Slinky Dog

Early in the history of James Industries, Helen Herrick Malsed of Washington State sent the company a letter and drawings for developing Slinky pull-toys. The company liked her ideas, and Slinky Dog and Slinky Train were added to the company’s product line. Slinky Dog, a small plastic dog whose front and rear ends were joined by a metal Slinky, debuted in 1952. Malsed received royalties of $60,000 to $70,000 annually for 17 years on her patent for the Slinky pull-toy idea, but never visited the plant.

In 1995 the Slinky Dog was redesigned for all of Pixar’s Toy Story movies. James Industries had discontinued their Slinky Dog a few years previously. Betty James approved of the new Slinky Dog, telling the press, “The earlier Slinky Dog wasn’t nearly as cute as this one.” The molds used in manufacturing the new toy created problems for James Industries, so the plastic front and rear ends were manufactured in China with James Industries doing the assembly and packaging. The entire run of 825,000 redesigned Slinky Dogs sold out well before Christmas 1995.

More information about the Slinky: CLICK HERE

More information about Helen Herrick Malsed: CLICK HERE

Old Slinky Dog Commercial	New Slinky Dog Commercial
History of the Slinky

Note: The Link takes you to YouTube Video. The Facts & Photos are from wikipedia.org