Up in the Air

It was inevitable, of course, that someone would invent a boomerang shaped like a space station, which can be flown by an eight-year-old. The someone is William C. Knox Jr., and all the indications are that he is about to become rich while the rest of the world ducks.

Knox's brainchild, the Orbiteer, is to the Frisbie* what the Fairlane is to the model T. An 18-in. soft-plastic disk of six blades extending from the hub, with a handle shaped like the ionizer of a space station, it is thrown into the wind on an axis perpendicular to the ground. Depending on the throw, it scoots along for 50 ft. to 100 ft., then tips to a horizontal plane and zooms upward as high as 50 ft.

before spinning gently back into the waiting hand of its human launching pad.

Inventor Knox, 35, a designer of medical instruments, owns the Orbiteer outright through the Knox Instrument Co., of which he is president. Orders for the Orbiteer have already run over 775,000.

After four throws, the Standard Oil Co. of California bought exclusive West Coast rights, is selling the Orbiteer as a trade premium through gas stations for $1.49 (regular price: about $2.50). Standard unloaded 90,000 in Southern California the first week. A marketing firm retained by Knox Instruments estimates a U.S. market of 25 million the first year, and negotiations are under way to sell the toy in Canada, Bermuda, Mexico, England and Belgium. Look out!

* A saucer-shaped disk skimmed into the air to be caught (perhaps) by a fellow Frisbier.

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