Slinky

When I was little I always had a great time playing with a slinky. My grandmother had a lot of stairs and it was awesome getting the slinky to go all of the way down. It was also fun just moving it back and forth in my hands. It is a the simplest of toys but, looks and feels so cool to play with. My sons ask for slinkys all of the time. Unfortunately we don't have any stairs but, when we go to my grandmothers the kids have fun bringing them along. My kids are rather rought with them. They seem to always get them tangled. I believe this is from swinging them around. Maybe if we had stairs to keep the slinky busy this would be less of an issue. Every year or less my two oldest are always asking for another one. For the most part it seems to be the smaller plastic slinkys that my boys get tangled faster. I never had the Slinky Dog. But, I have had a few of the Crazy Eyes and they are lots of fun too.

The slinky was invented in 1943 by a naval engineer named Richard James. Richard was working in his lab designing springs for sensitive naval equipment. Richard knocked over a spring and was amazed at what happened next. The spring stepped down end over end from a shelf, to a book, to his desk and onto the floor. Then it stood back upright like it had started. Richard decided with a few adjustments it would make a great toy. The local kids loved the toy and his wife Betty named it after looking in the dictionary. Slinky had meant sleek and graceful. She also figured the name matched the sound it made perfectly.

James and Betty took out a loan for $500 and created James Industries. They had 400 slinky's made. The first slinkys were two and a half inches tall with 98 coils and were priced at $1.

They took the toy to some toy stores but, it just didn't catch on. But, In November of 1945 the James's were allowed to set up an incline at Gimbels department store in Philadelphia. A demonstration is exactly what the slinky needed in order to sell. All 400 slinkys were sold within an hour and a half. the slinky became a huge hit across the U.S.. James would appear on TV demonstrating his amazing new toy. In the 1950's more slinky toys were made. There was the slinky dog, a slinky train, a slinky worm, a slinky hippo and those crazy slinky eyes.

In 1960 Richard left everything he had including his company and even his family to join a cult. Meanwhile his wife ran the company. Betty always made it a priority to keep the simple toy affordable for all kids to enjoy. In 1998 Poof Products purchased James Industries. In 2000 the Slinky was inducted into The National Toy Hall of Fame. Then in 2003 the companies merged to make Poof-Slinky Inc. Over 300 million original Slinkys have been sold.

What walks down stairs, alone or in pairs, and makes a slinkity sound?

A spring, a spring, a marvelous thing! Everyone knows it's Slinky.

It's Slinky, it's Slinky. For fun it's a wonderful toy.

It's Slinky, it's Slinky. It's fun for a girl or a boy.

It's fun for a girl or a boy!