In 1943. During World War II, an engineer in the United States Navy was on a new ship’s run. As he worked, a torsion spring suddenly fell to the floor. The spring flip-flopped as the ingenious man watched. The naval engineer’s name was Richard James, and when he returned home, he remembered the spring and the interesting way it flip-flopped. James and his wife Betty perfected a long steel ribbon tightly coiled into a spiral.
They began production in 1945. Richard and Betty borrowed $500. They started a company and called it James Spring & Wire Company. Richard made a machine. He designed it himself. When it was finished, it made Slinky s. They were made of 80 ft of wire. The wire came from Sweden. In 1956 the company changed its name. It became James Industries.
From that spring’s accidental fall came a toy Americans have enjoyed for over fifty years, the Slinky. The nonelectrical, no-battery-required, non-video toy has fascinated three generations of children and adults alike. According to one estimate more than 300 million Slinkys have been sold and the only change in the original design has been to crimp the ends as a safety measure.
