Slinky - A Retrospective

This week, Betty James, the co-founder of Slinky, died at age 90. She and her husband, Richard, started James Industries, which eventually created the beloved toy that walks down stairs, alone or in pairs, and makes a slinkety sound. Richard would leave his wife and six children to join a cult in Boliva, but Betty carried on; a single mother, running a company that would eventually sell, according to her obituary, hundreds of millions of Slinkys. Hail, Betty James and the Slinky--a spring, a spring, a marvelous thing.

Slinky, 1960s - The classic that made you want a two-story house so you could walk your Slinky down the stairs.


1970s - Dig that green, shag rug. It's like the stairs are ALIVE.


More 1970s - I have one word for you, "Plastic."


1980s - Slinky gets size-conscious.


source: SFGate