The U.S. Patent Office knows it, among other things, as “a helical spring having substantially no lateral force between turns in closed position when no external force is acting … and in which the spring cross section is of a shape which has essentially lower torsional stiffness of a given cross sectional area than a square, thus producing a low natural frequency.”

We know it as the Slinky, and we celebrate it every Aug. 30.

The toy’s concept literally walked into its inventor’s life, quite by accident.

In 1943, naval mechanical engineer Richard James was designing springs to support and stabilize sensitive onboard instruments in rough waters.

He bumped one of the shelves in his workshop, knocking a spring from an overhead shelf. He watched it “step” in a series of arcs to a stack of books, then a tabletop, and onto the floor, where it recoiled and stood upright.

James took the spring home and told his wife, Betty, “I think I can make a toy out of this.”

After a year of experimentation, James produced the legendary toy, which Betty dubbed “Slinky” after scouring the dictionary for a word meaning “sleek and graceful.”

The couple borrowed $500, formed James Spring and Wire Company (later James Industries) and had a local machine shop make 400 units.

After a year of unsuccessful pitches to toy stores, James demonstrated the toy at Philadelphia’s Gimbels department store in November 1945.

Within 90 minutes, all 400 units were sold at $1 each. By Christmas, James had sold 20,000 units.

The next year, the toy debuted to widespread acclaim at the American Toy Fair.

James developed a machine to produce each unit within seconds, and in the first two years of production, 100 million Slinkys were sold.

Slinky pull toys followed a few years later, the brainchild of Helen Malsed, who sent James Industries drawings of her patented idea.

The company liked the concept, added Slinky Dog and Slinky Train to their product lineup and paid Malsed $65,000 annual royalties for 17 years.

In 1962, the Slinky television commercial debuted, featuring the longest running jingle in advertising history.

Throughout the years, Slinkys have been used as educational props, antennas, therapeutic devices, mail holders, light fixtures, gutter protectors, birdhouse protectors, drapery holders and window decorations.

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