subject: Tthe Space Hopper A History [print this page] The first retro space hopper was named PON-PON, and was the invention of an Italian who was named Aquilino Cosani, and worked for Ledragomma, north east Italy.
In 1968 Aquilino patented the PON-PON in Italy, and in 1969 was introduced into the UK through an advert placed in the Cambridge Evening News periodical. Aquilino Cosani patented the PON-PON in 1971 in the USA. The United States already had a toy similar to the space hopper that people bounced on, and this ball was built by the Sun company, and was named Hoppity Hop. All toys of this type are referred to as Hippity Hop or Hoppity Hop these days, due to the prevalence of the original toy distributed and produced by the Sun company.
In the United Kingdom the retro space hopper (United Kingdom name) was created by Mettoy, which later became Mettoy-Corgi. Another company created a different version of the bouncing toy, but this one had smooth handles for the rider to hold, whereas the very first had opted for ribbed handles in order to provide better grip. The other company went by the name of Wembley.
To begin with the hoppers were made up of a handle in the shape of a ring on the top of the toy which was gripped by the rider, and were constructed from rubber. These hoppers were supplied in a choice of two colours, either red colour or blue colour. Sun created themed versions of the ridable bouncy ball during the 1970s, which featured a hard plastic bust attached to the space hopper in the shape of some favourite fictional character. A couple of the more popular fictional characters used were Donald Duck and Micky Mouse.
The space hopper was very popular during the 1960s and 1970s, with a resurgence of interest in the United Kingdon during the 1990s, thanks to the rave culture of the time, where the bouncing balls were recognised asa part of the scene. In America due to an arrival of competition from foreign developers of the hopper the Hoppity Hop's popularity waned and finally the production of the USA version of the hopper halted.
To begin with the US version of the toy, the Hoppity Hop, was targeted at both adults and kids, but due to the small size of the largest version, it was usable by by people beyond a certain height unless the adult was similar to a kid in size.
Europe of the 1990s brought a version of the hopper was called the Hop, and was built by the Italian company Ledragomma / Ledraplastic. These were fashioned from a common ball used for exercise at the time called Gymnic exercise balls. These space hoppers had a maximum size of 26 inches..
Modern day hoppers - Sizes for adults have become very popular in later year and can be found in sizes of 80cm, 100cm and 120cm. They are in the main of a stronger construction than the original rideable bouncy balls, having very much denser skins and usually built from vinyl.
