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A Slinky is a coil-shaped toy invented by mechanical engineer Richard James in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.1 It could go down stairs by walking "end-over-end". 2Slinkies 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, the spring's momentum causing it to spill end over end from one step to the next.
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History
In 1943, Richard James, a U.S. Naval engineer stationed at the Cramp shipyards in Philadelphia 3, observed a torsion spring fall off a table and roll around on the deck (a torsion spring has no compression or tension). 4He told his wife Betty: "I think I can make a toy out of this."5
With a US $500 loan, 4 Richard designed a coiling mechanism 4 and produced four hundred units of the toy. Betty James did some dictionary searching and she came up with the name "Slinky" after seeing the word (meaning “sleek and graceful”) in the dictionary.3
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. The toy was a hit, and the first 400 units were sold within 90 minutes.3
In 1948 the company built a factory in Philadelphia, then later relocated to Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania. 6 As the company expanded, so did the product line. New Slinky toys, including Slinky Jr. and the Slinky Dog,7 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."3
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.
In 2003, James Industries merged with Poof Products to create Poof-Slinky Inc.8
Use in science education
Besides being a toy, the Slinky can be used to help explain scientific concepts. 1 By moving the ends of a stretched Slinky side to side transverse wave motion can be demonstrated. Pinching several coils of a stretched Slinky together and suddenly letting go creates a traveling longitudinal (compressional) wave, analogous to a sound wave, which will reflect off of each end. By twisting one end of a stretched Slinky and releasing it suddenly, a torsional (shear) wave is set up which will reflect off of the Slinky's ends. These demonstrations can be especially useful in teaching acoustics and seismology.
One or more Slinkys used together can form the basis of a shortwave radio antenna. Amateur radio operators have even used them as transmitting antennas. 9
The Slinky can also be used in physics experiments as a solenoid to induce a magnetic field, and to explore the factors that affect a magnetic field inside a solenoid.
In popular culture
The Slinky Dog toy appears as a main character in Pixar's Toy Story and Toy Story 2.
The Slinky's jingle was borrowed for some early TV ads for the Isuzu MU Wizard, when the model was called Amigo. The driver and passengers sang: "Amigo, Amigo, it's fun for a girl and a boy!"
The Christian band Lost and Found uses a Slinky as one of their major instruments. It is featured in their song titled "Lions".citation needed
A parody of the Slinky jingle was used for the fictional product "Log" on the animated series Ren and Stimpy.
References
- ^ a b c Inventor of the Week: Archive
- ^ Reader's Digest, p. 28, Nov. 2005
- ^ a b c d "Betty James Entrepreneur Businesswoman". Retrieved on 2008-07-01.
- ^ a b c "Slinky History - Invention of the Slinky". Retrieved on 2008-07-01.
- ^ "History of the Slinky - Richard James and Betty James". Retrieved on 2008-07-01.
- ^ "WORLD'S FIRST SLINKY". Retrieved on 2008-07-01.
- ^ Slinky dog and other Slinky toys. Life magazine, Nov. 1957
- ^ http://www.poof-slinky.com/resources/news/release8.asp
- ^ http://www.raynet-hf.net/tiki-browse_gallery.php?galleryId=8&PHPSESSID=da433e6288e4bcc1117110f57fd6c174
External links
- Slinky Toys official website
- History of the Slinky Toy - about.com
- MIT: Richard James
- US2,415,012 (1947-1-28) R. T. James, Toy and process of use.
- Finite element simulation of Slinky on YouTube
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 23 November 2008, at 09:52.
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