US Patent: 4,591,071
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| Squirt gun
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Patentee:
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| Lonnie G. Johnson (exact or similar names) - Mobile, AL |
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Patent Dates:
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| Applied: |
Oct. 14, 1983 |
| Granted: |
May 27, 1986 |
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Jeff Joslin
Museum of Play article on Super Soaker
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Description: |
| This invention is the Super Soaker, a "squirt gun" on steroids, which has surpassed 200 million units sold. It was introduced as the Power Drencher in 1990; its name was changed to Super Soaker the following year. The innovations include a special nozzle, an air pump to pressurize air to power the gun, and a trigger that actuates a flow valve. Also mentioned in the patent and claims is a battery-powered sound effects circuit although this was never included in the commercial product.The lawsuit Larami v. Amron involved a claim that the Super Soaker infringed on the earlier patent 4,239,129, the rights for which were owned by Alan Amron and whose company, Talk To Me Products, Inc., manufactured it. In a landmark ruling, Larami was granted a summary judgment for dismissal because Amron's patent required an "elongated housing having a chamber therein for a liquid", whereas Lonnie Johnson's Super Soaker had a detachable water reservoir that was outside the main housing. The plaintiff had argued that the Super Soaker design achieved substantially the same function in substantially the same way and so the "Doctrine of Equivalents" applied, but the court found that the Super Soaker's external removable tank was, for multiple reasons, a substantial improvement and therefore the doctrine did not apply. Larami would later successfully counter-sue Amron Talk To Me Products, Inc., for commercial disparagement and tortious interference in trying to prevent retailers from stocking the Super Soaker; Larami was awarded $10 million in damages. |
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