In honor of Black History Month, our Inventor of the Month is Lonnie G. Johnson, who invented a product we have all loved and played with; the Super Soaker.
Lonnie G. Johnson was born on October 6th 1949 in Mobile, Alabama. Growing up Lonnie was always tinkering with ideas and some even landed him in trouble. One such idea, was when he was 13, he took a go-cart that he built from junk and placed a lawnmower engine inside, raced it along the highway where he was eventually pulled over by the police.Never the one to stop there, in high school, Lonnie entered the 1968 Alabama State Science Fair, which took place at the University of Alabama at Tuscalossa and was the only black student in the competition. His invention was called The Linex, which was a compressed air-powered robot. He won 1st prize, $250 and a plaque much to the dismay of the university officials. After high school he went to Tuskegee University and graduated with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and a M.S. in Nuclear Engineering.In 1982, Lonnie was experimenting a idea of a heat pump that used water not Freon (a non-flammable gaseous or liquid that is found in refrigerators and air conditioners), which resulted in a a stream of water shooting across his bathroom and landing into the bathtub. This new idea led him to develop a water gun powered by air pressure, which was named Power Drencher, the forerunner of the Super Soaker. He licensed the Super Soaker to Larami Corporation now Hasbro in 1989 and has held the world’s top 20 best selling toys every year since then.Lonnie Johnson, is not only the inventor of the Super Soaker, he also worked as a systems engineer for NASA (the Galileo mission to Jupiter and the Cassini mission to Saturn) and worked at Savannah River National Laboratory analyzing plutonium fuel spheres. He has over 100 patents and in 2011 was inducted into the State of Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame.Further Reading:
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lonnie_Johnson_(inventor)
- http://www.biography.com/people/lonnie-g-johnson-17112946?page=2
- http://www.black-inventor.com/Lonnie-G-Johnson.asp
Have a new invention or a new idea that will be the next best selling toy? At Innovate Product Design, we can help you get a jump start on that new invention. We can help with concept development, design, and prototyping. For more information on how to get started, email us at info@innovate-design.com.