controlling a helixing flight path. For this reason, an upside down throw is typically released with either clockwise rotation and the left edge up, or counterclockwise rotation and the right edge up. The longer the disc is expected to remain in the air, the closer to vertical it must be at release to avoid the helixing effect.
The Hammer is gripped just like a normal forehand throw, and is generally a mid-range, high and arching throw.
A hammer, when thrown by a right-handed thrower, will arc up and to the left as it moves away from the thrower, and will bank towards the right in flight. The banking effect will be more pronounced if the disc is thrown higher and spends more flight time near a 45 degree angle.
Another upside-down variant of the forehand, the scoober (also known as the "Spoon pass" or Hiawatha) is similar to a hammer, but released away from the body from a backhand stance, instead of over the head from a forehand stance. The scoober travels in a path similar to the hammer, although the initial release is typically more flat than a hammer release. Although it is more difficult to impart power to a scoober than a hammer, a scoober can be an effective short-range (10 to 20 yards/meters) throw and is used in Ultimate for breaking the mark and to throw over defenders in a zone defense.
The Thumber (not to be confused with the thumber forehand) is a throw that is rarely used in competitive play, compared to the Hammer or standard forehand. It has a flight path that is the mirror-image of the Hammer (arcing high and to the right for a right-handed thrower). It can be useful when the disc needs to drop quickly and fly with an opposite curve to a Hammer in order to avoid defenders.
| [[File:|thumb|100px|left|Thumber Grip, Bottom View]] | [[File:|thumb|100px|left|Thumber Grip, Bottom View]] |
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