In the early 1930’s, a Rochester, MN, machinist named Otto Haling designed a piston ring made of thin, flat steel bar stock. Because bending the bars into rings was time-consuming, he invented a machine that bent the bar stock into coils, from which the rings could just be snipped off. Since he didn’t patent his invention, piston ring manufacturers across the country freely copied this new production method. On Jan. 28th, 1947, Richard James was awarded a U.S. patent, No. 2,415,012, for his Slinky “Toy And Process Of Use”. According to his wife Betty James, the first licensee was one Leroy Shane, who operated a wholesale and retail novelty business in Rochester, MN. Leroy had been selling his Magi-Koil in his shop and through newspaper ads, and he named the licensed version the Slinky Magi-Koil. Mapping the addresses of Leroy’s novelty shop and Otto Haling’s machine shop shows them to be about a mile apart from each other, and although there has not been any evidence found to support this, it seems quite likely that Leroy Shane bought his Magi-Koil stock from Haling and was the first person to sell these new Slinkys.

This is a rare opportunity to own the world's first Slinky in it's original box. This particular unit appears to be an early incarnation as well due to the simple box lid that likely predates teh full print version seen elsewhere.

Feel free to ask any questions.