In 1943 a naval engineer named Richard James watched a spring fall from a shelf and walk. He spent two years turning it into a toy. No store wanted it.
In November 1945 Gimbels department store in Philadelphia gave the toy a counter and a demonstration. James sat at the counter and coiled the spring down a ramp. Four hundred Slinkys sold in 90 minutes at one dollar each.
The navy had never wanted the springs. His wife Betty found the name in a dictionary.