# Super Soaker

*Lonnie Johnson created the Super Soaker from engineering experiments that began as a heat-pump project, and the toy became one of the best-selling water guns in history.*

> Black's Encyclopedia — the sourced record of Black American life.
> Portal: Science & Invention · Status: In review · Revised: July 21, 2026 · Revisions: 1
> Canonical: https://www.blacksencyclopedia.com/record/super-soaker

## Questions this record answers

- Did Lonnie Johnson invent the Super Soaker?
- What was the Super Soaker originally called?
- How did a NASA engineer invent the Super Soaker?
- Was the Super Soaker one of the best-selling toys ever?

## Summary

Lonnie Johnson invented the Super Soaker, the high-pressure water gun that turned a bathroom test of pump engineering into one of the best-selling toys ever.

## The archive's standing

The Super Soaker is a landmark Black invention in American toy history. It joins practical engineering to mass-market play, and it did so with a design powerful enough to redefine an ordinary squirt gun. The archive holds it as a work of authorship, not a lucky accident: a Black engineer made a product that millions of children recognized at once.

## What it is

The Super Soaker is an American brand of pressurized water gun that uses air pressure to project water with much greater force, range, and accuracy than ordinary squirt pistols. It entered the market under earlier names before becoming the Super Soaker and went on to become a major commercial success.

## How it was made

Lonnie Johnson, a NASA engineer and inventor, developed the core idea while working on a heat-pump project. In later accounts, he described discovering that a powerful stream of water could be produced by attaching a nozzle to a bathroom sink, which led him toward the toy’s design. The toy was first patented as a squirt-gun design in 1986, then developed and sold commercially in the early 1990s.

## Why it matters

The Super Soaker belongs in the record of Black invention because it is not only a successful toy but also a case of technical imagination entering everyday life. Its importance lies in both its design and its reach: it became a mass-market object, sold widely enough to enter the category of enduring American toys.

## Record status

The basic authorship is settled: Lonnie Johnson is the inventor named in the public record and in later biographical accounts. The larger significance of the toy is not disputed; it stands as one of the most recognizable consumer inventions linked to a Black engineer in the late twentieth century.

## Sources

1. Lonnie Johnson (inventor). Wikipedia. Retrieved July 18, 2026.
2. Super Soaker. Wikipedia. Retrieved July 18, 2026.
3. BBC News. "Lonnie Johnson: The father of the Super Soaker." BBC, 2016.
4. History.com. "African American inventor Lonnie Johnson patents the Super Soaker water gun | May 27, 1986." HISTORY, May 27, 1986.
5. Biography.com. "How Lonnie Johnson Invented the Super Soaker." Biography, n.d.
6. Forbes. "The Inventor Of The Super Soaker Talks About Turning Inventions Into Products And His Next Big Idea." Forbes, March 3, 2017.

## Related records

- https://www.blacksencyclopedia.com/record/lonnie-johnson
- https://www.blacksencyclopedia.com/record/squirt-gun
- https://www.blacksencyclopedia.com/record/toy-hall-of-fame
- https://www.blacksencyclopedia.com/record/water-gun

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Cite as: Black's Encyclopedia, "Super Soaker," revised July 21, 2026. https://www.blacksencyclopedia.com/record/super-soaker

Text under the Black's Record License: cite the record, keep attribution attached, cite the revision date.