The Childrens Museum of Indianapolis - Sled

Flexible Flyer is a toy and recreational equipment brand, best known for the sled of the same name, a steerable wooden

sled A sled, skid, sledge, or sleigh is a land vehicle that slides across a surface, usually of ice or snow. It is built with either a smooth underside or a separate body supported by two or more smooth, relatively narrow, longitudinal runners ...

with steel runners.

Operation

Flexible Flyers are flexible both in design and usage. Riders may sit upright on the sled or lie on their stomachs, allowing the possibility to descend a snowy slope feet-first or head-first. To steer the sled, riders may either push on the wooden cross piece with their hands or feet, or pull on the rope attached to the wooden cross-piece. Shifting the cross-piece one way or the other causes the flexible rails to bend, turning the sled.

History

Samuel Leeds Allen Samuel Leeds Allen (May 5, 1841 – March 28, 1918) was the founder of S.L. Allen & Company in Philadelphia. He was the inventor of, and his company manufactured, both the Flexible Flyer sled and Planet Jr farm and garden equipment. For over one ...

patented A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...

the Flexible Flyer in 1889 in Cinnaminson, New Jersey using local children and adults to test prototypes. Allen's company flourished by selling these speedy and yet controllable sleds at a time when others were still producing

toboggans A toboggan is a simple sled traditionally used by children. It is also a traditional form of transport used by the Innu and Cree of northern Canada. In modern times, it is used on snow to carry one or more people (often children) down a hill ...

and "gooseneck" sleds. Allen began producing sleds in his

farm equipment Agricultural machinery relates to the mechanical structures and devices used in farming or other agriculture. There are many types of such equipment, from hand tools and power tools to tractors and the countless kinds of farm implements that th ...

factory to keep his workers busy even when it was not the farm season. He developed many prototypes before he created the Flexible Flyer. The sleds did not sell well until he began marketing them to the toy departments of

department stores A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic appea ...

. In 1915, around 120,000 Flexible Fliers were sold, and almost 2,000 Flexible Flyers were sold in one day. In 1968, Leisure Group of Los Angeles, California bought the S. L. Allen Company. Leisure Group continued to produce Flexible Flyers in

Medina, Ohio Medina ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Medina County, Ohio, United States. The population was 26,094 at the 2020 Census. It lies about 33 miles (53 km) south of Cleveland and 23 miles (37 km) west of Akron within the Cleve ...

. In 1973, a group of

private investors An angel investor (also known as a business angel, informal investor, angel funder, private investor, or seed investor) is an individual who provides capital for a business or businesses start-up, usually in exchange for convertible debt or owner ...

bought Leisure Group's toy division and started manufacturing the sleds under the name "Blazon Flexible Flyer" in

West Point, Mississippi West Point is a city in Clay County, Mississippi, United States, in the Golden Triangle region of the state. The population was 11,307 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Clay County and the principal city of the West Point Micropolita ...

. In 1993, Roadmaster purchased the rights to production and moved production to

Olney, Illinois Olney ( ) is the county seat in Richland County, Illinois. The population was 9,115 at the time of the 2010 census. History Settlement of the Richland County area began around 1815 when Thaddeus Morehouse, a native of Vermont, arrived by wa ...

, and in 1998, production was moved to China. , Flexible Flyers are mostly made in China and some are made in South Paris, Maine by Paricon, Inc.

Examples

File:Flexible Flyer on Tree.jpg, Flexible Flyer leaning against a tree File:Flexible Flyers in Snow.jpg, Flexible Flyers in the snow File:Boy on snow sled, 1945.jpg, Boy on a Flexible Flyer, 1945

References

External links

About Paricon SledsU.S. Patent 408,681Biographical information about Samuel L. Allen
{{DEFAULTSORT:Flexible Flyer American inventions Sledding Sports equipment Sliding vehicles