Many things we consider staples in today’s world were discovered or invented by happy accidents. This toy is one of them.

 

The Beginning

In the early 1940s, Richard James, a naval engineer at a navy shipyard in Philadelphia, was trying to solve the problem of vibrations on U.S. warships. The shaking—caused by the ships’ engines, guns, and movement—interfered with sensitive instruments. He hoped to perfect a tension spring that would stabilize them.

Perseverance kept him testing springs of various sizes and tensions to find one that worked. Then one day, he accidentally bumped one of the rejects, knocking it out of its resting place and into toy history.

As he watched it slither and gyrate over the floor, inspiration struck. He told his wife, Betty, his idea of making a “walking spring” into a toy. She not only saw its potential but provided it with a name—Slinky.

Did You Know…

• Betty James found the “Slinky” name by searching the dictionary for the perfect descriptive word.
• “Slinky” means graceful and sinuous in movement, line, or figure.

 

A New Toy

It took most of a year for Richard to perfect the Slinky with the right steel and tension so it “walked” down stairs, stepping end-over-end in graceful arcs until it reached the floor where it neatly recoiled itself. In 1945, he filed for a patent. He and Betty founded a company and borrowed $500 to produce 400 Slinkys.

In late November of that year, the couple set up an exhibit in Philadelphia’s Gimbles Department Store. Their demonstration of what the toy could do was a smashing success. They sold all their stock in an hour and a half and took orders for many more! They sold 20,000 Slinkys before Christmas and more than a quarter of a million over the following year.

Did You Know…

• The Slinky is 80 feet of spring wire coiled into 98 loops in a stack two and a half inches high. It “walks” because the loops have zero tension, and the coils can fall apart or together.
• The James’ 1945 $500 loan was equivalent to around $7,500 in 2021.
• In its first two years, the company sold 100 million Slinkys for $1 each. That $100 million in sales was equivalent to $1.43 billion in 2021 dollars.

 

Rise and Fall

The Slinky’s popularity grew through the 1940s and 1950s. The company introduced new Slinky products, including the Slinky Dog, the Slinky Train Loco, Suzie the Slinky Worm, and the Slinky Crazy Eyes.

But by the late 1950s, Slinky sales peaked. As the public’s interest in the toy waned, so, too, did Richard’s interest in the company. He’d gotten involved with a religious group and funneled much of the company’s money into it. In early 1960, with the company on the verge of bankruptcy, he cut all ties to it and his family and moved to Bolivia to be an evangelical missionary.

Betty still believed the Slinky had great potential. Since she needed a way to provide for her family, she decided to keep the company running. Not an easy task. Richard had left major debts.

She juggled creditors—who surprisingly gave her the time she needed—and six kids as she worked to get the company back on its feet.

In 1963, she stepped out on a limb, mortgaging their family home to get the money to reintroduce the Slinky at a New York toy show. Her gamble paid off. The toy show, plus a commercial with a catchy jingle, gave the Slinky a resurgence in sales and a second life. (To see the original Slinky commercial, click here.)

Did You Know…

• Betty James moved the company to her hometown of Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, in 1964.
• The Slinky jingle is the longest-running jingle in advertising history.
• In 1998, after managing the company for thirty-eight years, Betty James retired and sold the company to a Michigan manufacturer. They agreed to manufacture the toy in the Hollidaysburg facility. The Slinky is still manufactured there.
• The Slinky’s inventor, Richard James, died of a heart attack in Bolivia in 1974.

 

Final Thoughts

Ever since the Slinky got its second wind in the 1960s, sales have risen and fallen, often driven by what’s happening in the world. For example, “Slink,” the Slinky dog character in the 1995 movie Toy Story, spurred the sale of over 825,000 Slinky toys.

In 1999, the U.S. Postal Service honored this American icon on a commemorative stamp. The Slinky even has its own day. National Slinky Day is celebrated on August 30.

In 2008, Betty James passed away at the age of 90. Under her guidance, the company grew, and the toy remained affordable for everyone. Today, the accidental invention we know as the Slinky continues to delight children and adults alike.

Did You Know…

• Slinkys were used as mobile radio antennas by U.S. soldiers during the Vietnam War. Amateur radio operators have also used them in the same way.
• Slinkys have been utilized in a variety of different ways, including in light fixtures, pecan picking machines, and for keeping leaves out of gutters and squirrels out of bird feeders.
• In 1985, the Slinky went to space. It was one of the toys used by Discovery Space Shuttle astronauts to demonstrate how gravity affects familiar toys. (If you’re wondering, without gravity a Slinky doesn’t slink, it just sort of droops.)
• The Discovery Channel and The History Channel both listed the Slinky as one of the top ten toys of the twentieth century.
• In 2000, the Slinky was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame. In 2001, the Toy Industry Association inducted Betty James into its Hall of Fame.
• According to Betty James’ obituary in the New York Times, more than 300 million Slinkys had been sold worldwide. That’s “enough to circle the earth 150 times.”