Bouncy Castle

The bouncy castle, also known internationally as a Bouncy House, Moonwalk, Space Jump, Jolly Jump and many other names, is a staple of good quality children's parties in the UK and USA and has been since the first company stared hiring them out in 1968.
Bouncy Castle
Author: Rabbie
The bouncy castle, also known internationally as a Bouncy House, Moonwalk, Space Jump, Jolly Jump and many other names, is a staple of good quality children's parties in the UK and USA and has been since the first company stared hiring them out in 1968. They were invented by former Nasa engineer and physics enthusiast John Scurlock in Shreveport, Louisiana in 1959. John was experimenting with making inflatable covers for tennis courts, when he noticed that his workers enjoyed jumping on them. This gave him the idea to try creating inflatables for kids. The first was basically an inflatable mattress with netting walls attached. After much testing by his 3 children (and their dog, Charlie) John realised that more security was required and so he created the 4 column system with a net wall between them that is so often seen in America today. In the UK, in 1978, plastic manufacturer Richard Hopkirk created the first bouncy castle where 3 out of 4 walls were inflatable, with the front left open for entry, exit and supervision. These Hop Castles, as the company was known, became the standard in the UK and are what is usually seen to this date (although Hopkirk failed to patent his castle and the design is used by many companies).
The invention of the bouncy castle led to other inflatables being made, such as the increasingly popular inflatable mattresses that many people use as their guest bed, inflatable toys such as cars and animals and even inflatable tents. There is also a growing popularity in summer of having inflatable slides at kids parties too, will the inflatable fun never end? We hope not.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/history-articles/bouncy-castle-2090617.html
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