Origins of 10 Classic Toys

Posted by Alex in Toy & Video Games on April 13, 2009 at 7:14 am


Last month, our very own Stacy (who just survived a freaky accident involving a downed power line – glad you’re ok, Stacy!) wrote a very neat post over at mental_floss about the background stories of 10 classic toys.

Take, for instance, Slinky:

Slinky was invented by Naval engineer Richard James. He knocked a spring off of a shelf when he was working to develop springs that could keep ship instruments stable in choppy waters. The spring did what a Slinky does… it stepped down to a stack of books, then to the table, and then to the floor, where it righted itself into a cylinder. James knew it would be a great toy, and tests by neighborhood kids proved him right.

Link – via i met a possum


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COMMENT

6 comments to "Origins of 10 Classic Toys"

  1. Frau
    April 13th, 2009 at 11:15 am

    I could never get that d@mn slinky to walk down stairs.

    And I have been making sock monkeys for friends and family - now you can buy them. :(

    Silly putty though. That is my fave. A while back, I had found that you could purchase it in bulk for science experiments. :D

  2. nickolas_warner
    April 13th, 2009 at 2:33 pm

    And I always got yelled at for sticking playdough on walls?

  3. Ajan
    April 13th, 2009 at 3:11 pm

    GO SLINKY GO!!

  4. A Classic Toy
    April 13th, 2009 at 4:18 pm

    Free Gift!!

    Stick your tongue in a wall socket...

    Wait 10 seconds.

    Pull out and cry...

    Wait 10 minutes.

    Pick your nose and voila... Nose Goblins!!!

  5. Frau
    April 13th, 2009 at 6:08 pm

    What rolls down stairs, alone or in pairs,
    rolls over your neighbors dog. It fits on your back, its great for a snack, LOG LOG LOG!

    Its log, its log, its big its heavy its wood! Its log, its log, its better than bad, its good!

    Everyone wants a log. Your gonna love it log. Come and get your log! Everyone needs a log!

    LOG LOG LOG!

  6. Johnny Cat
    April 13th, 2009 at 8:07 pm

    Stacy, I'm shocked! Hope everything is okay. Maybe some movie trivia on The Ice Storm would be cathartic. :P


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