I had heard once, as a kid many years ago, that the slinky was invented as an attempt to develop a compact radio antenna for field radio operators in war; being a fun toy, too, was “accidental”.
Cecil’s recent description makes no mention of the antenna connection, and makes it sound like it was primarily developed for the fun it turned out to be.
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I was pretty sure that I saw the inventor of the Slinky on a recent Discovery Channel show called something like “Our Favorite Toys.”
His wife states that he is dead. I don’t remember for sure, but I thought they did interview the inventor himself. But maybe I was thinking of another toy, or maybe they interviewed his son or something. If I find out for sure, of if anyone else knows, let’s post it here.