Surprisingly, it is a fact - sometimes accidental discoveries become hits and turn into things that are in demand. So it happened with the legendary Slinky spring, familiar to all of us from childhood. Created for children as a toy, the spring has found practical application in the life of adults. Not to mention the fact that they love to endlessly roll it in their hands, escaping stress.
What we called "spring" or "rainbow" in childhood is the very walking spring of Slinky. It appeared after the Second World War - in 1945, and the history of its creation is very curious.
American mechanical engineer Richard James experimented with springs, checking their tension, and one of them, falling to the floor, began to "walk". James was surprised, took the spring home and showed it to his wife Betty. Together they decided that this accidental discovery could be refined and turned into a toy. After 2 years, the first batch of Slinky springs (this Swedish word means "winding", "flexible") came into production. This is how the greatest toy of the century and the Slinky® brand was born. The first springs were black and blue due to the nature of the metal, but later they began to be produced in all possible shades and shapes.
Slinky's sales suffered several setbacks, until Richard James, already desperate that no one was interested in the toy, himself showed how it works. After the demonstration, the entire edition was sold out. Since then, over 250 million Slinks have been purchased worldwide.
In addition, Slinky became popular in cinema, for example, she appeared in Ace Ventura, and later in Toy Story, and even became the main character - Slinky's dog with a spring instead of a body.
Since the creation of Slinky, a lot has happened to her. It was named the most desired gift, became the official toy of the state of Pennsylvania, entered the top 10 iconic toys of the 20th century, appeared on a postage stamp, was exhibited in museums and even flew into space, becoming part of a scientific experiment.
