Inventor's name: James Richard

Date of birth: 1914

Date of death: 1974

Invention: Mr. Richard invented the slinky in 1973.

He didn't mean to come across this idea, it just happened by an accident.

By doing this experiment, he meant to make big springs that could go on huge ships and it would hold even the most fragile things in strong winds and seas.

Mr. Richard's wife, Betty, came up with the idea that he could use this in sales as a "play toy."

On the first day of sales, they sold 400 slinky's in 90 minutes at the Gilman's Department store in downtown Philadelphia.

Source: http://www.enchantedlearning.com/inventors/index.j.shtml December, 17,2001