Contents Richard James Rookie Inventor The War Effort The Happy Accident 4 6 8 Slinky Is Born 10 Slinky Hits the Stores The Business Takes Off Life of a Slinky 12 14 16 Richard Moves On 18 Mom President Reinventor 20 The Famous Slinky Jingle Slinky Fame Fortune Slinky Moves Forward 22 24 26 Timeline 28 Glossary 30 Websites 31 Index 32
Chapter 1 Richard James Richard James Richard James Richard James Richard James Rookie Inventor Rookie Inventor Richard James was born in Philadelphia Pennsylvania on January 1 1914 He was six years old when the United States experienced an economic depression People used the little money they had for essential things such as rent food and clothing Like many families the Jameses had little money to buy toys Yet Richard would grow up to invent the Slinky one of the most famous toys ever Richard was a curious boy He was always interested in seeing how things worked Using his great imagination he entertained himself by building things His toys were tools wires springs glass wood and broken things he could fix Sometimes he even sold his creations Richard attended Westtown School a Quaker boarding school in Philadelphia His time in school fun fact Slinky is the official state toy of Pennsylvania 4
In 2015 Pennsylvania State University was ranked the twenty-fifth best engineering school in the nation helped him become a professional problem solver When it was time to go to college he knew exactly what he wanted to be Richard studied mechanical engineering at Pennsylvania State University He graduated in 1939 Now people would pay him to build fix and invent things Richard soon took a job as a naval engineer He spent his days designing and building parts for ships 5
