Metal Slinky

Rainbow-colored plastic Slinky

A Slinky, or "Lazy-Spring," is a coil-shaped toy invented by mechanical engineer Richard James in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ^[1] Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2464x1944, 2140 KB) Summary Metal spiral. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (2464x1944, 2140 KB) Summary Metal spiral. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1600x1067, 194 KB) A rainbow-coloured w:Slinky. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1600x1067, 194 KB) A rainbow-coloured w:Slinky. ... A coil is a series of loops. ... A teddy bear A toy is an object used in play. ... The Slinky spring, was invented by Richard James Richard T. James (1914 – 1974) was a naval engineer. ...

Slinkys come in various sizes, but are usually no larger than an ostrich egg when compressed. 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. A helix (pl: helices), from the Greek word έλικας/έλιξ, is a twisted shape like a spring, screw or a spiral (correctly termed helical) staircase. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... “Gravity” redirects here. ...

History

In 1943, Richard James, a US $50,000-a-year marine engineer stationed at the Cramp shipyards in Philadelphia, observed a torsion spring fall off a table and roll around on the deck (a torsion spring has no compression or tension). He told his wife: "I think there could be a toy in this." With a US$500 loan, the couple ran tests, experimented with materials, and produced four hundred units of the toy. Betty James did some dictionary searching and came up with the name "Slinky". The Slinky spring, was invented by Richard James Richard T. James (1914 – 1974) was a naval engineer. ... Nickname: Motto: Philadelphia maneto - Let brotherly love endure Location in Pennsylvania Coordinates: , Country Commonwealth County Philadelphia Founded October 27, 1682 Incorporated October 25, 1701 Government  - Mayor John F. Street (D) Area  - City 369. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Look up deck in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Physical compression is the result of the subjection of a material to compressive stress, resulting in reduction of volume. ... Tension is a reaction force applied by a stretched string (rope or a similar object) on the objects which stretch it. ...

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 James' business grew rapidly. In 1948 they built a factory for twenty employees in suburban Philadelphia, and a decade later, headquarters were set up in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, where the factory remained for thirty years. As the company expanded, so did the product line. New Slinky toys, including Slinky Jr. and the Slinky Dog, 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. Year 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar). ... The references in this article would be clearer with a different and/or consistent style of citation, footnoting or external linking. ... Year 1948 (MCMXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the 1948 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Hollidaysburg is a borough in Blair County, Pennsylvania, on the Juniata River, 7 Miles (11 km) south of Altoona. ... Slinky Dog in Toy Story Slinky Dog is a plastic dog, with a Slinky for a midsection. ...

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." A jingle is a memorable slogan, set to an engaging melody, mainly broadcast on radio and sometimes on television commercials. ...

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.

Slinky science

Besides being a toy, the Slinky can be used to help explain scientific concepts. By moving the ends of a stretched Slinky side to side or back and forth, transverse or longitudinal wave motion can be determined. This can be especially useful in teaching seismology. (See the article on Slinky seismology for more information). It has been suggested that this article be split into articles entitled wave, accessible from a disambiguation page. ... Seismology (from the Greek seismos = earthquake and logos = word) is the scientific study of earthquakes and the propagation of elastic waves through the Earth. ... Fun with stretched slinkys Almost anything to do with earthquake seismology can be demonstrated with a slinky or lots of them! This type of demonstration is best done before a crowd where you can bring up lots of volunteers. ...

One or (sometimes) two Slinkys used together can be used as the basis of a shortwave radio antenna. Amateur radio operators have even used them as transmitting antennas. This article is about an album. ... A Yagi-Uda beam antenna Short Wave Curtain Antenna (Moosbrunn, Austria) A building rooftop supporting numerous dish and sectored mobile telecommunications antennas (Doncaster, Victoria, Australia) An antenna is a transducer designed to transmit or receive radio waves which are a class of electromagnetic waves. ... Amateur radio station with modern solid-state transceiver featuring LCD display and DSP capabilities Amateur radio, often called ham radio, is a hobby that uses various types of radio broadcasting equipment to communicate with other radio amateurs for public service, recreation and self-training. ...

Popular culture

• There is a Slinky computer game that was published by Cosmi in 1984 for the Commodore 64.
• In the 1989 comedy film Ghostbusters II, Harold Ramis' Egon character claims that, as a child, "We had part of a Slinky. But I straightened it."
• In the 1995 comedy film Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls, Jim Carrey's Ace Ventura character tumbles a Slinky down the massive staircase of a Tibetan monastery, hoping to set a world record. It comes to a rest one step short of its goal.
• Slinky Dog was a character in Toy Story (1995). The toy was a Slinky with the front and hind of a dog on either end.
• The history of the Slinky and its cultural offshoots has been chronicled in Lou Harry's book/kit It's Slinky (Running Press).
• In the "Bendless Love" episode of Futurama, a Slinky belonging to Dr. Zoidberg gets straightened as a result of Bender's sleepbending. After attempting to restore the original shape of the Slinky, Dr. Zoidberg tumbles it over a short row of books, only for it to inexplicably burst into flames afterwards.
• A timeline of (supposedly) important dates in the humor book, Bart Simpson's Guide to Life indicates 1945 as the year of Slinky's invention and 1946 as the year tangled Slinkys drove the World insane.
• The music video for the single "My Happiness", by Powderfinger, features an anthropomorphic Slinky attempting to return to its owner.
• The Christian band Lost and Found uses a Slinky in their music as a percussion instrument. The most popular song involving a Slinky is called "Lions" in which fans shout "Slinky" in a space in the song while the slinky is played.
• In the film Lords of Dogtown, Jay Adams is asked to be the voice of a Slinky commercial.
• The animated television series Ren and Stimpy parodied old Slinky commercials, with its "Log" product.
• Histeria! featured a parody of the Slinky jingle in a sketch about a fictional toy called "Raggedy Lyndon Johnson" (itself a parody of Raggedy Ann).
• Eddie Murphy ended his 1987 stand-up performance "Eddie Murphy Raw" with singing the Slinky jingle.
• Billy Joel used a Slinky in his music video, "We Didn't Start the Fire".
• In an episode of The Simpsons, Milhouse uses a slinky at a science fair. He declares "Behold gravity, in all its glory!", tumbles the slinky down an inclined piece of wood only to have it tumble once, prompting the remark "Pretty lame, Milhouse", from Mrs. Krabappel.
• Tom Servo from Mystery Science Theater 3000 has arms that are made from mini Slinkys.
• Popular Canadian electronic band, Kinder Atom, recorded and released the song "SLINKY" which was used by Nissan Motors, Inc. for its 2000 model-year launch campaign.[1]
• A mobile phone game based on the Slinky Brand has been developed by Progressive Media APS and published by Blaze in 2006.[2]

The Commodore 64 is the best-selling single personal computer model of all time. ... // Actress Kim Basinger and her brother Mick purchase Braselton, Georgia for $20 million. ... Ghostbusters II is the 1989 sequel to Ghostbusters (1984). ... Harold Ramis (born November 21, 1944 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American actor, director, and writer. ... Egon in The Real Ghostbusters Egon Spengler, Ph. ... The year 1995 in film involved some significant events. ... Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995) is a movie made as a sequel to Ace Ventura, Pet Detective (1994). ... James Eugene Carrey (born January 17, 1962) is a two-time Golden Globe Award-winning Canadian-American A-list film actor and comedian. ... Toy Story is an Academy-award-winning CGI animated feature film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures and Buena Vista Distribution in the United States on November 22, 1995, and Australia on December 7, 1995, as well as in the United Kingdom on 22 March... Lou Harry is an Indianapolis-based writer whose work has appeared in more than 50 publications include TheatreWeek, Variety, Dramatics, Mens Health, and Endless Vacation. ... Bendless Love is the sixth episode in season three of Futurama. ... This article is about the television series. ... Bart Simpsons Guide to Life (UK Edition: ISBN 0-583-33168-8, US Edition ISBN 0-06-096975-X) is a humorous book published in 1993 by HarperCollins. ... Year 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar). ... Year 1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full 1946 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Powderfinger is an Australian rock band. ... Anthropomorphism, also referred to as personification or prosopopeia, is the attribution of human characteristics to inanimate objects, animals, forces of nature, and others. ... Lost And Found is a Christian rock band from the United States. ... Lords of Dogtown is a 2005 film directed by Catherine Hardwicke, written by Stacy Peralta. ... Jay Adams, showing the raw, agressive style of the Z-Boys. ... An animated series or cartoon series is a television series produced by means of animation. ... Ren and Stimpy are the eponymous characters of two cartoon television series created by Canadian animator John Kricfalusi. ... Histeria! was an animated television series of the late-1990s, created by Tom Ruegger (who also created Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, and Pinky and the Brain) at Warner Bros. ... Lyndon Baines Johnson (August 27, 1908–January 22, 1973), often referred to as LBJ, was an American politician. ... Raggedy Ann meets Raggedy Andy for the first time; illustrated by Johnny Gruelle Raggedy Ann is a fictional character created by writer Johnny Gruelle (1880-1938) in a series of books he wrote and illustrated for young children. ... For the article on the baseball player Eddie Murphy, see Eddie Murphy (baseball player). ... Eddie Murphy Raw (1987) is an American stand-up comedy film directed by Robert Townsend and starring Eddie Murphy. ... William Martin Billy Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer, pianist, songwriter, composer and musician. ... We Didnt Start the Fire is a song by Billy Joel that chronicles 120 well-known events, people, things, and places widely noted during his lifetime, from March 1949 to 1989, when the song was released on his album Storm Front. ... Simpsons redirects here. ... Milhouse Van Houten In the animated series The Simpsons, the Van Houten family consists of the father Kirk, the mother Luann, and their son Milhouse. ... Tom Servo Tom Servo is a fictional character from the American science fiction comedy television show Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K). ... Mystery Science Theater 3000, often abbreviated MST3K, is an American cult television comedy series created by Joel Hodgson and produced by Best Brains, Inc. ...

References

1. ^ ^{a b} http://web.mit.edu/Invent/iow/slinky.html

External links

• U.S. Patent 2,415,012  -- "Toy and process of use"
• Corporate website of trademark holder, Slinky Toys
• World's longest slinky, photos and movies
• History of the Slinky Toy - about.com
• MIT: Richard James