30 August is National Slinky Day, when we celebrate a Toy Hall of Fame Superstar that came from a very humble beginning.
The catchy jingling sound it makes as it ‘walks’ down stairs quickly caught the attention of millions of children worldwide, causing it to rise in popularity and compete with toys like Barbie, GI Joe and Lego.
In 1940, the inventor of the slinky, Richard James, accidentally knocked a spring from a shelf. He watched it ‘walk’ down a series of books to the tabletop to land on the floor, still neatly coiled.
He told his wife that if he could get the right property of steel and the right tension, he could make the coiled spring walk. It took him almost a year, but he succeeded and created the slinky toy.
With a $500 loan, he and his wife made 400 slinkys, opened a company to manufacture the toy in bulk and sold them for a dollar apiece.
The toy was interesting but only became a big hit when they received permission to set up an inclined plane inside Gimbles Department Store’s toy section. The slinkys walked down the slope with ease – and they sold their entire stock and took orders for many more within 90 minutes.
The following year, the slinky was introduced to the American Toy Fair and since then it’s been marketed around the world in both metal and plastic form.
To celebrate, grab one of these toys and see if you can make it walk down a full flight of stairs. Figure out if you can get it to walk down a hill, or from a table down various household items (like books, chairs and end tables) to end up on the floor neatly coiled.
If you are an extreme enthusiast, see if you can break the Guinness World Record for the slinky that travelled the longest distance. Look into some of the science behind how the toy works and exactly why it does what it does.
Post photos or videos of your slinky skills on social media using #NationalSlinkyDay.
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