Her husband, an engineer, conceived of the toy in 1943 while working at Cramp Shipbuilding Yard in the Port Richmond section of Philadelphia after a torsion spring fell off a table and started flipping end-over-end across the floor.
The origin of the toy dates back to 1943 when his husband, an engineer, had an idea while working at the Cramp Shipbuilding Yard in Philadelphia. This was triggered by a torsion spring that fell off a table and started spinning on the floor.