Frisbee Plastics, the original molder. After learning that he could produce his own disc more cheaply, in 1955 Morrison designed a new model, the Pluto Platter, the archetype of all modern flying discs. He sold the rights to Wham-O on January 23, 1957, and in 1958 Morrison was awarded U.S. Design Patent D183,626 for his product. In June 1957, Wham-O co-founders Richard Knerr and Arthur "Spud" Melin gave the disc the brand name "Frisbee" (pronounced "friz'-bee") after learning that Northeastern college students were calling the Pluto Platter by that term, which derived from the name of the Connecticut-based pie manufacturer, Frisbie
Pluto (Disney) so we had to look for something else. ... We changed it to Pluto the Pup ... but I don't honestly remember why." Disney says they have no documents to support or refute the connection. Unofficially, even Disney's animators believed that Walt Disney chose the name to capitalize on the sensation of the newly named planet. Pluto was initially a minor character until 1934 when Disney animator Norm Ferguson gave the dog a key role in the cartoon "Playful Pluto". Pluto becomes entangled with a sticky piece of flypaper, and Ferguson expanded the sequence significantly. The segment became a classic,