The interesting story behind the childhood toy

This is one of the interesting toy inventions to people who "happened to be unexpected".

Those of us are no stranger to a toy called "rainbow springs" (or Slinky, spiral springs). They are attractive not only because of the strange colors but also by the interesting way of playing.

But do you know, the purpose of the inventor of rainbow springs is not to create a toy for children but hide it after that is an interesting fact .

Rainbow springs.

In the early 40s, Europe was at its peak with abundant energy for manufacturing. This is also the time when shipyards in the region focus on producing naval battleships for the US war.

Famous among them is the Cramp shipyard in Philadelphia. As one of the creative and talented engineers at the time, Richard James was always trying to set up a manufacturing plan for naval battleships.

He focused on developing a system that could support and support sensitive components on ships. This device has spiral springs made of metal.

Slinky's design.

On one occasion when he accidentally dropped the spring set off the shelf, he found that it did not fall straight to the floor but automatically bounced up and down, rolled several loops through the cupboard, then plunged to the floor, stimulating the curious of James.

He told his wife, "If you can find a suitable and tight steel material, you can turn it into a walking spring."

It took many years, he always tried to find and change different wire materials and correct the tension for reasonable. In the end, the effort gave James what he expected. After combining the right carbon steel wire with a diameter of 0.14cm with suitable tension, the spring was able to move up and down stairs easily.

According to physics, when spiral springs begin its downward journey, potential energy has been turned into kinetic energy, and it will continue to jump up and down until it reaches a flat surface.

Springs can move up and down stairs easily.

James and his wife decided to call the spring "Slinky" after investigating the dictionary for several weeks. This name is not only meant to be smooth and smooth, but also the sound when the spring moves.

They founded James Industry and launched a monochrome "Slinky" toy product with a loan of USD 500 (about VND 11.3 million at current exchange rates) in 1945.

Slinky is one of the hottest toys at the time.

James has constantly made improvements and turned Slinky into one of the hottest toys of the time. He sold more than 100 million Slinky in the first two years of production. When keeping toy prices at US $ 1 (about VND 22,500 at current exchange rates), he earned revenue equivalent to US $ 1 billion (over VND 22,500 billion).

By the 1970s, the colorful plastic version of Slinky was born with the idea of ​​Betty-wife James. She took the prototype from the traditional Slinky and developed it into a "expensive product like".