"A spring, a spring, a marvelous thing! Everyone knows its Slinky!"-Company Jingle www.poof-slinky.com The second product I chose for my midterm research is the slinky! Though its popularity can't be called into question, everyone may not know that the Slinky was an accident. This fun American toy was created by mechanical engineer Richard James in 1943. It was the unintended by-product of a new line of sensitive springs that would help keep fragile equipment steady on ships. After knocking one of his newly created springs from a shelf, James watched as it "walked" down from its spot instead of falling to the ground. He designed a machine to coil 80 ft. of wire into a 2-in. spiral. The name of the toy was chosen by his wife Betty.
Slinky got its big break during the Christmas shopping season of 1945, when the Gimbels department store in Philadelphia let James sell his new creation for the first time. James and Betty paid one of their close friends a dollar to make it look like to toy was really cool. This started the frenzy. Within minutes, they had run out of Slinkys to sell. Over all they sold 400 Slinkys that day. After James left his wife to join a religious cult, Betty, his wife took of the company. “Sixty-six years and 250 million Slinkys later, we're still just as delighted with James’s toy.” http://www.times.com/
Slinky biggest competition is all toys that kinds play with. Since slinky isn’t electronic you could place it in the category of popular old American toys. If I had to pick some of its main competitor I would say that it competes with other toys such as silly puddy, and Jacks. I think that slinkys were a very successful product, but I feel they have not been able to keep up with the times. Many kids now-a-days just want to play games on their Xbox’s or PlayStations. I feel there are many other toys that people would prefer to play with than the slinky. I remember when I was a little girl and I begged my mom for a slinky. After I finally got one for Christmas one year I was tired of it. I probably played with it for one and didn’t pick it up much after that. I think it is a toy that will always be sold, but I think to make more money the company will have to re-invent itself. www.inventors.com
Some other facts about: Slinkys were among the first toys to travel into space; a stamp commemorating the 1940s features the beloved toy; during the Vietnam War, U.S. soldiers would toss a Slinky into a tree for use as a makeshift radio antenna; and, if stretched end-to-end, the Slinky toys sold since 1945 (about 250 million) would wrap around the world 126 times. http://www.yahoo.com/
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