The History of Space Hoppers

The Space hopper was invented by two British inventors, Reginald Thomas Bennett and John Edward Orme, who patented their invention in the UK on 27 January 1968, under GB Patent number 1147314, they also Patented their invention in the US,filing it on 8 April 1968 and having it registered on 14 July 1970 under Patent number 3520534.  They named their invention Ridable Bouncing Ball.

Space hoppers were introduced to the UK in 1969 — the Cambridge Evening News newspaper, England, contained an advertisement for the hopper in November of that year and described it as a "trend".  Although in practical terms they served absolutely no useful purpose whatsoever (in that they didn’t allow the user to go faster, bounce higher, or run further than they could on foot), nevertheless they became a major craze during the late 1960s/early 1970s.