Slinky

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Image:2006-02-04 Metal spiral.jpg

Metal Slinky

A Slinky, or "Lazy-Spring," is a coil-shaped toy invented by mechanical engineer Richard James in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ^[1]

Slinkys come in various sizes. The shape is a simple helix, or coil design, of a ribbon of material, originally metal. The Slinky can "walk" down stairs as the coils stretch and reform as gravity moves them down each step.

1 History
2 Trivia
3 Slinky science
4 References
5 External links

History

In 1943, Richard James, and his assistant Coleman Barber, a US marine engineer stationed at the Cramp shipyards in Philadelphia, observed a torsion spring fall off a table and roll around on the deck (a torsion spring has no compression or tension). He told his wife: "I think there could be a toy in this." With a US$500 loan, the couple ran tests, experimented with materials, and produced four hundred units of the toy. Betty James did some dictionary searching and came up with the name "Slinky".

In November 1945, Richard and Betty James, through an arrangement with Gimbels in Philadelphia, were granted permission to set up an inclined plane in the toy department and demonstrate the spring's battery-less "walking" abilities.

Image:Slinky rainbow.jpg

Rainbow-colored plastic Slinky

James Industries, the James' business, grew rapidly. In 1948 they built a factory for twenty employees in suburban Philadelphia, and a decade later, headquarters were set up in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, where the factory remained for thirty years. As the company expanded, so did the product line. New Slinky toys, including Slinky Jr. and the Slinky Dog, were developed while non-coiled toys such as building kits were added to the inventory. However, Slinky has remained the core product of James Industries.

Commercials for the Slinky featured the memorable jingle: "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 and a boy."

During the Vietnam War, Slinkys were also used as mobile radio antennas. ^[1]

The Slinky (under House Bill No.1893 - Session 2001, of the General Assembly of Pennsylvania) has been named the Official State Toy of Pennsylvania as of November 4, 2001.

Trivia

Slinky Dog-a brown dog with a slinky spring for a body-is a supporting character in Disney/Pixar's Toy Story and Toy Story 2 films.

Slinky science

Besides being a toy, the Slinky can be used to help explain scientific concepts. ^[2] By moving the ends of a stretched Slinky side to side or back and forth, transverse or longitudinal wave motion can be determined. This can be especially useful in teaching seismology.

One or (sometimes) two Slinkys used together can be used as the basis of a shortwave radio antenna. Amateur radio operators have even used them as transmitting antennas.^{[citation needed]}