My Slant on the Slinky

At a Gimbels Department Store in Philadelphia in 1945, the Slinky toy made its American debut and by 1946 it was introduced to the American toy market. Developed by a naval engineer from Pennsylvania, the Slinky was basically a helical spring made of steel. In its heyday, Slinky was manufactured in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, a bustling borough seven miles south of Altoona.

The Slinky's main claim to fame as a toy was that it could go down a flight of stairs all by itself, with a little push from a kid at the top of the stairs. Other than this, the Slinky was probably the most fascinating and also the most boring toy ever produced in the 20th Century. It was eventually made of plastic, which made it cheaper, tackier and even more boring than before.

No matter how you felt about it, the Slinky toy from James Industries, Inc. was one of the most popular kid-and-gravity-powered toys in 20th-Century America, along with the baseball, football, Frisbee and the plain old rock. Now manufactured by Poof-Slinky, Inc. — a result of the 2003 merger of James Industries, Inc. and Poof Products, Inc. — the Slinky was one of the few baby-boomer toys that wasn't manufactured by Mattel, Marx or Ron Popeil (Popeil, Ronco).