George Nissen is chiefly known as the inventor of the trampoline.

It all began with a visit to the circus. As a youngster, George Nissen loved going to the circus with his brother Paul. What kid doesn’t enjoy the circus?

George was in awe of the trapeze artists flying through the air with the greatest of ease.

He was especially thrilled when the performance was almost over, because, one after another, the trapeze artists would swing as high as possible, release the trapeze bar, perform flips and twists, and then land on the safety net.

Some of the highly-skilled performers would rebound into the air and perform even more aerial tricks. This gave George the idea of a device that would allow a person to jump into the air over and over again.

Inspired by the circus

This photo with George and the other people jumping on his trampolines was taken in the Nissen Corporation gym, Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

The trampoline that George is jumping on is called a Goliath trampoline, also known to trampolinists as a 7 by 14 which denotes the width and length of the bed in feet.

Also seen in the photo directly behind George is a fitness trampoline.

At the top of the photo is a Spaceball trampoline which is a game played on the trampoline that is a combination of basketball and volleyball, with the added element of trampoline.

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After creating and succeeding with his original trampoline idea, he saw the possibilities for other trampolines with different shapes and sizes intended for different purposes. This photo shows only a handful of his creations.