I have almost always had a Slinky. For some reason I did get rid of one and then didn’t think about it for some time. Then I was at a hatchery Christmas party and during the Secret Santa gift steal one came up…I tried to steal it, but someone stole it from me, and then it had been stolen twice and was dead and couldn’t be stolen again. I went to a second hatchery party that same Christmas season and at that party, I again was unsuccessful in my stealing.
I ended up coveting the Slinky and then stumbled across a pile at Lee Valley.
And now I own a Slinky again.
A little history on the Slinky (Wikipedia).
In 1943, Richard T. James, a naval mechanical engineer, observed a spring “stepping” downward after being knocked off a shelf, then coming to rest in a vertical position. James’s wife Betty later recalled, “He came home and said, ‘I think if I got the right property of steel and the right tension, I could make it walk.'” James experimented with different types of steel wire over the next year, and finally found a spring that would “walk”. Betty was skeptical, but changed her mind when the toy was fine-tuned and neighborhood children expressed an excited interest in it.
Richard and Betty formed James Industries and began manufacturing Slinkys in Clifton Heights, Pennsylvania, selling them for $1 each. They were 2+1⁄2 inches (64 mm) tall, and included 98 coils of high-grade blue-black Swedish steel. They initially had difficulty selling Slinky to toy stores, but in 1945, they were granted permission to set up an inclined plane in the toy section of Gimbels Department Store in Philadelphia to demonstrate it on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. It was an instant hit; the first 400 units were sold in 90 minutes. In 1946, Slinky was introduced at the American Toy Fair.
The Slinky was originally priced at $1, but many paid much more due to price increases of spring steel in Pennsylvania. It has, however, remained modestly priced throughout its history as a result of Betty James’ concern about the toy’s affordability for less affluent customers. In addition to its use as a toy, it has been used as a classroom teaching tool; as a portable and extendable radio antenna in wartime (particularly the Vietnam War). It was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame at The Strong in Rochester, New York in 2000. In 2003, it was named to the Toy Industry Association’s Century of Toys List. In its first 60 years, about 300 million Slinkys were sold.
And now you know.
