Slinky 1943
Richard James was born on January 1st, 1914 and from there he graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering from The Pennsylvania State University. He never expected that his education would lead to him creating one of the most popular toys in history. It was during World War II that he was working on a device that would allow naval vessels to suspend sensitive shipboard instruments even when the seas were rough. In 1943 he was experimenting with tension springs as he thought they might be used for this purpose with the right amount of tension.
While he was working with one of the springs he dropped it. As he watched it fall he was fascinated by the fact that the spring continued to move after hitting the ground. He thought it would fascinate children as well and decided to try and market the spring as a toy. He took out a $500 loan and used it to develop a coil winding machine. The machine allowed him to mass produce tension springs and he started the James Spring & Wire Company. His wife, Betty, named the little toy the Slinky and together they made 400 of them.
It was approaching the Christmas season and the pair managed to convince Gimbels department in Philadelphia to put the toy on their shelves. Richard even convinced them to display the toy on a ramp so that children could see how the spring would move. The toy was marked at just $1 each and within 90 minutes of being on the shelves all 400 were sold. Around 1960, Betty James took over the company when her husband traveled to Bolivia to join Wycliffe Bible Translators. She created a massive advertising campaign and today more than 250 million Slinkys have been sold.