<P> Businessman Elijah Bond had the idea to patent a planchette sold with a board on which the alphabet was printed, much like the previously existing talking boards . The patentees filed on May 28, 1890 for patent protection and thus are credited with the invention of the Ouija board . Issue date on the patent was February 10, 1891 . They received U.S. Patent 446,054 . Bond was an attorney and was an inventor of other objects in addition to this device . </P> <P> An employee of Elijah Bond, William Fuld, took over the talking board production . In 1901, Fuld started production of his own boards under the name "Ouija". Charles Kennard (founder of Kennard Novelty Company which manufactured Fuld's talking boards and where Fuld had worked as a varnisher) claimed he learned the name "Ouija" from using the board and that it was an ancient Egyptian word meaning "good luck ." When Fuld took over production of the boards, he popularized the more widely accepted etymology: that the name came from a combination of the French and German words for "yes". </P> <P> The Fuld name became synonymous with the Ouija board, as Fuld reinvented its history, claiming that he himself had invented it . The strange talk about the boards from Fuld's competitors flooded the market, and all these boards enjoyed a heyday from the 1920s through the 1960s . Fuld sued many companies over the "Ouija" name and concept up until his death in 1927 . In 1966, Fuld's estate sold the entire business to Parker Brothers . Hasbro purchased the product line in 1991 and continues to hold all trademarks and patents . About ten brands of talking boards are sold today under various names . </P> <P> The ouija phenomenon is considered by the scientific community to be the result of the ideomotor response . Michael Faraday first described this effect in 1853, while investigating table - turning . </P>

When did parker brothers make the ouija board