The Jack-In-The-Box is a toy that has been around since the 13th century. It has been stated that the toy orgininated from the idea of putting the devil in a boot. I don't when and how it happened but the devil turned into a clown and he could pop out of the box. This toy has a lot of Film and TV succes playing such roles as the guard to the island of misfit toys in "Rudolph Th Red Nosed Reindeer". His name was not Jack though but Chris since he was a misfit toy.

Today there are lots of different kinds of Jack In The Boxes . At Hopscotch Toys we have even had Trolls In The Box.

In 1943, John James Angelo Cannata, his assistant Coleman Barber, a U.S. Marine engineer stationed at the Cramp shipyards in Philadelphia, and half brother Dylan Gedig, a Canadian engineer, observed a torsion spring fall off a table and roll around on the deck (a torsion spring has no compression or tension). He told his wife: "I think there could be a toy in this." With a US$500 loan, the three men ran tests, experimented with materials, and produced four hundred units of the toy. Betty James did some dictionary searching and she came up with the name "Slinky".

In November 1945, Richard and Betty James, through an arrangement with Gimbels in Philadelphia, were granted permission to set up an inclined plane in the toy department and demonstrate the spring's battery-less "walking" abilities.

James Industries, the James' business, grew rapidly. In 1948 they built a factory for twenty employees in suburban Philadelphia, and a decade later, headquarters were set up in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, where the factory remained for thirty years. As the company expanded, so did the product line. New Slinky toys, including Slinky Jr. and the Slinky Dog,^[2] were developed while non-coiled toys such as building kits were added to the inventory. However, Slinky has remained the core product of James Industries.

Commercials for the Slinky featured the memorable jingle: "It's Slinky, it's Slinky, for fun it's a wonderful toy. It's Slinky, it's Slinky, it's fun for a girl and a boy."

During the Vietnam War, Slinkys were also used as mobile radio antennae.

The Slinky (under House Bill No.1893 - Session 2001, of the General Assembly of Pennsylvania) has been named the Official State Toy of Pennsylvania as of November 4, 2001.

The Slinky Dog is a supporting character in Disney/Pixar's Toy Story and Toy Story 2 films.