Slinky

A Slinky is a coil-shaped toy, invented by Naval engineer Richard James and his wife, Betty James. Slinkys come in various sizes, but are usually no larger than a grown adult's fist when compressed. The shape is a simple spiral, or coil design, of a ribbon of material, originally metal. The Slinky is famous for its ability to "walk" down stairs as the coils stretch and reform as gravity moves them down each step.

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In 1943 Richard James was experimenting with tension springs when he saw one come loose and fall to the floor. He was intrigued by the way it flopped around on the floor and took it home to his wife, Betty. He spent two years fine-tuning the design to find the best gauge of steel and coil. However, more time should have been spent on researching how to better a Slinky's means of travel. Research has shown that a child's excitment is quickly lost when they are not able to get their Slinky to walk down a flight of stairs as portrayed in comercials. Due to this shortcoming, studies have shown that children are more apt to stretch their Slinky out of shape thus causing the Slinky to no longer work as invented.

Toy: :This article is about things that people play with. See also Toys for the 1992 film of that name starring Robin Williams; or toy dog, referring to one of many very small breeds of dog....

Naval engineer: REDIRECT Naval architecture...

Richard James: Richard James (1914 - 1974) is a naval engineer and is the inventor of the slinky, along with his wife Betty....

Slinky related Images and Photos (experimental)

Original Slinky

Collector's Edition Slinky