The Sliky: How Did It Get Started?

Since the beginning of the industrial revolution, we have employed springs to perform jobs which are critical but very boring. In the dark days of World War II, fortunately, a mechanical engineer employed at a Philadelphia shipyard saw a spring acting in a very unusual way. Thanks to this, he became aware that possibly springs might be fun – and lucrative. Another must see are the multiple types of Fur Real Biscuit My Lovin Pup.

That mechanical engineer was named Richard James, and he witnessed spring get knocked from atop a shelf and onto the floor. The bit that caught his attention was the manner in which the spring, instead of simply landing on the floor, “stepped” in a progression of arcs off of a shelf, to a pile of books, onto a tabletop, and then to the floor, where it gathered itself and stood upright. Another good type to see are the Fur Real Biscuit My Lovin Pup.

Inspired by this very animated spring, James conducted research with different kinds of steel and different tensions, and eventually designed a spring that would “walk” down a slope. James’ wife Betty called the new toy Slinky as a result of finding the word's definition in a dictionary and realizing that it was a suitable description.

In 1945, the James’ were granted permission to place an inclined plane inside the toy area of Gimbles’ department store in Philadelphia. Right after one or two performances, the audience members were clearly impressed, and James sold his complete stock of 400 Slinkies in almost ninety minutes. The first Slinkies were priced at $1, and the cost has not grown substantially in about six decades. Reportedly, Betty James insisted on that, seeing as she was concerned that less affluent families might be able to pay for a Slinky as well as upper class ones.

Slinky is still a popular toy for at least 60 years, and has sold well beyond 30 million units within that time. Its uses have not been confined to playrooms, though. High school teachers have used Slinkies to present the properties of waves in a visible manner. Soldiers sometimes made use of them at the time of the Vietnam War as radio antennas, and NASA has made use of them for zero-gravity physical science experiments on the space shuttle. In 2003, the Toy Industry Association added the Slinky to its “Century of Toys List”. Evidently, the Slinky happens to be such a social image that the US Postal Service commissioned a Slinky postage stamp in 1999.

In spite of its many honours and accomplishments, the Slinky has stayed reasonably priced and widely distributed. The toy is currently crafted from metal and also plastic, and both versions may be bought in practically any toy store in addition to many department stores and also online for less than $6.