Slinky

A Slinky® is a coil-shaped toy, invented by mechanical engineer Richard James in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania. Slinkys come in various sizes, but are usually no larger than a grown adult's fist when compressed. more...

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.

Engineering Uses

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.

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 Monk palace. 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 chronicles 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 Christian band Lost And Found uses a Slinky in their music. The most popular song involving a Slinky is called "Lions".

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