Pedro Flores (inventor) facts for kids

Pedro Edralin Flores (born April 26, 1896 – died January 3, 1964) was a businessman from the Philippines. He became famous for making and selling yo-yos. Many people say he helped make yo-yos very popular in the United States. He even got a special patent for a new way to make yo-yos. This new design used a loop instead of a knot around the middle part (axle). This simple change made it possible to do cool new tricks, like making the yo-yo "sleep" at the end of the string.

Early Life and Big Ideas

Pedro Flores was born in Vintar, Ilocos Norte, a place in the Philippines. He moved to the United States in 1915. He went to high school in San Francisco. Later, he studied law at the University of California, Berkeley and the Hastings College of Law.

But Pedro decided to leave school. He moved to Santa Barbara, California. There, he worked different small jobs to earn money. One day, while working as a bellboy, he read an article. It was about a person who became rich by selling a ball with a rubber band. This made Pedro remember something from his home country. He thought about the yo-yo, a toy that had been played in the Philippines for hundreds of years.

Pedro saw a great chance to start his own business. He realized that yo-yos could be very popular in the U.S.

Flores Yo-yos: A New Spin

Flores Yo-yo (Circ. 1928-1929)

Between 1928 and 1932, Pedro Flores started his own company. It was called the Yo-yo Manufacturing Company. He set it up in Santa Barbara, California. Later, he sold his company and its special name (trademark) to another famous yo-yo maker, Duncan. Duncan continued to sell Flores yo-yos along with their own.

At first, Pedro made yo-yos by hand for kids in his neighborhood. But soon, he bought machines to make them much faster. About a year after he started, his company was selling 300,000 yo-yos every year!

Pedro Flores is known for making the yo-yo famous in the U.S. However, he never said he invented the yo-yo. Yo-yos came to the Philippines in the 1800s. The word "yóyo" comes from the Tagalog language. It means "come and go" or "come back."

Pedro Flores is sometimes called the first person to get a patent for the yo-yo in the U.S. While he didn't patent the very first yo-yo, his patent was special. It included the Filipino idea of using a loop instead of a knot around the axle. This is called an "unresponsive yo-yo." It allows for many more tricks, like the "sleep" trick. Being able to do tricks was a big reason why Flores' yo-yos sold so well. He even created some of the first yo-yo trick competitions!

Pedro Flores stayed involved with yo-yos for most of his life. He helped start other yo-yo companies too. He even promoted yo-yo contests with Duncan in the 1930s.

Working with Duncan

Between 1930 and 1932, Pedro Flores sold his yo-yo companies to Donald F. Duncan Sr. He sold them for a very large sum of money. This was a huge amount, especially during the tough economic times of the 1930s.

Pedro once said, "I am more interested in teaching children to use the yo-yos than I am in manufacturing of yo-yos." He truly meant it. After selling his company, he became a key person in Duncan's early yo-yo campaigns.

In 1931 and 1932, Pedro helped set up many yo-yo promotions in cities. These were places where Duncan's first yo-yo contests were held. These new Duncan contests were different from the ones Pedro ran earlier. They asked for a series of tricks, much like modern yo-yo contests. If there was a tie, they would break it by seeing who could do the most "loop the loops."