The Slinky 1945. Nicholas Robinson
The Slinky was invented and developed by Naval Engineer Richard James in the
Earlier 1940's and demonstrated in Gilbert's Department Store in Philadelphia in
November 1945. The Toy was a hit, selling its entire inventory of 400 units in 90 Minutes.
In 1943, Richard James, a naval mechanical engineer stationed at the shipyards in Philadelphia, was developing springs that could support and stabilize sensitive instruments aboard ships in rough seas. James accidentally knocked one of the springs from a shelf, and watched as the spring "stepped" in a series of banana splits, to a stack of books, to a tabletop, to the floor, where it re-coiled itself and stood upright
Slinky has seen uses other than as a toy in the playroom: it has appeared in the classroom as a teaching tool, in wartime as a radio antenna, and in physics experiments with NASA.
