Famous Like Me > Actor > J > Richard James
Profile of Richard James
on Famous Like Me |
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Name: |
Richard James |
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Also Know As: |
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Date of Birth: |
28th January 1969 |
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Place of Birth: |
Cambridgeshire, England, UK |
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Profession: |
Actor |
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From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia
Richard James (1914 - 1974) is a naval engineer and is the inventor of the slinky, along with his wife Betty.
Slinky
Richard James was trying to develop a meter designed to monitor power on naval battleships. He was working with tension springs when one of the springs fell to the ground. He saw how the spring kept moving after it hit the ground and an idea for a toy was born.
The Slinky was successfully demonstrated at Gimbel's Department Store in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania during the 1945 Christmas season and then at the 1946 American Toy Fair.
Richard and Betty James had 500 dollars to put their new company James Spring & Wire Company into use and mass produce the "slinky." It became a huge success, with around a quarter billion slinkys purchased to date.
Around 1960, Richard—suffering from a mid-life crisis—left his wife, six children, and Slinky Empire to join a religious order/cult in Bolivia. Betty James then took over as CEO of James Industries. Betty rescued the company from the debts left by her husband's generosity to his religion. She moved the company to its current Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania location from Philadelphia and began an active advertising campaign complete with the famous Slinky jingle.
Richard James died in 1974.
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