Thread by @agazdecki

Remember the Slinky?

Richard James, a mechanical engineer, created the Slinky by mistake and became a millionaire in the process.

Here's how it went down 🧵

Richard was working on a new tension spring in 1943.

During World War II, he needed the spring to keep electronic equipment safe onboard US Navy ships.

He knocked a spring off his work table by mistake.

It shattered on the floor and started “walking” around it. Then James realized he'd created a toy.

To start James Industries, he and his partner, Betty James, took out a $500 loan. Then they started making the Slinky.

Betty was the one who thought of the name. The term "slinky" has a sinuous and elegant connotation.

Sales were sluggish at first. In November 1945, however, this changed.

The Gimbels department store in Philadelphia let James demonstrate how the Slinky worked that month.

He sold 400 Slinkys in an hour and a half after his demonstration.

Slinkys were off to the races from there.

James Industries sold 100 million Slinkys in the first two years (at $1 each, that's $6 billion in gross sales adjusted for inflation over those five years).

The Slinky had become a national phenomenon by the 1950s.

In the year 2000, the Slinky was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame.

Between 1945 and 2005, over 300 million Slinkys were sold, and the original Slinky is still a best-seller.