A breakaway rim is a

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

rim that contains a hinge and a spring at the point where it attaches to the backboard so that it can bend downward when a player dunks a basketball, and then quickly snaps back into a horizontal position when the player releases it. It allows players to dunk the ball without shattering the backboard, and it reduces the possibility of wrist injuries. Breakaway rims were invented in the mid-1970s and are now an essential element of high-level basketball. In the early days of basketball, dunking was considered ungentlemanly, and was rarely used outside of practice or warm-up drills. A broken backboard or distorted rim could delay a game for hours. During the 1970s, however, players like

Julius Erving Julius Winfield Erving II (born February 22, 1950), commonly known by the nickname Dr. J, is an American former professional basketball player. Erving helped legitimize the American Basketball Association (ABA), and he was the best-known player ...

and David Thompson of the

American Basketball Association The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major men's professional basketball league from 1967 to 1976. The ABA ceased to exist with the ABA–NBA merger, American Basketball Association–National Basketball Association merger in 1976, ...

popularized the dunk with their athletic flights to the basket, increasing the demand for flexible rims.John Keilman. "This gadget really was a slam-dunk ; In 1976, Arthur Ehrat invented a basketball rim that didn't break wrists or backboards". ''Chicago Tribune''. April 4, 2005. 1.Keilman, John and Tribune staff reporter
This gadget really was a slam-dunk
Chicago Tribune, April 4, 2005 While several men claim to have created the breakaway rim, Arthur Ehrat is recognized as the inventor by the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

's Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention & Innovation. A resident of

Lowder, Illinois Lowder is an unincorporated rural village in Sangamon County, Illinois, United States. It is also the seat of Talkington Township, Illinois. Lowder is located along a railroad line northwest of Virden. Lowder had a post office A post off ...

, Ehrat worked at a

grain elevator A grain elevator is a facility designed to stockpile or store grain. In the grain trade, the term "grain elevator" also describes a tower containing a bucket elevator or a pneumatic conveyor, which scoops up grain from a lower level and deposits ...

for most of his life and barely knew anything about basketball. In 1975, his nephew, an assistant basketball coach at

Saint Louis University Saint Louis University (SLU) is a private Jesuit research university with campuses in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, and Madrid, Spain. Founded in 1818 by Louis William Valentine DuBourg, it is the oldest university west of the Mississip ...

, asked him to help design a rim that could support slam dunks. Using a spring from a

John Deere Deere & Company, doing business as John Deere (), is an American corporation that manufactures agricultural machinery, heavy equipment, forestry machinery, diesel engines, drivetrains (axles, transmissions, gearboxes) used in heavy equipment, ...

cultivator A cultivator is a piece of agricultural equipment used for secondary tillage. One sense of the name refers to frames with ''teeth'' (also called ''shanks'') that pierce the soil as they are dragged through it linearly. It also refers to mac ...

, Ehrat designed a rim that could bend and spring back after 125 pounds of force were applied to it. He called his device "The Rebounder". In 1982, the

US patent office The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is an agency in the U.S. Department of Commerce that serves as the national patent office and trademark registration authority for the United States. The USPTO's headquarters are in Alexan ...

accepted his 1976 application to patent a "deformation-preventing swingable mount for basketball goals".Luke Winn.
Breaking Away
. SI.com. December 23, 2007. Retrieved on January 9, 2009. The breakaway rim was first used by the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

during the 1978 Final Four in St. Louis. Although

Darryl Dawkins Darryl R. Dawkins (January 11, 1957 – August 27, 2015) was an American professional basketball player. He was particularly known for his tenure with the National Basketball Association's Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Nets, although he als ...

shattered two backboards with his dunks in 1979,Chris Broussard.
A Game Played Above the Rim, Above All Else
. ''New York Times''. February 15, 2004. Retrieved on January 9, 2009. the old-style bolted rim structure was not phased out of the NBA until the 1981–82 season, when breakaway rims debuted as a uniform equipment upgrade.

References

{{basketball American inventions Basketball equipment