| With the popularity of Internet shopping, | | | | called a mid-life crisis and left his wife, |
| classic toys that were hard to find, have now | | | | their six children and joined a Bolivian |
| started to find a whole new audience. These | | | | religious cult. He also deserted the Slinky |
| classics, which sold very well after they | | | | toy he worked so hard to produce and left the |
| were introduced, never seem to go out of | | | | company in debt and ruin. Betty James took |
| style and can still bring a smile to any | | | | over as CEO of James Industries and |
| child?s face. | | | | introduced other toys for the ?Slinky |
| | | | line-up? including: Slinky pets, crazy eyes |
| Let?s step into the past and take a look into | | | | Slinky (glasses with Slinky-extended fake |
| the history of one of these classic toys. | | | | eyeballs), neon Slinky, and also replaced the |
| | | | original black-blue Swedish steel with |
| In 1943, a Naval engineer accidentally | | | | American steel. Additionally she moved the |
| knocked some springs off of a shelf while he | | | | company headquarters from Philadelphia to |
| was working on a meter designed to monitor | | | | Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania and began an |
| horsepower on battleships. He marveled at the | | | | aggressive advertising campaign, complete |
| way they ?walked? instead of falling and the | | | | with the now famous Slinky jingle: |
| odd movement of these springs gave Richard | | | | |
| James an idea and an instant toy was born. | | | | ?What walks down stairs, alone in pairs, And |
| That toy: The Slinky. | | | | makes a Slinkity sound? |
| | | | |
| Richard James then spent the next two years | | | | A spring, a spring, a marvelous thing, |
| testing and refining the best steel gauge and | | | | Everyone knows it?s Slinky? |
| coil to utilize for his new toy. His wife, | | | | |
| Betty appropriately found the perfect name | | | | It?s Slinky, it?s Slinky, for fun it?s a |
| for this new toy- a Slinky; which is the | | | | wonderful toy |
| Swedish word meaning traespiral or sleek. | | | | |
| | | | It?s Slinky, it?s Slinky, it?s fun for a girl |
| The couple borrowed five hundred dollars and | | | | or a boy? |
| James designed a machine to coil eighty feet | | | | |
| of wire into a two-inch spiral and | | | | However, the Slinky is not just an |
| manufacture their new toy. Sales were slow at | | | | entertaining toy for children. It is used in |
| first, but soared after the Slinky was | | | | schools in physics classes to demonstrate |
| demonstrated at Gimbel?s Department Store in | | | | wave properties, forces, and energy states. |
| Philadelphia for the Christmas season in | | | | The Slinky still continues to sell (250 |
| 1945. The first 400 sold within the | | | | million have been sold to date) and are still |
| ninety-minute demonstration and a new fad had | | | | manufactured in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania |
| begun. | | | | using the original equipment designed by |
| | | | Richard James. |
| Around 1960, Richard James suffered what some | | | | |