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Slinky® Tidbits• Betty James, CEO of James Industries and widow of Slinky inventor Richard James, named the famous toy. She scanned the dictionary for ideas and knew she’d found the perfect name with "Slinky," which is Swedish and means stealthy, sleek, sinuous. • Some very innovative uses have been found for the Slinky. It has been used in pecan-picking devices in Texas and Alabama; on lighting fixtures in Harrah’s Casino in Las Vegas because of the unusual shadows it casts; and as table decorations, drapery holders, bird repellers, mail holders, therapeutic devices, wave motion coils, gutter protectors, and in numerous other ways. During the war in Vietnam, soldiers found that when draped over tree branches, the metal Slinky was an excellent makeshift radio antenna. Also, the Slinky sometimes is prescribed by physical therapists for coordination development. • The amount of wire used since 1943 to make Slinkys could wrap around the Earth 126 times. • Fifty years after its invention, the Slinky sells for only about twice the one dollar it originally cost. • The Slinky has appeared in several movies, including Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls, Demolition Man, Other People’s Money, and Hairspray, and the Slinky® Dog played in Toy Story. Article Sources "Forces and Motion." Investigating the Earth. Houghton Mifflin Company. Boston, Massachusetts. 1992. "Force and Motion." "Wave Motion." Physics: Fundamentals and Frontiers. Houghton Mifflin Company. Boston, Massachusetts. 1990. "Slinky Physics." Newton’s Apple. KTCA Twin Cities Public Television, 1996. Online. America Online. 20 January 1997. Vautour, Cindy. "The Creation of the Slinky." The History of Toys. Yippeee. Online. America Online. 27 May 1997. "Wave Motion." Physics:
Fundamentals and Frontiers. Houghton Mifflin Company. Boston,
Massachusetts. 1990.
Last Updated: 02/16/03 |
