The Slinky
Near Wilmington, Pennsylvania
One of the most beloved toys of the twentieth century was born from a happy accident in the Philadelphia area. In nineteen forty-three, navy engineer Richard James was testing tension springs when one tumbled off a shelf and walked gracefully across the floor. He saw a toy.
His wife Betty named it the Slinky, and James Industries began manufacturing it here. The toy debuted at Gimbels department store in Philadelphia in nineteen forty-five. Within ninety minutes, the entire first run of four hundred units had sold. But the real story belongs to Betty. In nineteen sixty, Richard abandoned his family and walked away from the company, leaving it nearly bankrupt. Betty rebuilt it from nothing, expanding distribution worldwide and turning it into a multimillion-dollar enterprise. In two thousand one she was inducted into the Toy Industry Hall of Fame. The Slinky sold roughly three hundred million units in its first sixty years.
