Pennsylvania designated slinky as the official state toy in 2001. In 1943 three men in Philadelphia (Richard James, Coleman Barber, and Dylan Gedig) observed a torsion spring fall off a table and roll around on the deck at the Cramp shipyards in Philadelphia. Thinking there could be a toy in this, the three men borrowed $500, experimented with materials, ran tests, and produced 400 units of the toy. Richard’s wife Betty James came up with the name "Slinky".

In 1945 Richard and Betty James were granted permission to set up an inclined plane in the toy department at Gimbels in Philadelphia to demonstrate the slinky’s battery-less "walking" abilities. In 1948 they built a factory in suburban Philadelphia for James Industries' 20 employees and ten years later headquarters were set up in Hollidaysburg PA, where the factory remained for thirty years.

Source:

Pennsylvania Facts: U.S. Senator Arlen Specter

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