Lonnie Johnson

   The Super Soaker ® was invented in 1988 under the original name of the "Power Drencher" and a whole new era of power water squirters began. Invented by Lonnie Johnson, an Aerospace Engineer from Los Angeles, California, the Power Drencher was the first water blaster to incorporate air pressure into its design. Three years later in 1991 when Johnson received his patent, the Power Drencher was renamed "Super Soaker" and a nation-wide advertising campaign was launched.

Patents Issued to Lonnie Johnson

Lonnie G. Johnson
1 #4,143,267
2 #4,181,843 
3 #4,211,362
4 #4,253,606
5 #4,476,693
6 #4,509,361
7 #4,591,071 
8 #4,724,683
9 #4,757,946 
10 #5,074,437
11 #5,150,819 
12 #5,197,452
13 #5,238,149
14 #5,266,928
15 #D 342,551 
16 #5,292,032
17 #5,299,367 
18 #5,305,919
19 #5,322,191
20 #5,332,120 
21 #5,381,778
22 #5,395,275 
23 #5,398,873 
24 #5,407,375
25 #5,415,153
26 #5,499,940 
27 #5,538,453 
28 #5,541,464 
29 #5,469,145 
30 #5,549,497 
31 #5,553,598 
32 #5,586,688 
33 #5,592,931
34 #5,596,978 
35 #5,626,123
36 #5,653,216
37 #5,699,781 
38 #5,701,879 
39 #5,707,270
40 #5,709,199
41 #5,711,324 
42 #5,724,955 
3/6/1979
1/1/1980 
8/8/1980
3/3/1981
10/16/1984
4/9/1985
5/27/1986 
2/16/1988
7/19/1988 
12/14/1991
9/29/1992 
3/30/1993
8/24/1993
11/30/1993
12/21/1993 
3/8/1994
4/5/1994 
4/26/1994
6/21/1994
7/26/1994 
1/17/1995
3/7/1995
3/21/1995 
4/18/1995
5/16/1995 
3/19/1996 
7/23/1996
 7/30/1996 
11/21/1995
 8/27/1996 
9/10/1996
12/24/1996
1/14/1997
1/28/1997
5/6/1997 
8/5/1997
12/23/1997 
12/30/1997 
1/13/1998 
1/20/1998
1/27/1998
3/10/1998 
1 Digital distance measuring instrument
2 Variable resistance type sensor controlled switch
3 Smoke detecting timer controlled thermostat
4 Automatic sprinkler control 
5 Thermal energy accumulation
6 Soil moisture potential determination by weight measurement
7 Squirt gun 
8 Johnson tube, a thermodynamic heat pump
9 Flow actuated pulsator 


10 Super Soaker®
11 Double tank pinch trigger pump water gun 
12 Liquid jet propelled transporter and launcher toy
13 Pinch trigger hand pump water gun with multiple tanks
14 Wet diaper detector
15 Combined aerodynamic glider and launcher 
16 Pinch trigger water gun with rearwardly mounted hand pump
17 Hair drying curler apparatus 
18 Pinch trigger hand pump water gun with non-detachable tank
19 Water arrow projecting bowLow pressure, high volume pressurized water gun
20 Water arrow projecting bow 
21 Pressurized toy rocket with rapid action release mechanism
22 Toy airplane and launcher
23 Fluid pulsator with accumulator for frequency control 
24 Toy rocket with velocity dependent chute release 
25 Pressurized air/water rocket and launcher
26 Fluid powering and launching system for a toy vehicle
27 Air pressure toy rocket launcher
28 Thermionic generator 
29 Wet diaper detector 
30 Toy rocket with velocity dependent chute release 
31 Pneumatic launcher for a toy projectile and the like
32 Electric pump toy water gun 
33 Compressed air gun with magazine indexer 
34 Rapid fire compressed air gun 
35 Compressed air gun
36 Toy rocket launcher
37 Rapid fire compressed air gun
38 Compressed air gun with single action pump 
39 System for detonating a percussion cap in a toy projectile 
40 Rapid fire compressed air gun
41 Hair drying curler apparatus
42 Voice activated compressed air toy gun