Slinky

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Image:2006-02-04 Metal spiral.jpg

Image:Slinky rainbow.jpg

A Slinky is a coil-shaped toy, invented by mechanical engineer Richard James in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Slinkys come in various sizes, but are usually no larger than a grown adult's fist when compressed. The shape is a simple helix, or coil design, of a ribbon of material, originally metal. The Slinky is famous for its ability to "walk" down stairs as the coils stretch and reform as gravity moves them down each step.

The Slinky is manufactured by James Industries in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania.

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."

1 Engineering uses
2 Popular culture
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Engineering uses

See also: Slinky seismology

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. More commonly, they can be used to demonstrate certain physical phenomena by analogy. For example, by bunching then releasing the coils at one end, a compression wave can be simulated.

[edit] 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, his family had "part of a Slinky," but he 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. It comes to a rest one stair 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. The most popular song involving a Slinky is called "Lions".
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.
Eddie Murphy ended his 1987 stand-up performance Eddie Murphy Raw with singing the Slinky song.
Billy Joel used a Slinky in his music video, "We Didn't Start the Fire".