An Old Timey Podcast - 22: The Story of the Super Soaker!

Episode Date: September 11, 2024

Lonnie Johnson was a smart guy — a very smart guy. As a NASA engineer, he spent his days coming up with solutions to complex problems. But when he went home, Lonnie’s brain kept whirring. So, he invented. He tinkered. He imagined. The vast majority of his creations had scientific, practical purposes. But his idea for a pressurized water gun? Well, that was just pure fun. Remember, kids, history hoes always cite their sources! For this episode, Norm pulled from: Adams, Susan. “The Inventor Of The Super Soaker Talks About Turning Inventions Into Products And His Next Big Idea.” Forbes, March 3, 2017. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestreptalks/2017/03/03/the-inventor-of-the-super-soaker-talks-about-turning-inventions-into-products-and-his-next-big-idea/.BBC News. “Lonnie Johnson: The Father of the Super Soaker.” August 15, 2016, sec. Magazine. https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-37062579.Biography. “How Lonnie Johnson Invented the Super Soaker,” January 26, 2021. https://www.biography.com/inventors/lonnie-johnson-invent-super-soaker.Center, Smithsonian Lemelson. “Meet Lonnie Johnson, the Man Behind the Super Soaker.” Text. Smithsonian, January 26, 2017. https://invention.si.edu/meet-lonnie-johnson-man-behind-super-soaker.Dr. Lonnie Johnson - Engineer & Inventor of the Super Soaker | Sweet Auburn Stories - YouTube, 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1k7DhGDoqY.Dr. Lonnie Johnson: Meet the Billion Dollar Super Soaker Inventor EP. 22 - YouTube. Vault Empowers, 2024. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyQf6x5awfM.“History of the Super Soaker :: :: iSoaker.Com,” n.d. http://www.isoaker.com/Info/history_supersoaker.php.Iinex. “I Am Dr. Lonnie Johnson. NASA Rocket Scientist. Holder of over 100 Patents. Inventor of the Super Soaker. I’m Now Working on Advanced Energy Technology Solutions to Save the World. This Is My 2nd Time Doing This, so Ask Me Anything.” Reddit Post. R/IAmA, November 5, 2018. www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/9ugvd7/i_am_dr_lonnie_johnson_nasa_rocket_scientist/.Innovative Lives: Lonnie Johnson - YouTube. Lemelson Center, 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXMVACdKn3o.IPO Education Foundation. “Lonnie Johnson, Johnson Research and Development,” October 13, 2017. https://www.ipoef.org/lonnie-johnson-johnson-research-and-development/.Meet the Man Who Invented the Super Soaker - YouTube. Insider Tech, 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1zAO1WkG58.Popular Mechanics. “7 Questions for Super Soaker Inventor Lonnie Johnson,” October 1, 2009. https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gadgets/a4335/4322161/.Revolutionary Designs for Energy Alternatives: Lonnie Johnson at TEDxAtlanta, 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9y39WNUdbkM.Schrempp, Zach. “Lonnie Johnson (1949- ) •.” Black Past (blog), January 6, 2011. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/johnson-lonnie-1949/.Speaker Series: Lonnie Johnson - YouTube. USPTO, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7yRcuhe2M8.“The Case of the Super Soaker and the Chamber Therein | MIT Sloan,” August 7, 2024. https://mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-to-matter/case-super-soaker-and-chamber-therein.The Strong National Museum of Play. “Super Soaker,” n.d. https://www.museumofplay.org/toys/super-soaker/.Are you enjoying An Old Timey Podcast? Then please leave us a 5-star rating and review wherever you listen to podcasts!Are you *really* enjoying An Old Timey Podcast? Well, calm down, history ho! You can get more of us on Patreon at patreon.com/oldtimeypodcast. At the $5 level, you’ll get a monthly bonus episode (with video!), access to our 90’s style chat room, plus the entire back catalog of bonus episodes from Kristin’s previous podcast, Let’s Go To Court.

Here you are listening to an old-timey podcast. I'm Norman Caruso. And what is that effed-up smell in my crib? It's Kristen Caruso! Oh, excellent callback to flavor of love, Kristen. Thank you. And on this episode, I'll be talking about the Super Soaker. That really cool toy from the 90s that all the cool kids had?

That's right. Were you a cool kid? Just thinking about it. Sorry. That was disgusting. Yes. No, I was not. I didn't even have a super soaker.

They were probably too expensive or something. I don't know. They weren't expensive at all. Well, there was some other excuse used in my household. I can tell you that. I also didn't have a Barbie Jeep, but we're not here to discuss my troubles. I know that's a really sore spot for you, not having a Barbie Jeep. So we don't have to get into that.

Okay, thank you. Yeah. I'm very excited for this. Yeah? Well, yeah, I mean, it's nice to cover a topic that I'm guessing will not include carving into mountains that were stolen from Native Americans. I don't think there's going to be slavery mentioned even once here today. Real good stuff. Seems a little upbeat, frankly. I don't know what to do with myself. Guess we'll see. Won't we?

But before you get going, I've got to do a plug. Oh. And this is kind of a bogo deal. Ooh. Love bogo deals. Two plugs in one. First off, it's our plug. Yeah, baby.

Everyone, what are you doing with your life? You've got to support us on Patreon if you can. If you can't, it's no big deal. Don't worry about it. Don't feel bad. We're doing just fine. We've got a hot tub, okay? And we've got so much crystal light.

Oh, my God. But we just went to Costco the other day and restocked. Seven bucks? You can't beat it for 60 packs? Norm, Norm. You got to not brag too. hard to the people. We're just here to tell you if you want to support us on Patreon, we'd love to have you at the $5 level. That's where you get all of our bonus episodes. You get to hear

the two-part series on Agatha Christie's Real Life Disappearance. Man, she had... Fantastic episode, by the way. It was two episodes. Did you just like one of them or... I listened to it all at once. Oh, there you go. It was an ultra-mega episode. And also, if you want to learn some stuff and get grossed out and giggle, you should know that Norm did a bonus episode about a true story, about how men used to attach testicles to themselves, extra ones, to get a little extra vim and vigor in their lives. So you sign up at the $5 level on our Patreon. You get all those bonus episodes, plus the video versions, and you get into the Discord to chitty chat the day away. Oh, and boy, is it fun in there. And you know what's also fun?

What's that, Kristen? The hit podcast, Crimes of the Centuries. Ooh. Norm, are you familiar with this podcast? I am. Oh. But please tell me more about it. Tell the listeners about it.

Okay. The Crimes of the Centuries podcast highlights cases that were huge in ways both subtle and obvious when they happened, but aren't very well known today. Host Amber Hunt is a longtime journalist who, won numerous national and state awards and worked on two newsroom Pulitzer Prize winning projects. Okay, everybody. Pulitzer Prize? I'm afraid so.

She's a big deal. Kristen, how are we supposed to compete with this podcast? We compete by making a lot of fart jokes on our podcast. I've noticed that on Crimes of the Centuries, Amber Hunt is really dropping the ball on the fart jokes. Okay, that's just my notes there for you. No, I love her podcast because it is true. It seems like once a decade, maybe a couple times a decade, everyone's like, oh, this crime right here. This is the crime of the century.

And it does get forgotten. She has an episode that just came out. I was just listening to it. It was about Truman Capote's In Cold Blood, which was about the clutter family murders. She goes into what he got right, what he got wrong. it's just a really fascinating, well-researched, well-told podcast. Crimes of the Centuries is under the Grab Bag Collab umbrella and is available wherever you listen to podcasts. And you can find that show plus several more on Grab Bag Collabs, Patreon at patreon.com slash Grabbagg collab.

Norm, we are patrons of Grab Bag Collab. We are. We highly recommend it. There are a bunch of good shows on there. It's a real, real bargain. You're a Maxinista. You might want to check that out. Yeah. Crimes of the Century is very well written, researched, well produced. I actually listen to the episode on Cassie Chadwick.

Yes. Who claims she was the illegitimate daughter of Andrew Carnegie and like... Brilliant. Love it. Got a bunch of loans because people are like, ooh, Andrew Carnegie's daughter. Uh-huh. You stand to inherit millions. Yeah. Crazy story. Yes.

Amber did an episode on the largest art heist in American history. Kristen? I know. I... Getting all juiced up for that, I bet. I'm obsessed. Anyway, yeah, please check out crimes of the centuries. Okay, Norm, are you going to tell us about the Super Sokker or what?

I guess. We're on the edge of our seats. Kristen, as much as I love this podcast, it's kind of a drag man. Oh, wow. Okay, fine. Geez, everyone's a critic. We talked about Adolf Hitler. I forgot about Hitler.

Slavery. Yeah. People sowing testicles to themselves. Well, that was kind of funny. The Holocaust. Stealing land from indigenous Americans. Yeah. Shoving rabbits up your hoo-ha.

That's true. That was another bonus episode. Thank you for that. Yeah. You know, I come from the YouTube sphere where I had a channel called The Gaming Historian. It was fun, lighthearted, nostalgic. It's a real change of pace, I've got to say. Almost never mentioned the Holocaust.

I've never mentioned the Holocaust in an episode of the Gaming Historian. So I wanted to kind of go back to that feeling of nostalgia. Yeah. So let's travel back in time. A simpler time in our lives, Kristen, the early 90s. Ooh, everything's neon. I'm wearing a windbreaker. Oh.

Honey oak trim all over the house. Tile floors. Green couch. Close your eyes. Okay. Picture it. It's July. You're on summer vacation.

No school. Yeah, we know what summer vacation means. But... Can I open my eyes? No. Oh, okay. Damn, it is so hot outside. Mm-hmm.

It's hotter than two rats banging in a wool sock. Norman, this is so not classy. Okay, but I get it. You're laying on your couch in the living room, and you're watching reruns of your favorite show. Oh. Clarissa explains it all. Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-ma.

There's an empty Capri Sun Packet. It's wrinkled on the end table. There's potato chip crumbs littering the floor. Oh, Lestra. And you just polished off that last freezy pop in the house. You've been on that couch so long, Kristen. Your skin is starting to stick to the couch cushions. Okay.

And you know who walks into the living room? Who's that? Chererey, Ray. Your mom. Uh-oh, the bird? And she sees what's going on. And she's horrified. You are a disgrace.

And so she yells, Kristen, enough, lazing around the house. Go outside and play. No, she would have told me to clean something. Clean. And all right, I'll go with this. And then go outside and play. Hi. Can I open my eyes?

Yeah, you can open your eyes? Okay, good. All right. Wow. I just wanted to make sure you were back in that moment. I'm back in the 90s, baby. Okay. So you go outside and you see all your friends kind of congregating at the end of the cul-de-sac.

Because all their people, Parents told them, get the hell out of the house. Yeah. Go play with your friends. So, Kristen, what's the best thing to do outside on a hot-ass summer day? Play with Super Sokers? Water gun fight. Yeah.

Mm-hmm. So everyone runs home to get into their swimsuits. They're grabbing their water guns from the garage or their shed or wherever. And you all meet up at Davy Donk's backyard. Because Davy Donks was the rich kid. He had the biggest backyard. Mm-hmm. And he had an above-ground pool.

Sure. So you got water guns, you got the pool, it's going to be a good time. Well, Davy Donk's pulls out a water gun you have never seen before, Kristen. It's big. It's got bright neon colors. Oh, yeah. And what the hell is that big green bottle on top of the gun? Kristen?

Oh, I see that. That better not be loaded. And then Davy Donks, he starts pumping the gun. Okay, I can tell it's not loaded. I'm feeling better now. Like a tire pump. Uh-huh. What is going on?

And then he pulls the trigger. And a powerful streamwater shoots out and blast you right in the chest. You drop to your knees. What just happened? Davy Donks' water gun is more powerful. It's more cool. It's more menacing than anything you have ever experienced before. Mm-hmm.

And that's because Davy Donks was using the Super Soaker. Hell yeah, he was. Norm, did you have one of these back in the day? You're damn right I did. Oh, okay. Bragging. The Super Soaker was released in 1990, and it was so much better than other water guns. And I'm going to tell you why.

Okay. A traditional water gun, like this one, that you see here, it has two tubes inside of it. Okay. Okay. So one tube goes from the trigger to the water reservoir, which is inside this gun. And then you have another tube that goes from the water reservoir to the nozzle. So when you pull the trigger, it pushes air and the water reservoir. the tube, which pushes water into the other tube, and then it shoots out the gun.

So let me show you. Oh, Norman! Did I get you? I dodged it like a champ. I cannot believe you shot that at me. Okay, so yeah, this water gun works. It's kind of pitiful, though. I mean, these have been around forever, like the 1910s or even the 1800s, I think.

Okay. But then you have the Super Soaker. Norman? The Super Soaker has a... Piston pumper, it pressurizes the air and the water inside the gun. If you blast me with that thing, I will blast your ass. So when you pull the trigger. Norman?

And you release all that pressure. Norman? The water shoots out of the gun faster and farther and with way more power. I am surrounded by expensive equipment. You better. This gun's so powerful, Kristen, I will not shoot you with it. Okay. I promise.

All right. I'm going to put it down now. But if you sass me, I'm going to go for it, okay? Oh, no. I'm a goner, folks. Kristen, the Super Soaker revolutionized the toy water gun industry. And it left a lasting imprint on our childhoods. But for the man who invented it, Dr. Lonnie Johnson, it was not easy.

For multiple reasons. Medical doctor? Like, what kind of doctor are we talking about? Smart guy doctor. Not medical doctor. Like, I'm very smart doctor. Those medical doctors are idiots. We're talking about the smart guy doctors.

That's right. Okay. Lonnie Johnson grew up in segregated Alabama. Holy shit. And as a child, he experienced racism while pursuing his dream of becoming an engineer. And when he graduated college and he entered the workforce, coworkers sometimes doubted his abilities. Even though he was working as an engineer for the Air Force and for not. NASA. You know, on this podcast, even our fun episodes are a little bit of a bummer.

Yeah, but it's an uplifting. Don't worry. It'll be good. Absolutely. And then when Lonnie Johnson decided to pursue his inventions full time as an entrepreneur, he struggled to find a company that believed in him. But Lonnie Johnson was not a quitter. He believed the key to success in life was perseverance. Lonnie Johnson first came up with the Super Soaker in 1982. It would take eight years for it to hit store shelves. And his perseverance paid off. The Super Soker became the number one selling toy in the world.

Whoa. So on today's episode of an old-timey podcast, we will explore the incredible life of Dr. Lonnie Johnson and his most famous invention, the Super Soaker. I'm so excited. Are you ready? Yes, and my shoulder's a little wet. I have not yet forgiven you for shooting me with that little water good.

Wet shoulder contest. Here we go, folks. It's getting sexy. Everyone put on your 100% cotton white t-shirts. We're having that wet shoulder contest. Lonnie George Johnson was born on October 6th, 1949 in Mobile, Alabama. He was one of six children. It's a lot of kids.

anything more than three, I'm like, whoo, it's a lot of kids. I think three's a lot. I need to talk to my mom about that. Well, you were a surprise. Yeah, I shouldn't be here, folks. I was an accident. A miracle, we say. My mom confessed that to me when I was in my mid-20s.

Like, I wasn't expected. They weren't planning for me. And so the running joke is like, I shouldn't even be here today. You know, and I run off crying and stuff. Yeah. We're glad you're here, Norm. Thank you. Lonnie's father was a World War II veteran.

He worked as a civilian truck driver at a nearby Air Force base. Lonnie's mother worked a couple of different jobs. She worked in a laundry mat. She worked as a nurse's aide. And growing up, Lonnie Johnson's family didn't have a lot of money. Six kids, truck driver, nurses aid. Sure, yeah. During the summer, Lonnie's parents picked cotton on his grandfather's farm to help supplement some income.

And this was a very common thing for poor people in the second. especially common among black people in the south. So when you don't have a lot of money, the Johnsons did what they could to save money. And for Lonnie's father, that meant that when something broke in the house, you don't throw it away. You fix it. Yeah. And this was Lonnie's introduction to engineering. His father taught him how things worked.

So for example, one time they were repairing a lamp and Lonnie's father showed him how electricity works. It requires two wires, one for electrons to go in. one for electrons to go out. And this made Lonnie, like, super curious about everything he could get his hands on. And so he was taking apart his toys, trying to figure out how they worked. He took his sister's doll and tore it apart because the eyes blinked. Did he have permission to do that? No.

His sister was very upset about it. But, yeah, you know, the eyes blinked and you want to know how does that work? Yeah. His favorite toy growing up was the erection set. Oh, what? Erecter set. Sorry. Norm. Did you do that on purpose?

No. The erector set. Because it let you build all sorts of things. You've seen the movie The Sandlot, right? Yes. Do you remember when they use an erector set to try to get the ball back? Yes, yes. With the catapult?

Uh-huh. Yeah. You're killing me, Smalls. I love that movie. So pretty soon Lonnie became known around his neighborhood as the kid who always tinkers with things, and he earned the nickname. the professor. Hmm.

In 1962, when Lonnie Johnson was 13 years old, he heard a speech from President John F. Kennedy that changed his life forever. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things. Not because they are easy, but because they are hard. President John F. Kennedy declared the United States would have a man on the moon by the end of the 60s. And from that moment on, Lonnie Johnson was upset.

with space exploration and with rockets. He wanted to learn everything about everything. So he ran down to the library. He checked out a book on rockets. And it even had a section on how you could make your own rocket. Cool. And that's exactly what he started doing. He started building rockets.

Obviously not the giant ones they launch into space, but, you know, little bottle rockets, right? Thank you for clarifying. And after he built his first rocket, he wanted to launch it, obviously. Well, what do you need to launch a rocket, Kristen? I don't know. I've never launched a rocket. Fuel. Oh, excuse me. You need fuel, Kristen.

All right. Luckily, that book he checked out from the library, it had a section about rocket fuel and how to make rocket fuel. Jeez, this seems like a kind of dangerous book, but already. Yeah, I know. But some of the ingredients Lonnie had never heard of, and so he was just like, eh, I got to put this on the back burner. But then one day he had to go to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription for his mom.

And when he was waiting for the prescription to get filled, he was walking down the aisles, checking out everything. And he noticed that there was something amazing on the shelf, a shakeweight. He noticed that some of the products at the drugstore, they contained ingredients for the rocket fuel. Okay. And so he started buying stuff from the pharmacy to make his rocket fuel. Like what? Like potassium nitrate. Okay.

I'm sorry. Please hold. What's to matter? Well, as you know, because you are my lovely husband. Every now and then, a hair will get trapped down my shirt, and it'll tickle my titty. Betwixt the breasts. My apologies to the folks at the $10 level on Patreon who witnessed that. Don't worry.

Nobody saw anything scandals. We call those hairs little titty ticklers. I'm sorry. Continue on. So he's buying up half the pharmacy. Yeah, he's buying shit for his rocket fuel. Okay. And so eventually he has everything he needs to make rocket fuel.

And so the recipe says, okay, you got to put all these ingredients in a pot, and you got to heat them up and meld them together. And so he took a pot on his stove and started heating it up. Good grief. And blew his house up? He almost did. So things went south quick because the fuel caught fire. Yeah. And he started panicking.

Yeah. There was dark, thick smoke filling up in his kitchen. he couldn't even see his hand like right in front of his face, okay? So he's like, yikes, and he runs out. And obviously this got the attention of everyone in the house. His parents rushed in and they put out the fire. Lonnie Johnson had almost burned his family's house down. Right.

Okay. But surprisingly, Lonnie's mom and dad, they didn't get mad at him. Yeah, right. Instead, they went out and they bought Lonnie a hot plate. And they told him, look, if you're going to do this, do it outside. Wow. That's really sweet. Yeah. So Lonnie remembered this as a very pivotal moment in his life because he said my parents could easily yelled and screamed and punished me. Yeah.

But instead they were really patient with him and they supported his interests and his curiosity. And that was a big deal for him. It also seems really big for that time period too. Yeah. Absolutely. To be that encouraging of your kid. Yeah. And he also credits that moment for his time. his belief that you need to reaffirm success and you don't need to put kids down because reaffirming success, it creates a snowball effect. You know, if kids experience success and positive reinforcement,

they'll crave it more and more. Yeah. And he thinks that will make kids more likely to succeed in life. Well, funnily enough, this is not the end of the rocket fuel saga. Okay. Okay. Lonnie said he was in school one day and then he got an intercom. Or Ronnie Johnson, report to the picture. of that first, you know. Uh-huh. So obviously you assume you're in trouble when you hear that, right? Yes, definitely. It turned out that he was in trouble.

Uh-huh. Lonnie's brother had taken that rocket fuel to school, and he and his buddies lit it in the hallway. No. As a prank. And I guess they ratted Lonnie Johnson out. They were like, oh, well, he made the fuel. Uh-huh. And so the principal was like, did you make this?

Are you trying to blow up the school? Oh. And Lonnie was like, okay, yeah, I did make the rocket fuel, but it's just fuel. It's not a bomb. Yeah. You know. And then the police got involved. Oh, shit.

And Lonnie was like bawling, like crying his eyes out. And he was trying to convince them. It's not a bomb. It's rocket fuel. I'm really into building rockets. My brother took it. Oh, my God. Well, luckily, the police analyzed the fuel.

And they're like, okay, yeah, it's just fuel. But then the police were like, well, we're just going to charge you with our person, tried to light the school on fire. Well, he didn't try. Well, thank goodness the principal felt that the boys had had enough punishment, and he decided not to press charges. He just sent him home. Okay.

Chieu. Crisis averted. That could have ended very, very badly. It's those little moments in life. It's like, man, this can, like, change your life this moment right here. Yeah. Okay, so as a teenager, Lonnie Johnson attended Williamson High School in Mobile, Alabama, an all-black school.

Lonnie grew up during segregation, and he said that during this time, he was afraid of white people, like you and me, Kristen. We're pretty threatening people. We are also very white. We really are extra white. Extra white.

I mean, you can't deny it. You can't deny it. I'm very white. We don't know any rap. Hey, I quoted L.O. Cool J. on the last episode. I'm very proud of that. It seems like a white thing to say.

You're right. It does. Fuck. I am white. So Lonnie said when he and his friends were playing outside and they saw the cops driving down the street, they would just fucking run. They'd all run and hide. Yeah. He said that one time he was riding his bike home from his grandma's house and this car just started chasing him.

And he had to jump off his bike and hide in some bushes. Shit. Yeah. And he said some white guys got out of a car and they were looking for. but they eventually gave up and drove away. It's like scary shit as a kid. Anytime. That's not just scary when you're a kid, I'm sure.

You know what? That's true. Especially scary as a kid. During this time, schools were starting to become integrated in Alabama. And Lonnie said that he would watch the news and they would interview these white parents. And they'd be like, I don't want my kid exposed to black people. Yeah. You know.

Sadly, Lonnie said that while these experiences were. difficult, he just got used to it. And he never understood why white people looked down on him. In high school, Lonnie took a standardized test from the Junior Engineer Technical Society. And this test would determine if he had the potential to pursue a career as an engineer, and Lonnie was pretty excited about it. Yeah. But then he got the test results back. Kind of discouraging. The Junior Engineer Technical Society said that Lonnie probably wouldn't be a very good engineer. He'd be a really good technician, though, you know, repairing things, not necessarily creating things. Did this test factor in race? I mean, I don't know. Okay. But I'm just wondering if,

you know, you know, nothing against technicians. It's a fine occupation, but Lonnie didn't want to be a technician. He wanted to be an engineer. And this was one of the first times Lonnie Johnson persevered. And this would become a major theme in his life. He found out that the junior engineer Technical Society, the same organization that gave him that test, they held a science fair every year at the University of Alabama. And Lonnie said, I'm going to enter that contest and I'm going to win that contest and I'm going to prove to them that I will become an engineer. That is so cool.

So, Kristen, what is Lonnie Johnson going to do to impress these judges? I mean, hopefully not light the whole university on fire with rocket fuel. Baking soda volcano? Classic. How about a slinky to demonstrate gravity? That's what Millhouse did at the time. I should have known. Should have known. Mrs. Craboppel said, pretty lame, Millhouse.

So yeah, none of those things are going to do it. How about this? What if Lonnie built a fucking robot? For real? That's exactly what he did. Whoa. So Lonnie Johnson had seen a lot of robots on TV. There was Robbie the robot from Forbidivis.

in Planet, robot B9 from Lost in Space. And Lonnie thought, well, if they're building robots for TV, surely I can make a robot. Lonnie later realized that there were people inside those robots on TV. They weren't actually robots. But that wasn't going to stop them. Yeah. So over the course of a year, during his junior and senior year of high school, he built a robot using parts from a junkyard. But he also found some parts around his house.

And unfortunately for his sister, who took some of her toys again, he used his sister's walkie-talkies to transmit signals to the robot. Lonnie. I know. By his senior year, Lonnie had finished his robot. He called it Linex.

Linex is about four feet tall. He had two arms that could rotate and swivel. And it used compressed air to do that. A little foreshadowing. Moved around on wheels. And it even had memory. It used a reel-to-reel tape recorder, and Linux was fully controllable using a remote control. This is like super impressive shit.

I'm just thinking about what I did my senior year, and I'm just like, if someone was like, hey, why don't you build a robot? I'd be like, I don't even know where to start. Yeah, yeah. I was playing Magic the Gathering my senior year. You had to keep your virginity intact. That's not your fault. That Dare Pledge of Virginity, the Resource Officer recommended Magic the Gathering to keep my virginity. I'm sure he did. Yeah. In 1968, Lonnie Johnson presented his Linex robot at the Junior

Engineer Technical Society Science Fair at the University of Alabama. And did he say suck on that? I'm sorry. Suck on this. I'm sure he did not. Lani Johnson was the only black student to enter the contest. And Kristen, Linex stole the show. Lonnie won first place. He had persevered and he proved the Hater's wrong. You love to see it. Yeah. Here's what's even more amazing. The context around this.

Five years earlier in 1963, Alabama Governor George Wallace had stood in the doorways at the University of Alabama in an attempt to block the enrollment of two black students. And now on that very same campus, Lonnie Johnson, the only black student at this science fair, won the whole damn thing. Yeah. And he did it during the heart of the school. civil rights movement. So for Lonnie Johnson, this was a huge deal. Big moral victory for him.

And now you'd think that by winning the science fair at the University of Alabama, maybe the school would take an interest in you, having you as a student? Yes, you would think that. Yeah. Didn't happen. Lonnie said the only thing in the University of Alabama said to him was goodbye and y'all drive safe now. That's shitty. Yeah. So he graduated. High School and Lonnie enrolled at the famous Tuskegee University, an HBCU located about three hours from Mobile, Alabama. Yeah. He was the first member of his family to go to college.

Special shout out to HBCUs, including my alma mater, Elizabeth City State University. Viking Pride! I'm wearing their colors here. Oh, congratulations, Norm. Thank you. Also, Tuskegee University, several few. future topics around that place. Yeah.

The founding of the school, syphilis experiment. Hey, Amber Hunt covered that on crimes of the centuries. It's true. The Tuskegee Airmen. Very interesting. Anyway, so to help pay for school, Lonnie Johnson joined the ROTC. Got a scholarship. In 1973, he graduated with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering.

Two years later, in 1975, he earned his master's in freaking nuclear engineering. Freaking nuclear engineering. And school's done. It's time to enter the workforce. His first job out of college was at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. It's one of the largest federally funded research labs in the country. And Lonnie worked on cooling systems for nuclear reactors. Okay.

No big deal. Pretty low-stakes, slow-pressure job, right? Cooling systems on nuclear reactors? No, sir. That seems actually really important. No, actually, podcasting is a much more dangerous job. Oh, absolutely. Absolutely.

We take our lives into our own hands every single day we record. What was your first job out of college? I worked at the newspaper. The one you worked at where we met? Yeah. Oh. Mm. Oh, very sexy.

You know what I did after college? Didn't you work at the computer store? I worked in computer repair. I deleted porn from creepy. old men's computers. Oh, well someone had to do it, Norm. Yeah. And you did it with a smile on your face. Sure. Should I tell that story? Uh, sure. You look like you don't want to. You can save it. I don't know if I'm getting, I don't know if I'm getting off track too much. Well, you're definitely off track unless you're about to talk about Lonnie also deleting porn off of someone's computer.

Not that I know of. I didn't come across that in my research. But maybe Dr. Lonnie Johnson will email us, say, by the way, I also deleted porn on people's computers. Yeah, so what I did, you know, deleting porn, that's just as important as cooling systems. Sure. On nuclear reactors. Sure. Who cares if those nuclear reactors get a little heated? Yeah. The lion media won't tell you that.

Uh-huh. That what I did was more important. So Lonnie Johnson admitted that starting out, he was kind of nervous. He was working with engineering graduates from, like, the top schools in the United States, like Ivy League graduates. Yeah. And those schools rejected Lonnie Johnson when he applied to him. So Lonnie felt like maybe he wasn't good enough to work at the Oak Ridge Laboratory. And so he doubted himself.

But, you know, once again, Lonnie Johnson persevered. And he realized he was just as good as these other engineers. In fact, he found himself solving their problems because they didn't know how to fix some stuff. But his time at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory was short-lived. because the Air Force came a calling in 1975. They said, okay, you got that ROTC scholarship, time to pay it back, you're joining the Air Force. Oh, shit. So he was called into active duty.

But with that nuclear engineering degree, he got a job working on nuclear power for the Air Force. His job was to analyze how nuclear power could be used safely and effectively with space launches. Right up his alley. Okay. And then that experience led Lonnie Johnson to his dream job. In 1979, he got a job with NASA. He worked at their jet propulsion laboratory in Pasadena, California. This is so cool that he's just making it happen.

Yeah. He was a senior systems engineer. And at the time, he was the only black person on the engineering team. When he joined NASA, he was part of a team working on the Galileo mission. This was a robotic spacecraft that was going to explore Jupiter and its moons. Fun fact. Wow. Wow.

NASA named the spacecraft Galileo after the Italian astronomer because he was the first person to view Jupiter through a telescope. Oh. Familiar with Galileo? Gallagalio. I can even say it, Galileo. Galileo? It's a tongue twister for me. I can also sing it. You can?

Galileo, Galileo. You know. Who's that? Is that the killers? I believe that's, no. You're wrong. Nickelback? Anyway, continue.

It's a nickelback song. Oh, my God. So anyway, at NASA, Lonnie's job was, again, with nuclear power. His job was to attach nuclear power to that spacecraft and allocate it to all the different systems. So like computers and all the instruments and power control and all that. So almost right away, Lonnie Johnson identified a possible issue with the Galileo spacecraft. He said if there's a short circuit, power to the memory bank would be wiped out. And then the spacecraft couldn't communicate with mission control.

Oh, well, that's a huge problem. Yeah. So Lonnie Johnson presented a plan to fix the issue. He said, look, let's install an isolation circuit. And so it would keep power going to the memory bank if the rest of the spacecraft lost power. And his coworkers doubted his plan. So Lonnie Johnson felt those doubts creeping back. in.

Yeah. But again, perseverance. Lonnie was confident his isolation circuit would fix this problem. And so he made a proposition to his coworkers. He was like, look, let's present it to the higher ups. If they say no, I'll make the damn thing myself in my garage and I'll bring it in and we can install it. Oh, shit. And that was enough to convince everyone, like, okay.

And sure enough, it worked. Lonnie's isolation circuit solved the issue for the Galileo spacecraft. In an interview with Forbes magazine, Lonnie Johnson was. asked if he thought his race played a role in people underestimating him. Yes. And he replied, that's the only explanation I can come up with. Yeah. Yeah.

The dude's highly qualified. He's super smart. But also, you don't need to ask him that. Well, Forbes did. I know, but I think sometimes journalists, when they ask a question like that, they put it on the person to call it out when, like, dude, you can just call it out yourself. That's a good point, Kristen. Thank you. I think you're thoroughly convinced.

Lonnie Johnson's very smart. Yes. Talented? Yes. Kicks ass at his job. Absolutely. Proven the haters wrong time after time. Yeah.

But Lonnie wasn't just creating stuff at his job. He was doing it at home as well. After work, he would tinker around with things and try to come up with new inventions. In 1979, he got his first patent. It was called the Digital Distance Measuredance Measured. engineering instrument. Every home in America is going to want one of these, Kristen. Are they?

No, not really. Oh, okay. Okay. This is a very, like, sciencey invention, but... Oh, God, here we go. Do you know what microfeish is? Yeah, isn't that like the microfilm when you're going through the newspaper? Yeah, so...

It's basically a tiny photograph of a document in that you can magnify it on a screen. You know, archives and libraries use them all the time. Sure. And Lonnie Johnson thought, well, what if we could like digitize all that using binary code? That's basically what the digital distance measuring instrument was. It's a pretty big deal. Yeah. This type of technology would later become the basis for CDs and DVDs.

Holy shit. But Lonnie Johnson was so busy at his job and doing other things. He didn't really pursue the idea further. And he said later in life he would regret not trying to work on this more. He called that invention the big fish that got away. Yeah. Because, I mean, yeah, CDs and DVDs. Well, you can't do everything.

I mean, come on. His next idea, though, it was pretty ambitious. And just about every household in America would want it if he could make it work. Okay. He wanted to make an air conditioning system that didn't have to rely on Fri-on. Oh. So Fri-on is what our air-conditioning systems use to make the air cold. but it also contributes to global warming.

Yeah. Or climate change, as we call it today. Real bummer. Why? Why is that a bummer? Climate change is a bummer. Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you meant calling it climate change is a bummer.

I thought you were really attached to global warming. Why, these words changing. We used to call global warming. Okay, yeah. So anyway, Lonnie Johnson thought, well, what if I could come up with an air conditioning system that used water to cool the air instead of, free on. Yeah, that'd be amazing.

So one night in his, he was in his bathroom and he was experimenting with water nozzles that would pump water through this system, and he hooked one up to his bathroom sink, and when he turned the nozzle on, this super high pressure stream of water just shot across the room.

And for Lonnie Johnson, this was a light bulb moment. He thought to himself, this would be a really awesome water gun. Fascinating origin story for the Super Soaker. Yeah.

I feel like that's how engineering minds work. They're working on one thing. Something kind of goes wrong. It leads to another thing. Because Lonnie Johnson played with water guns as a kid. And, you know, he remembered these little dinky water guns. Better watch it, buddy. Don't you dare.

Don't make me shoot shit. And he remembered that, you know, yeah, these are fun, but they're kind of dinky. Yeah. You know? If he could make a water gun. that use this high pressure nozzle, it would be like way better than anything else on the market. He had to put that idea on the back burner for now because, well, life gets in the way sometimes. Sure. And that's not a super pressing idea.

Yeah. In 1982, Lonnie Johnson left NASA and he rejoined the Air Force. He was assigned to the stealth bomber project at the Strategic Air Command Base. So Lonnie Johnson and his family were moving to Omaha, Nebraska. Woo-hoo! Kristen, you want to know what the best thing about living in Omaha is? The zoo? Is it the world-class zoo? Is it the Stakes? Is it the College World Series?

I don't know anything about that. Is it the Kansas City Royals Minor League team, the Omaha Storm Chasers? Nope. You know what it was for Lonnie Johnson? What? A basement. Oh. He got a basement.

Okay. Which is a staple in Midwest Holmes. It's like having a whole other floor of your house, right? Yes. It actually is having another floor of your house. But it's a fun floor. It's where all the non-serious things happen. Mm-hmm.

So Lonnie was super excited to have a basement because he turned it into his own personal workshop. And he filled it with tools and machinery. And then he was like, oh, I can like work on this water gun idea. Yeah. And pretty soon he had made up a little prototype. And it was made out of PVC pipe and plexiglass. and it worked like this. You filled the gun with water, and then you pumped it.

It pressurized everything inside, the air and the water. And then when you pulled the trigger, all that pressure was released. So the water just like freaking flew out of the gun, super fast, super far. And then Lonnie thought, this is awesome. I got to test this thing out now. So he gave the gun to his seven-year-old daughter, Anika. And on one particular hot day, there's a water. gun fight on the Air Force base, and Anika had Lonnie's prototype gun.

Lonnie proudly watched on as Anika absolutely destroyed everyone. Lonnie's water gun was way more powerful. It could shoot way farther than any of the other kids' guns. The other kids couldn't even get close to Anika. I'm sure. This is amazing. And then there was an Air Force picnic. And Lonnie thought, oh, I'll bring my water gun.

You know, I'll show everyone. It'll be fun. And a superior officer, a major, came up to Lonnie and was like, what is that you got there, Johnson? And Lonnie was like, oh, it's my water gun, sir. And the major asked, does it work? And then Lonnie pumped it and he shot the major right in the face with the water gun. No, he did not. He said he did.

When you're this brilliant, you can get away with some stuff. Sure can. Don't you, you're not that brilliant. Don't you dare. Don't you dare. I'd said don't sass me. I can't help it. By the mid-1980s, Lonnie Johnson had about five or six personal inventions under his belt.

He had that heat pump. He had the digital measuring device. And he had that water gun. And Lonnie strongly believed that now was the time. He was going to become an entrepreneur. So he officially put in his six months notice to leave the Air Force. And he thought the odds were in his favor. I mean, surely he could sell at least one of these.

inventions. Definitely. But during those six months, Lonnie Johnson struggled to find investors. He said, quote, things could not have gone worse for me. It was tough because Lonnie was on a time crunch. Yeah. He had six months. His time in the Air Force was coming to an end. He'd have to leave military housing. He had a family of five to support. Wow. But luckily, he still owned a home in Pasadena, California. He had bought it when he was working at NASA. But they had actually put that house up for sale,

and it was under contract. So Lonnie Johnson did what he had to do. He pulled out of the sale and moved his family back into that house. Yeah. He was sued. Oh, shit. By the buyers. He had to settle.

And Lonnie was just like, it was the most stressful time ever in my life. He was just the worst. He was unemployed. He had a house, thank goodness, but he was unemployed. He had to just pay a ton of money for this settlement. And so he gave up on his dream of becoming an entrepreneur. He got a job back at NASA.

But he got to work on more cool stuff. So he worked on the Mars Observer Project. But Lonnie was not ready to give up. But he did decide to change his strategy a little bit. Okay. Tell me what you think of this. Okay. Lonnie thought a big reason investors weren't biting was because his inventions were like a little too

sciencey, maybe a little too complex. Okay. Maybe a little too risky to invest in. And so he was like, I'm going to put all of my efforts into the water gun. Sure. Because he was like. Because that's been proven to be a fun toy for a long time. Everybody likes it.

Yeah. He thought, you know, anyone can look at this and appreciate it. Yeah. Simple. It's fun. It's a toy. Plus, he was like, hey, if I can sell this thing and make some money, then I can reinvest that money and work on these super sciencey stuff. Right.

And so Lonnie Johnson was going to enter new uncharted territory. The toy industry. Kristen, if there's one thing I've learned for my 16 years of making the gaming historian show, is that the toy industry is brutal. So Lonnie Johnson's first idea was, well, I'll just manufacture. this water gun myself and then I'll sell it. And so he got in contact with a manufacturer. Would you like to guess how much it was going to cost him to make 1,000 toy water guns?

I have no idea. $200,000. Oh, my God. Adjusted for inflation? Oh, I didn't do that. Norman! Okay, hang on. Way to drop the ball.

Boy, you're lucky I don't have a super soaker over here. Watch it. You'd be dripping. Big boy. About $600,000 today. That's nuts. Yeah. So Lonnie did the math, and he was like, I'd have to sell each gun for $200, just to break-even.

All the seven-year-olds have that, just, you know, between the couch cushions. That's no big deal. Yeah, can you imagine going to your parents? I want the Super Soaker. Well, how much is it? $200. That's more than a Super Nintendo at the time. That's crazy.

Yeah. Also, Lonnie Johnson was like, I don't have $200,000. Yeah, more importantly, like this guy just got sued 12 seconds ago. So he realized maybe I don't have the expertise or the money to become a toy manufacturer. Right. So he was like, well, maybe if I just licensed this to an already existing company, I can collect royalties on every sale. And so the first company to take interest in Lonnie's water gun was called Daisy. Daisy was known for their BB guns and pellet guns.

Kristen, if you recall the film A Christmas Story... Yes, you'll shoot your eye out. Ralphie really wanted a Red Rider BB gun. Yeah. That was made by Daisy. Okay. You'll shoot your eye out, kid. Oh.

So Daisy was really interested in Lonnie's water gun because it used pressurized air to shoot the water, which was actually very similar to how their BB guns worked. But during the 1980s, Daisy's products weren't selling. very well. Bee-B guns were kind of fallen out of favor, and the company went through a lot of restructuring. Well, weren't kids getting shot because people thought they had actual guns? Yes, and more on that later. Oh, okay. Boy, that's going to be a fun topic. Oh, yeah. Because of all that restructuring, Lonnie had to keep meeting with new product managers, and they basically had to restart development

over and over and over and over again. Oh, yeah. And so eventually Lonnie, Johnson, and Daisy parted ways. And now they just make sour cream. Disgusting. Okay, just because you don't like sour cream doesn't mean it's a disgusting joke. I'll tell you a disgusting joke. Oh, let's hear it. Mount Rushmore, more like... You know what?

I won't finish the joke because I've turned over a new leaf. You're a new woman? I'm a very classy woman now. You probably noticed already. When will you admit that you stole that joke from a joke book? I absolutely did not. I have proof. Everyone, check our social media, won't you?

Norm photoshopped a joke book to include my disgusting Mount Rushmore joke. No, I found it at the half-priced books. And I was like, of course. Wow. Courses were Kristen-Modder red-handed. It was 500 jokes for the whole family. Except for that one. Did I tell you one time, I was, I don't know how I came across this on Spotify,

but it was like kids bop versions of like songs I liked. Okay. And there was like a kid's version of a hip hop song. Uh-huh. And I was just like, huh, how would they even like sing this? Yeah. And I played it and I hear like a kid's chorus going, fuck bitches, get money.

That's not in the spirit of kids' bop. They're not supposed to curse. I know. I was horrified. What kind of weird corner of Spotify? had you wandered into, sir? I really don't know. I don't even know why I was looking for that.

Yeah. Is that what the guy who asked you to delete all the porn off his computer said? This just came to me, man. I don't know how it got here. I mean, the true story of that, basically that guy was, like, cheating on his wife. Yes. And he had, like, sexy photos of his side chick laying on a dirty mattress in, like, a cheetah print bikini. Okay.

And he's just like, he's like, yeah. I don't want my wife seeing this. You know how it is, right? And I was just like, I was 18. No, no, no, sorry. Yeah, I was 18 at that time. Uh-huh. And I was just like, no, I don't know how that is.

I'm 18 years old. I play Magic the Gathering on the weekends, sir. I have no idea what you're talking about. I am a child. I do not have a main chick or a side chick. Yeah, one day I'll share the rest of that story. That is so gross. Anyway, let's get back to Lonnie Johnson,

who may email us in the future. and say, please take that episode down. You're a disgrace to podcast. Okay, so his deal with Daisy fell through. But in 1987, great year, the birth of Normy C, Lonnie Johnson reached out to another toy company. LJN. Oh, yeah.

Kristen, are you familiar with LJN? I am, but only because my husband is the gaming historian. Any retro gaming fans listening right now might be familiar with LJN. They are notorious for. their terrible video games. But first and foremost, they were a toy company, and actually a pretty successful one. LJN was a key player in the toy water gun market, too.

They had a brand of water guns called EnterTech. These were battery-powered water guns that looked like real weapons. And they were quite popular with the kiddos. Oh, man, I feel like that unlocked a memory. Is that a core memory unlocked? Maybe. Uh-oh. So Lonnie Johnson was pretty thrilled to get a meeting with LJN.

This is a huge company. They're in the toy water gun market. And he presented them with a few toy ideas. So, of course, he showed them the water gun. But Lonnie also had a toy airplane. This was a styrofoam airplane with a five-foot wingspan. And it came with like an empty soda bottle in a pump. And you fill the bottle with water.

and you pump it to pressurize it, and then you kind of put the bottle into the back of the plane. And it just blasts off. And then you throw it, and the plane just fucking blasts off, like you said. That is so cool. Launches it, super far. So it kind of works in a similar way to his water gun. Yeah.

L.J.N. loved it. They were super into both of these products. But they kind of wanted to hold off on making Lonnie's water gun because their intertech guns were selling very well. Yeah. So there really wasn't any rush to, like, release another water gun. And so LJN struck up a deal with Lonnie Johnson. They were like, okay, we're going to make both of these products,

but let's start off with a toy airplane. And Lonnie Johnson was like, yeah, sweet. So he got a licensing deal. And if it worked out, he'd be rich. Okay, but they're not really going to do the five-foot wingspan thing, right? Oh, yeah. Oh, okay. Stay tuned.

All right. That just seems kind of wild. I mean. Five feet. I mean, it's like this, right? Well, yeah, I understand what five feet is. I'm just saying. I'm just saying it's a very large item to have in your home.

Yeah, I mean, that is a big toy airplane. But LJN was like, yeah, let's make this damn thing. So they took his toy airplane and LJN started modifying it for mass production. And things didn't start off very well because LJN was having trouble getting the plane to fly. Yeah. And so they called Lonnie Johnson. They were like, will you come out and, like, tell us what we're doing wrong? And so Lonnie Johnson took a look at it.

He proposed a few modifications. And eventually they got it working. But it worked too well. It flew too far away? It flew way too far. And so kids, like, lost, were losing the airplane because they had no idea where it went. It would just fucking launch, okay? And so LJN was like, well,

what if we added like an angled tail on the plane? So when you throw it and it takes off, it would just fly in a circle. Sure. And then kids wouldn't lose it. And Lana Johnson was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. That would like significantly increase the risk of the plane crashing. We have to modify the wings as well.

Because if one wing of the plane is like getting more lift than the other, the plane's going to start rolling and then it's going to crash into the ground. Okay. And it's made a styrofoam. So when it crashes into the ground, it's going to break and you'll never be able to use it again. Right. But apparently LJN was like, it'll be fine. Oh, that's so obnoxious.

So in 1988, Lonnie Johnson's first invention to hit the retail market was a product called jamming jets. LJN made about 60,000 jamming jets. As in jamming into the ground and then falling apart. What the hell? About a million bucks in advertising. and yes, Kristen, it was a flop. That sucks. As Lonnie Johnson predicted, consumers complained the jammin jet was crashing into the ground.

Yeah, I just bought this thing and now it's basically as useful as an old Sonic cup. That's ridiculous. Also made a styrofoam. That's what I'm saying. Imagine going to Sonic with that jammin jet and being like, fill her up. Fill her up with ocean water, boys. I want the diet cherry lime aid, please. Drinking out of a jam and jet.

So Lonnie's feeling a little disheartened. He didn't make much money off jamming jets. Well, and this seems like the kind of annoying thing, where the product doesn't do well, and all of a sudden everyone forgets whose idea it was to add this thing and who said, oh, it'll be fine. and then the inventor gets blamed. And he had spent a ton of time working on this stupid airplane.

He could have been working on CDs and DVDs. Yeah. But Lonnie Johnson was still hopeful his toy water gun would be the golden ticket. But he got more bad news because around this time, LJN's EnterTech water guns, they were kind of in the news. Because, Christian, you aren't going to believe this. Super realistic-looking toy water guns weren't very, popular because police were shooting kids that were playing with them thinking they were actual guns.

This became a major problem in the toy industry. In 1988, the federal government passed new legislation that required toy guns to, at a minimum, have an unremovable bright orange plug in the barrel. And our favorite Kansas politician, Senator Bob Dole, sponsored the legislation. And this orange barrel idea, it's actually a compromise. Originally, the plan was to just outright ban all toy guns. Oh, that would never have worked. Fun fact. Wow. Wow.

For you video game nerds out there, the Nintendo Entertainment System has the Zapper gun that's bright orange. Yeah. That is why it's bright orange from that federal legislation. So LJN tried to fan the flames by, is fanning the flames like cooling down? No, that's adding to it. You've clearly never built a fire, sir. I can tell right now.

I have not. I need to speak with Park Ranger Shireira. That's right. About how to build a fire. Everyone, that's my mom in case you're new to the pod. Sherry-Rae Ray Bird is my mother. Yeah, she knows a lot about birds and trees and starting fires and putting them out and getting good hotel deals. And I guarantee you, Norm, the second that she heard you say fanning the flames, as in putting the fire out,

said, oh, Norman. I'm sorry, Sherey, Ray. She said, you disgust me. Let me try this sentence again. Okay, please do. El J. You want to try the sentence one more time? One more time, and if I can't do it, I'm just...

You're going to blast yourself with that water gun? I'm going to blast myself with the water gun. Okay. L.J.N. tried to put out the fire by making their intertech water guns with like fun, bright colors. Sure. Woo! But too little too late. LJN had lost a ton of money on that whole situation.

In 1989, they shut down the EnterTech product line. LJN was getting out of the toy water gun market, and that meant Lonnie Johnson's water gun was DOA. That's dead on arrival. Yeah, I know. Also dead or alive. Okay. So LJN released Lonnie Johnson from his contracts,

and they were like, you are free to shop this idea around with somebody else. perseverance. Lonnie Johnson started writing letters to just about every toy company he could think of, including the top dogs like Hasbro and Mattel. No one was interested. At this point, I don't think anyone could blame Lonnie Johnson if he decided to quit. Sure. He's got other ideas.

He can do other things. He works for NASA. He has a good career. Absolutely. He has a family. If this doesn't work out, you know, okay. But Lonnie wasn't ready to give up. So in February of 1989, he saw an opportunity.

He attended the American International Toy Fair in New York City. And he hoped he could meet with a company and drum up some interest for his water gun. Yeah. Initially, he wasn't having any luck. But then he met another attendee in the hallway. He was telling him about his water gun. He was like, you know you should really talk to, Laramie Corporation. I have not heard of that corporation.

Very small toy company. Okay. They'd been around since the 1950s. They were mostly known for making very cheap, licensed toys. All right. They'd get them manufactured in China or Japan for, like, pennies, then resell them in the United States at, like, grocery store checkout lanes. Okay. Super cheap toys.

Yep. But they also made a lot of knockoff toys. And Lonnie Johnson said one of Laramie's strategies was they'd kind of wait and see what was popular in the toy market. market and then they would just make a copycat version and they'd get like 10% of the market that way. Okay. This is an inspiring tale. All right.

Stay tuned for our next podcast. It's called Crimes of the Decades. It's not crimes of the centuries. No, no, no, no. No. No, it's nothing like that podcast. Yeah, we're trying to get 10% of Amber's audience. You know, she won the Puehler's Prize.

I won the North Carolina Press Association Award in 2009. So pretty much the same thing. Just as good. Yeah. If not better. Definitely better. Local journalism. Thank you, Norm.

Exactly. Laramie Corporation also made toy water guns. They mostly made like these. These little dinky water guns. Right. And a couple of them were licensed, so they made it like a Dick Tracy water gun. Okay. They made a fat Albert water gun.

I don't know. Huge demand for the fat Albert water gun. And then in the 1980s, when LJN was making those EnterTech battery-powered water guns that were super popular, Laramie made a copycat version, and it looked like a freaking oozy. Familiar with a oozy? This is so irresponsible of these companies that they made toy guns that looked like actual guns. I can't even believe that they did that. Yeah, when I was watching the commercials, I was just like, that looks like a gun.

It's very foreseeable that someone would mistake that for a real gun and act accordingly. Not only that, but people were robbing stores with them. Of course they were, because they look like real guns. Of course. But just like LGN, Laramie's sales dropped after kids were getting shot playing with toy water guns. But Laramie was a much smaller company than LJN. They had way less toy water gun market share. So like when things went south, they were able to survive that whole.

Yeah, they're a shitty little company. Bingo. Sorry. Lermey continued to put out water guns, but they just made them super bright and colorful, you know, to comply with the new law. So at the 1989 toy fair, Lonnie Johnson met with executives from Laramie about his toy water gun. Mm-hmm. And they were intrigued. Yeah.

Kind of. Okay. They said, well, we can't really review a product here at the toy fair, but, hey, if you're ever in Philadelphia, come on by and show us what you got. What do you mean they can't review? Go to a hotel room. Blast somebody with it. Come blast me in the hotel room. Well, yeah, that does sound terrible, but, you know, how many people do we need to gather around to see this thing? Yeah, so they were like, don't make a special trip or anything, but if you're ever in Philadelphia,

hey, you'll come on by. Lonnie's making a special trip. Man, you know Lonnie very well. I'm picking up on what this guy does. He does not give up. So yeah, it wasn't really a yes. It also wasn't really a no. So Lonnie Johnson decided to go, as Kristen once famously said, balls out.

He got home to California after the toy fair. He built a new prototype for his water gun. Why new? He wanted to make sure he was in like tip-top shape. Okay. Make it the best it could possibly be. Sure. And it was during this time he came up with probably the biggest innovation.

And it's the one that made his water gun unique. Okay, so originally the water and the pressurized air, it was all like in the body of the gun. Okay. And this kind of presented some problems because when you pump the gun to pressurize it, it puts a lot of stress on the gun. And everything's held together with glue. So it's kind of like blowing up a balloon made of plastic. Sure. He doesn't want another styrofoam airplane situation.

Exactly. And so this really increases the risk of leaks or the gun just breaking. And so Lonnie had a simple solution. He took a soda bottle and he mounted it to the top of the gun, which would hold all of the water. Yes. And it looks so cool. It looks cool. You can easily refill the gun.

Yep. It isolated all of that pressure. It made the product way more stable. And this innovation gave his water gun that ice. that iconic look that we all remember. And so two weeks later, in March of 1989, Lonnie Johnson made that special trip to Philadelphia. He was going to Laramie Corporation to show off his water gun.

Hell yeah. Lonnie said he waited for over an hour in reception before he was invited into a conference room with a bunch of executives. And Lonnie took his water gun out of the briefcase, gave it a few pumps, and then he shot a stream of water across the room. And the Laramie executives were like, wow, wow. This thing worked way better than any of their battery-powered water guns.

Well, yeah, it did. It worked way better, and it would cost way less money to manufacture. Oh, okay. And so they quickly offered Lonnie Johnson a contract. Yeah. And it was a very generous contract. Lonnie would receive royalties on every water gun sold. He would retain the rights to his patents.

And Laramie engineers would help further improve the gun and get it ready to be manufactured. Wow. Those are great terms. Okay. Yeah. Al Davis, the co-owner of Laramie Corporation, he later said in an interview, it was a simple thing, really. I liked it, and I thought kids would like it.

Laramie's goal was to sell the water gun for $10. That's about $30 today. Okay. And to make sure it wouldn't be confused with a real gun, Laramie gave it a bright yellow neon color. The water tank on top was green. The tip of the nozzle was orange. And in April of 1990, Laramie Corporation and Lonnie Johnson were ready to unveil their new water gun to the world.

Why do I feel like something's going to go wrong? What are you doing here? Man, are you catching on to all of my little tricks? You're slowing down. I'm on to you, sir. The new water gun was called. Forsoaker. The power.

Drencher. Ew, really? Okay. That's right, Kristen. It's the power drencher. Oh. So I didn't know it was originally called the power drencher. And I went on eBay.

I was just like, how much does a power drencher cost? It's like 150 bucks if you have an original power drencher. Okay. Pretty crazy, huh? Yeah. So for Lonnie Johnson getting the power drencher to market, it was a huge relief. long time coming. Remember, he came up with this idea eight years ago.

Yeah. It just shows how long it can take for an idea to become fully realized. Well, sure, especially with it being, you know, part of a national conversation about safety and stuff. Exactly. And that would be kind of scary to be like, man, I have this cool water gun, but like it's all in the news about people getting shot, holding water guns, you know. But it's at perseverance and it's now on the market. but things didn't start off well for the power drencher. Another company called Talk to Me Products.

Sounds fully made up. That's a very interesting insight you have there, Kristen. Really? Yes. Talk to Me products contacted Laramie, and they're like, hey, we have our own water gun, and we call it the drencher. And guess what? We have a trademark on that name.

Talk to Me Products claim to the name drencher. kind of flaky. But Laramie was like, we don't really want to spend a lot of time and money fighting a trademark claim. Especially when this name is so stupid. There's zero alliteration. Yeah, we'll go back to the drawing. You don't like power drencher? You know, part of it is you always like the thing that you're familiar with.

But, I mean, anytime you can do alliteration. Mm-hmm. Kristen Caruso. So instead of power drencher, what about the power pressure hose? thing. No, the drippy drencher. But that's not for something with a good stream.

Yeah, you're right. The drippy drencher is like, oh, I got all over me, you know? That's enough. Please move on. You don't want your water gun to be drippy. Norman? You want it to shoot. Norman, do not shoot me with that thing again.

Cold, thick streams across the room. Don't be gross. You're right, I shouldn't be gross. This is a classy podcast. Thank you. So Laramie said, we're just going to rename the product. It's going to be way easier.

And so they told Talk to Me Products, okay, we're going to sell through this inventory, and then we're going to change the name of the product. Yeah. And they were like, okay. This kind of sucked because, dang, they just released the power drencher. And it was summertime. This is peak selling season for water guns. Right.

But because they had to change the name and sell through the inventory, Laramie thought there's really no point in doing TV commercials. But word of mouth was pretty strong. You know, when kids first experienced the power drencher, they were like, holy shit. Yeah. I need one of these. Well, absolutely. And sales were pretty good, despite little to no advertising.

But now, Laramie needed a new name. And so Lonnie Johnson met with Laramie executives, and they had a little meeting of the minds. And they came up with a brand new name, Super Soaker. It's amazing. I could never look at this water gun. and think of any other name. It's the perfect name. It's so iconic.

Mm-hmm. And it's all because they were threatened with a trademark lawsuit. I love it. That it got that iconic name. Yeah. So in August of 1990, Laramie started shipping their new super-soakers to stores. Summer was coming to an end. Fall and winter were on the way.

Water gun sales were on the decline that time of year. But then when they least expected it, a couple of lucky breaks changed everything for Laramie Corporation and Lonnie Johnson. The first one was, in December of 1990, late night host Johnny Carson was showcasing new products on The Tonight Show, and one of those products was the Super Soaker. He sprayed his audience with it, and then he made a joke about holding up a retirement home with it. And that's like some of the best free advertising you can get.

That is probably the best free advertising. Yeah. And then in the spring of 1991, the weather was unusually warm, record highs across the country. Uh-huh. And this warm weather happened to coincide with the launch of Laramie's $1 million TV advertising campaign for the Super Soaker. Kristen, Super Soakers were squirting off-store shelves. That's enough. I'm about to bust. Lonnie Johnson said that in the summer of 1991, he got a royalty check in the mail.

and he just stared at it in disbelief. It was enormous. How much do you know? He never said, but if you're staring at a check dumbfounded, it's probably a lot of money. Yeah, yeah. It was enough money for Lonnie Johnson to quit his job at NASA. He became a full-time inventor and entrepreneur. He moved his family to Atlanta, Georgia because he wanted to be closer to his family.

Yeah. Plus, taxes were way cheaper, and Lonnie set up his own engine. engineering firm, Johnson Research and Development. This is so cool. Mm-hmm. Wow. But Lonnie continued to work with Laramie Corporation on new versions of the Super Soap. Yeah, why not?

Some of them had a higher water capacity, some shot water in different directions. And for every new version he worked on, Lonnie got a royalty check for it. Yeah. In 1991 and 1992, the Super Soaker was the number one selling. toy in the United States. In its first three years on the market, Laramie sold 27 million super soakers. But wasn't all smooth sailing, Kristen. There were more legal issues. You remember that company Talk to Me Products that you thought wasn't real? Yes, I still think they're fake. I think they sound like the kind of company that sends you an email that's like, um, hey, here's our bill

for all the IT work we did and they just hope you pay it. That is so interesting that you say that. Mm-hmm. Apparently, Talk to Me Products was pretty pissed that Lermey renamed the gun to the Super Soaker. And then became even more successful. And it was like, oops, it's the number one selling toy. Whoops. So Talk To Me Products started writing threatening letters to stores. How?

What? They claimed Lairmey was stealing their product and they owed them money. Go to hell. You claimed you had the name. They gave up the name. Get over it. This is the person who dumps you. Uh-huh.

And then you have your glow-up. They see your new. You get with someone new, maybe. They're doing great. And then all of a sudden they're mad and they want you back. No. It's not how it works. And they go around talking shit to all their friends.

Yes. You see Kristen's new man, Dan Campbell. Oh, my God. Can you imagine? I heard he smells like anchovies. We all know that can't possibly be true. Shut up. I saw he did a new commercial for Applebee's.

For those who are new to the podcast, I am not into football in any way, but we did watch a season of hard knocks with the Detroit Lions, and they featured their head coach, Dan Campbell, and I was quite taken by him. Yeah, you're in love with him. Hey, let's calm down. I want to be cool just in case he listens to the podcast. You know, I don't want him to think I'm creepy. I'm just a married woman who's a little obsessed with him and happens to know that he's. He did an Applebee's commercial. And he was very funny in it, too.

And I was like, fuck, I just, I just, there's no way I can compete with this man. I didn't listen with the sound on. Okay. I'm just kidding, darling. You're the only man for me. Listen, if you. Unless Dan Campbell drops by him. Yeah, if you came to me and was like, Norman, I'm leaving you for Dan Campbell.

I would say, I understand. You'd take off your hat. I tip my. cat, not my cat. I tip my cap to thee, Dan Campbell. The lady is yours. I shall not protest. Yeah, I'm so non-threatening. I would just be like, okay, I understand. Wow. Thanks, Norm. I appreciate how hard you'd fight for me, damn it. You're the one that's leaving me. Yeah, no, that's true. That's true. And I don't think you want to get into a fight with Dan Campbell. I don't think it'd be good. Do you think Laramie wants to get into a fight with Talk to Me products? at this point they've probably made enough money that they're like, you know what, come at us. Come at me, bro? Yes.

Okay, well. Turns out talk to me is just one dude in a basement somewhere. Oh, my God. Am I? Kristen. Shut up. Am I getting? You're close.

Okay. They're writing letters to retailers like, Laramie sucks. They owe us a bunch of money. Don't sell super soakers. Don't sell the number one selling toy in the world in your store, please. Yeah, and these stores are like, get the hell out of here. Well, then. Talk to Me Products claimed

They owned the trademark to the name Soker Shut up, I hate them They were like, yeah, we have a battery-powered water gun called the Totally Rad Soker That is so stupid And it's totally rad. No, it's not. And way cooler than the Super Soaker.

No, it's not! Every kid wants a totally rad soaker. God. I am ready for the big reveal on this dude who lives in a basement in Indiana, and this is how he gets his rocks off or whatever. I don't know. This is like getting the off-brand clothes as a kid.

You're like, Mom, I want a shirt from the gap, and you get a shirt from the flap. I don't know. That sounds like a very real story, as told to me by talk to me. Anyhow, continue, please. Kristen, don't you think it's odd that this company would have the trademark to both the name Drencher and the Soaker? I actually don't think it's odd. I think it's bullshit.

Here's what I think happened. Okay, Talk to Me Products did have the trademark for the word drencher. And they contacted Laramie and they're like, hey, you can't use that. And so Laramie was like, okay, we're going to change the name to the Super Soaker. Right. Well, immediately, Talk to Me Products filed a trademark for the word Soker. Like as soon as they heard, that's where they were going to name that product. Wait, hold on.

Laramie didn't trademark it first? They told this Talk to Me, idiot. Hey, here's our plan. That's what I think happened. Okay. And then Talk to Me Products was like, oh, we actually have the trademark on Soker. Look, here's, here it is. Mm-hmm.

So it was clear and obvious. Talk to Me Products was not a real toy company. Mm-hmm. They were patent trolls. Or in this case, trademark trolls. Yeah. They bought patents, and then they tried to collect money on them. Talk to Me Products had two employees.

Tell me more. Is this like a husband and wife team? I don't know, but the fact that they have two employees kind of tells you all you need to know about this company. Yes. To no one's surprise, Talk to Me Products, looked Lonnie Johnson and Laramie Corporation in the eye, squirted them with a water gun, and said,

Let's go to court. I'm sorry. I was a little off on my timing because you shot that thing at me. So Laramie Corporation was like, okay, enough with all this bullshit. They immediately filed for summary judgment for multiple reasons.

Number one, talk to me products. Never sold a product at retail called the totally rad soaker. Yeah, you're full of shit. In fact, during, uh, shoot, What's the word? Avocado.

No. Hardware store. No. It's when you have a trial. Fish hook. When you have a trial and you gather information. Depository. Suppository.

That's something you put in your butt. Oh, excuse me. I'll just keep going until we find it. During. Discovery. Discovery. I'm such an asshole. I knew that word.

How dare you? You made me look like a fool. No, no, I did not. During discovery, Laramie learned Talk to Me Products had sold one totally rad soaker. One. To whom? A toy buyer in Florida. It was a sample product so they could not establish priority of use.

No. Number two, Talk to Me Products trademark was not distinctive. It could not prove that the public saw the word soaker and instantly thought, oh my, gosh, that's the super cool, totally rad battery-powered water gun from Talk to Me Products. Number three, Talk to Me Products couldn't prove that the Super Soaker was causing confusion in the toy water gun market. So what do you think, Kristen? Did Laramie get a summary judgment? Yes. They sure did. The judge wrote, quote, ownership of a mark is not determined by the race to the patent office, but by the race to the market.

Yeah, trolls. But Kristen, if you think that's going to stop, talk to me products. Are you kidding me? Because they sued Larmey again. No, no, get out of here. This time for patent infringement. Because they had the patent to a 1978 water gun called the American Gladiator. Okay.

So this gun did work very similarly to the Super Soaker. He used pressurized air to shoot out water. Could be bad news for Laramie. Could be. Once again, Laramie Corporation filed a motion for summary judgment, and it was due to one sentence in the patent. Talk to Me Products Patent said the water for the gun was stored in a, quote, chamber therein. Oh. Meaning the water was stored inside the gun.

Yeah, we get it. But the Super Soaker's water was stored in a bottle mounted above the gun. And that was enough for the judge to, once again. again, grant a summary judgment. And say, suck on that. Suck on this. People are constantly saying that in this story. I don't know why.

Laramie was pretty pissed about all those bogus lawsuits from Talk To Me Products. Yeah. So they countersued them and won punitive damages. Good. But the Super Soaker wasn't just making headlines in the courtroom. It was also on the evening news for gun violence. Why? In the summer of 1992, a couple of teenagers

in Boston were having a water gun fight with Super Soakers. And I guess someone got sprayed a little too much because they left, came back with a real gun, and shot one of the teenagers. Oh, that's horrible. Yeah. The mayor of Boston, Raymond Flynn, was horrified. Something had to be done. Well, that's not the Super Soaker's fault.

His solution? Are you kidding? We are going to ban sales of the Super Soaker. The solution to go. gun violence is to stop fake gun violence? Yes. Obviously. That's ridiculous.

No, it's actually very smart. No, it's not. Think of the children. I am, and I would think that they'd be better served by actual gun reform. No, we don't really want to touch that with a 10-foot pole. Let's ban the Super Soaker. Okay, cool. Another new story claimed a woman and her four-year-old daughter were sprayed in the eyes

with bleach by two teenagers on bikes with super soakers. That's terrible. So, yeah, there's a small panic about the super soaker. Sure. And during this time, a news reporter called Lonnie Johnson, and they asked, do you have any comment about the super soaker stories? And we just got a report that somebody robbed a convenience store with a super soaker. With a super soaker?

Was the clerk an idiot? It's bright. I'm going to get you real damp. I am an alien and this is my alien gun. So Lonnie said he wasn't really sure what to say. Yeah. And he replied, well, you know, I kind of think we should have more of that. More of what?

Rather have people rob a store with a super-soaker than an actual gun. Sure. And he's right. Lonnie said, why pick on a toy when it's not the toys that are doing the killing? Exactly. None of those controversies slowed down sales. The super soaker was a big wet success. Okay.

Could we pause? Okay. Did that really happen? Did someone really go into a store with a super soaker and walk out with money from the clerk? Surely that did not actually happen. According to an interview with Lonnie Johnson, a news reporter called him and asked about people using super soakers to rob convenience stores. and do drive-by shootings. Drive-by-soakings.

That's right. Don't you dare. I won't. You know what this is? This is, super-soakers are sweeping the nation. It's the hot new toy. We've got to find stories. Yeah.

That is utter bullshit. And if you're running a store and someone comes in with a super-soaker and your employee is so stupid that they then hand over the cash, I don't know, man. I mean, Johnny calls. Carson made that joke about holding up a retirement home with a Super Soaker. Right, because it's an obvious joke. Yeah.

So many companies wanted to get on that Super Soaker bandwagon, and they found workarounds to Lonnie's patents to make their own pressurized water guns. But it was kind of too late at that point. The Super Soaker brand was so well established, and it just dominated the water gun market. Yeah. And with all that success, Hasbro came knocking. Oh, hey Lonnie, hey, miss you so much. Long time, no talk. Hey, how's the fam?

Oh, you've been doing anything lately? If you recall, Hasbro ignored Lonnie Johnson back in the 80s. I do recall, and I'm holding a grudge to this day. Now Hasbro wanted a sweet piece of that pie. In 1995, Hasbro bought Laramie Corporation. Oh, okay. For an undisclosed amount. Yeah.

That's one way to get the Super Soaker. Yeah. Yeah, so that small toy company that made cheap knockoff toys in the grocery store checkout lane. Yeah, Asbro Bottom made a ton of money. Lonnie made that company, basically. The Super Soaker made Laramie Corp. Yeah. After the Hasbro purchase, Lonnie Johnson had another light bulb moment.

Okay. So one of Hasbro's best-selling toys was the Nerf. dart gun and he thought what if I made a new line of Nerf guns that used my patents with pressurized air. Oh my gosh. And that's exactly what he did. Yeah. He worked out a licensing contract with Hasbro and he developed a new line of Nerf products

called N-Strike. N-Strike. Came out in like the early to mid-2000s. Okay. I don't, that was, you know. Probably after your Nerf, your Nerf time. Yes. But it's nerve for nothing, Kristen.

That's what I hear. These were powerful foam dart guns with like a military tactical theme. And they had accessories like sniper scopes and muzzles and tactical stocks. And they had cool code names. The Specter Rev 5. The Alpha Trooper, CS18. Oh, extreme. In his contract with Hasbro, Lonnie added one important clause.

Let's hear it. He wanted ownership. of the end strike brand name. Yeah. Because he failed to do that with the Super Soaker, even though he had helped come up with that name. Mm-hmm. And so when Hasbro released new Super Sokers

that didn't use Lonnie's patents, he didn't make any money off those. Yeah. And so from that experience, Lonnie was like, owning the brand is just as important as owning the technology behind it. Man, this guy, he's not just persistent.

he is picking up every little thing. Oh, I should have done this. I should have. And I mean, it sounds like not getting bitter about it. Just like, okay, next time. You're just learning growth. Yeah. Yeah.

He just moves on. And this provision, it proved very crucial because Lonnie Johnson found out Hasbro was selling new models of end strike guns. Uh-huh. And he wasn't getting paid on them. And so when he asked Hasbro about it, they're like, oh, oh, oh, no. You're actually misinterpreting the contract. Oh, am I?

Mm-hmm. Because I'm the fucking doctor who invented NASA, basically. Oh, he didn't invent... Don't worry about it. Also, he invented mozzarella sticks. I don't know. You know what, F it. Yeah.

Lani Johnson, inventor of the Super Soaker and Mozilla sticks. Yeah, when Hasbro was like, oh, actually, you're just not understanding your contract. Lonnie Johnson was like, hell no. And he looked Hasbro in the eye. Yes. Let's go to court. Hell yeah. He sued Hasbro, and they settled for a reported $73 million.

Oh, my God. Although Lonnie says it was for less than that. That was the reported settlement, though. By the way, if you thought the Super Soaker was lucrative for Lonnie Johnson, the Nerf and strike guns made him way more money. Oh, really? Yes. And a big reason why was those toys were.

purchased year-round. It was not a seasonal toy. In fact, at one point, Lonnie Johnson owned the Nerf N-Strike guns. He had the Super Soker products. His patents made up 80% of the toy gun market. Wow. That is ridiculous. It's so funny, though, that the N-Strike stuff was so much more lucrative. I mean, I guess the Super Soaker, like, it had a big cultural moment, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it's going to be the biggest moneymaker. Yeah. I mean, being able to sell that product year round, I remember when I worked at GameStop, there was a Nerf End Strike game on the Nintendo Wii. That sounds so boring and stupid. How dare you, Crystal? You've never even played the game. You're right. I'm just, you know. You're so judgmental. Class

Classic Judgey Kristen. That's true. I also decided that the talk to me folks were living in a basement in Indiana. I have no evidence. That turned out to almost be true. I think they were based out of New York. Okay. I'll take my almost truth.

No basement in Indiana, but yeah. Lonnie Johnson accumulated wealth like he never imagined. But he didn't retire to some beach. He didn't buy a social media platform and make it his personal jerk off for him. A lot of good ideas. Mm-hmm. Lonnie Johnson reinvited. invested his money into his company, Johnson Research and Development.

Today, the company employs more than 25 people, and they're working on some pretty cool shit. Would you like to hear about it? Yeah. So one product is an engine. It's called the Johnson Thermo Electrochemical converter, also known as J-Tech. All right. That sounds extreme. So it converts heat to electricity.

That includes heat from the sun, body heat. Oh. Heat that comes off of machines. Uh-huh. And so, for example, Lonnie said one application could be like a body suit for exercising, and it's going to collect all the heat, and then it would charge your phone at the same time. Huh. Okay. And my first thought was, well, this kind of sounds like solar power.

Yeah, it does. But basically, it is solar power, but it's way more efficient. So right now, I think we're able to convert, like, 20 to 25 percent. of solar power to actual energy. And Lonnie Johnson says J-Tech would up that number to like 50%. So pretty huge leap. Yeah. Another invention he's working on is an all-seramic battery.

So currently the batteries we use in like tools and cars and whatever, they use liquid electrolytes, but Lonnie Johnson's battery uses glass. And it can apparently hold two to three times more energy than a lithium battery. So that could revolutionize like electric cars. Oh. You know? Okay. Or tools.

I mean, the batteries would just last way longer. So this is really high-level science-y stuff. And Lonnie Johnson admitted, I couldn't work on this stuff without the Super Soaker and without the Nerf Endstrike. Yeah. Because investors would just see it as too risky. And so he's pouring his own money into all this. And this was his dream since the beginning. He said back in 1982, this toy water gun would help me create other money.

more important things for the world. This is so cool. Yeah? Well, yeah, this is really inspiring and fun, and I don't know. It just shows that there's not one path to success. Yeah. It's super cool. And I'd said this podcast is a drag, man.

Now we're uplifting and inspiring. Oh, boy. Johnson Research and Development is also really big on community development. So, yeah, Lonnie Johnson built his laboratory purposefully in the inner city to help grow the community. Not accidentally. Not accidentally, Kristen. He has an after-school STEM program. They work with like 100 kids for an exchange students, foster kids, refugees.

They come in after school and they get to learn about robotics and science and all kinds of cool stuff. So Lonnie Johnson thinks this community outreach is super important because while people have color make up 30 to 40% of the U.S. population, only about 10% work for large corporations. And he said, we can't maintain technology leadership in the world when we're leaving large segments of our population on the sidelines. Yeah, absolutely. We need all hands on deck. And that's something I emphasize to people every opportunity I get.

Yeah. Think about if he'd gotten discouraged when he built that robot for the science fair. Yeah. And the university basically said, bye. Exactly. Think of what the world would miss out on. And think of what the world has missed out on because of shit like that. Yeah.

What other student went through something similar and just like gave up or did something else? Yeah. In 2011, Lonnie Johnson was inducted into the Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame. He was the first black engineer inducted. Wow. In 2015, the Super Soaker was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame. In 2022, Lonnie Johnson was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. of fame. And today, Lonnie Johnson holds over 130 patents and counting.

Actually, I'm from Talk to Me and I own all those patents. Uh-oh. And more. Uh-oh. He'll be hearing from my attorney, who is also me. You sure about that? Yeah, I'd love to see your patents, Kristen. Thank you. For Lonnie Johnson, the key to his success was always perseverance. He said, quote, in spite of the things that have been perpetrated on my race, holding us in bondage under slavery,

then making it illegal to educate us, and then subjecting us to long-term discrimination and criticism, we succeed anyway. We just need to realize what we're capable of. To this day, there are more than 175 variations of the Super Soaker. That's ridiculous. Yeah. This one has fun lights. This one has a little hat on.

I mean, what the hell? Okay, very good. Hasbro has sold 200 million supersoakers and racked up $1 billion in sales. And the supersoaker name is now synonymous with water guns. It's left a permanent imprint on the memories of millions and millions of people. A permanent wet spot, you mean. You're right. That ain't coming out.

And that is the story of Lonnie Johnson and the Super Soaker. Norm, that was so good. Yeah? Yes, that was great. Thanks. That was so interesting and inspiring. What are you going to do now? You're going to go try to invent something, Kristen?

Oh, I'm not going to do shit. I'm just enjoying this nice feeling I've got. And next time, when I'm tempted to give up, I probably still will. But I'll be a little more resistant to it. Not going to think of perseverance. No, no, I should. That's seriously a great story. Yeah.

I always think about how 1982 he comes up with the idea for the Super Soaker. Yeah. Ten years later, it's the number one selling toy in the world. That is one. Ten years is a long time. Yeah. But you just think about some things, take some time to get going and like. Well, it just shows there are so many factors.

that, you know, first, obviously, you've got to make this great product and all that stuff, but there are also factors outside your control. And sometimes you just have to play the waiting game. And also pretend like, no, I was going to be in Philadelphia today. Oh, yeah. I meant to be here. I flew out. I wanted a cheese steak.

Uh-huh. I fly in every Wednesday for a cheese steak. I'm here in Fishtown, you know, looking at plaques. The wife says this is a giant waste of money. but I disagree. Oh, by the way, I made this water gun. You want to check it out? I thought it was a cool story.

Yeah, thank you. I thought it would be a fun one-off episode. And guess what, Kristen? I've got two more one-off episodes coming. Yeah, folks, let us know what you think of this. I mean, we've done a couple series now. Yeah. This is pretty fun to do a little one-off.

We do have one-off episode. Carrie Nation was a one-off. Yeah, but that was a long-off. It was a long-ass one-off. It was a long-ass one-off. I think it was like three hours, wasn't it? It sure was. Yeah.

All right, Norm. You know what they say about history, hoes? We always cite our sources. That's right. For this episode, I got my information from the website, isoker.com. The U.S. Patent Trademark Office speaker series featuring Lonnie Johnson and reporting from BBC, Forbes, and more.

For a full list of sources, check the show notes. That's all for this episode. Thank you for listening to an old-timey podcast. Please give us a five-star review wherever you listen to podcasts, and while you're at it, subscribe. Support us on Patreon at patreon.com slash old-timey podcast. Follow us on Instagram and Facebook and TikTok at Old Timey Podcast. You can follow us individually on Instagram. She is Kristen Pitts-Keruso.

I am gaming historian, and until next time, Tulao, Tata, and cheer. Rio.