This week’s “Museum Feature of the Week”, is a Flexible Flyer! Built in the late 1920s, this flexible flyer No. 2 E sled was owned and used in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. This sled was made in Philadelphia. After being passed through generations it was donated to the museum in 1992.
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n 1889 Elizabeth Allen was riding her sled in Pennsylvania. It was one that couldn’t be steered and she ran into a tree. Her father Sam Leeds Allen, who made farm equipment in Philadelphia, decided to invent a sled that could be steered better than those on the market. What emerged was the Flexible Flyer that, according to reports, was able to make turns twice as sharp at twice the speed as others. The runners had concave channels providing the bite to support the claims.