Interesting Facts About the History of Bounce House Rentals
Mr. John Scurlock, an engineer living in Center, Texas, graduated from Texas A&M University, and then moved to New Orleans, La. He was a World War II veteran and worked on creating products for the likes of the oil and gas industry and NASA. It was largely due to his work with the latter which gives us
today.
When working with plastic materials, he soon became interested in the numerous creative possibilities. He started his project in 1959 to create a cushioned cover for tennis courts, however, when designing a prototype he saw his employees using the covers to jump up and down on. These fun-loving workers were the first people to comprehend the simple joy of bounce houses.
They were not originally referred to as bounce houses back then. They were not even in a house shape, as the prototypes had no walls. Scurlock and his wife, Frances, opened a company called Space Walk in order to manufacture his new invention. Sadly, Scurlock passed away in 2008 and, according to his obituary, his invention provided tremendous joy to people all across the world. Interestingly enough, he was also the inventor of the large air cushion that was used by rescue crews to catch people that fell from buildings. This same invention can be seen in use by Hollywood stuntmen.
Take Off
It was not until John Scurlock’s son, Frank, who decided to expand his parents’ business nationwide, providing the company’s inflatables for hire. In the late 1980s, he then expanded into play park inflatables, which have grown in popularity. The first inflatables had no walls
and were just an air cushion. Later, in the 1960s, the walls were added, however, it resulted in inflatable becoming too hot. In 1974, cushioned, inflatable columns were included in the design. We at Keep It Jumping hoped you enjoyed our little walk down memory lane, for more information on our
bounce house rentals
in the Keep It Jumping area, call us now at (916) 995-5030.