I remember getting a Slinky when we still lived in the Great Stone House on the farm back in the mid-1950s. It was fun watching it make its way down the staircase.

I don’t know what ever happened to that Slinky; probably eventually went the way of all toys.

During my last couple of years at work, Pat, one of my co-workers, gave me a Slinky as a present for some occasion or another, and once again I got to enjoy watching it make its way down my stairs. I’m sure I still have that Slinky somewhere, but with all the moves I’ve made since then, I’m not sure where it might be. In a box with some other things that I haven’t come across recently, I presume.

The reason I mention it now is there was just an article in the paper about the Slinky having been invented right here in Philadelphia in 1943 by a mechanical engineer at the Navy Yard named Richard James:

Philadelphia Navy Yard mechanical engineer Richard James was experimenting with a torsion spring in 1943 when the coil tumbled from his desk and landed on a stack of books.

The spring didn’t just sit there. The top coil flipped over onto the next book. Then the back coil flipped over to the next book. Before he knew it, this newfangled thing was taking the hardcovers like stairs.

Fascinated, James went home and showed the new toy to his wife, Betty.

She was enthralled and named the metal thingamajig a Slinky because of its wavy, stealthy movement.

He fiddled with it some more and eventually turned it into salable toy, taking 400 of them to the local Gimbels, where they sold out in 90 minutes for $1 each. The first toy fad was born.

Richard and Betty began manufacturing Slinkies and turned a nice profit for the next few years until Richard decided to become a missionary in Bolivia, leaving the business and their six children to his wife. Betty turned out to be a pretty good business person and eventually sold the Slinky enterprise to Poof Industries in 1999. Poof in turn sold it to Just Play in 2020.

Since 2020 Just Play has been making and selling about 3 million Slinkies per year. The price is now about four dollars.