The Slinky: How Did It Get Started?
Since the arrival of the age of factories, we have employed springs to accomplish jobs which are important but somewhat uninteresting. In the middle of World War II, however, a mechanical engineer working at a Philadelphia shipyard saw a spring behaving in a very odd way. On account of this, he concluded that maybe springs could be fun – and a source of profit. Another nice option is the Fur Real Biscuit My Lovin Pup.
That mechanical engineer was named Richard James, and he watched spring get knocked from a shelf and onto the floor. The thing that grabbed his attention was the means by which the spring, rather than just falling on the floor, “stepped” in a series of arcs from a shelf, to a heap of books, to a tabletop, and then to the floor, where it re-coiled itself and stood upright.
Inspired by this unusually athletic spring, James manufactured springs with many kinds of steel and different tensions, and finally produced a spring made to “walk” down a slope. James’ wife Betty called the new toy Slinky after locating the word in a dictionary and determining that it was an effective description.
In 1945, the James’ were granted the chance to build an inclined plane within the toy area of Gimbles’ department store in Philadelphia. Right after one or two demonstrations, the audience members were apparently pleased, and James found buyers for his entire supply of 400 Slinkies in approximately an hour and a half. The first Slinkies were sold for $1, and the selling price has not gone up substantially in about 60 years. Evidently, Betty James can be thanked for those prices, since she was concerned that less affluent households might be able to pay for this product as well as higher income ones. Another good alternative to look into is the Fur Real Biscuit My Lovin Pup.
Slinky is still a popular toy for over 60 years, and has sold over 30 million units during that time. Its usages have not been restricted to playrooms, though. Science educators have used Slinkies to present the behavior of waves to their students. Soldiers sometimes used them throughout the Vietnam War in lieu of radio antennas, and NASA has employed them for zero-gravity science experiments in the space shuttle. In 2003, the Toy Industry Association accepted the Slinky to its “Century of Toys List”. Evidently, the Slinky has become such a national image that the US Postal Service produced a Slinky postage stamp in 1999.
In spite of its many honours and achievements, the Slinky is still affordably priced and widely available. Today’s Slinky is currently made from metal as well as plastic, and both versions are available in just about any toy store and nearly all department stores and even online for just below $6. Another great model to consider is the Fur Real Biscuit My Lovin Pup.
