The Past History of Trampolines

The Inuit people were probably the first ones to indulge in a sport activity that resembled the trampoline in many respects. They used walrus skins to toss one another into the air. One person sat on the rug while three or four people held it and tossed the seated person into the air. Christopher Freville says that there is evidence that people in Europe too played a similar game using blankets instead of rugs. Today’s trampolines are mostly based on the same principle. The fabric that the bounce mats of today’s trampolines are made of is non-elastic just like the rugs and blankets used in olden days. The actual elastic action comes from the springs that hold the mat in place. This kind of activity was sometimes also administered as a punishment in olden days as portrayed in Don Quixote.

The early part of the 1900s saw a number of performers use a kind of bouncing bed to amuse audiences. Though these may not be the actual predecessors of the modern day trampoline, the idea for today’s apparatus may have evolved from these early devices. These were mainly used by professional clowns in circuses to enact their comedy routines. An artiste named Du Trampolin may have been the first one to develop the device as implied by circus folklore. The safety nets used by trapeze artistes gave him the idea to use a similar mechanism to propel people into the air. Christopher Freville however suggests that it might probably be a myth since there is absolutely no documentary evidence to support the idea.

It was George Nissen and Larry Griswold who built the first trampoline in 1934 that resembled the modern day version of the device. While Griswold happened to be a tumbler in his gymnastics team, Nissen was a diving competitor who was also proficient in gymnastics. Both of them hailed from the University of Iowa, USA. Being inspired by trapeze artistes entertaining audiences and adding value to their performances by using these comedy routines, the duo started experimenting with their own versions of the device. They cut holes in a piece of canvas that were strengthened with grommets and used coiled springs to suspend the canvas within a surrounding iron frame.

According to Nissen, ‘trampolín’ in Spanish meant diving board. In the late 1930s while demonstrating his device during a tour in Mexico, Nissen came across the term and wanted to use it as the trademark for their invention. Christopher Freville says that the year 1942 saw the birth of the Griswold-Nissen Trampoline & Tumbling Company. The company started the commercial production of trampolines in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Christopher Freville also documents the use of the trampoline in various other activities as well. For instance, the trampoline has become an integral part of a game known as Spaceball where two teams with two players each play the game on a single large trampoline. The United States Navy Flight School used the trampoline to train its pilots and navigators during World War II. The device was also used later to train American and Soviet astronauts during the post-war development of the space flight program.

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