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fastball
I had no idea that the inventor of the Super Soaker designed real weapons systems as well.

In retrospect, it makes a lot of sense.

n00b101
Fascinating interview! I had just learned about Lonnie Johnson yesterday!

I was reading up on the Lingo programming language[1] and found out that it was invented by a Jamaican computer scientist named John H. Thompson [2], which led me to learn about Lonnie Johnson.

> "After I had settled into my new job and home, I set to work making the parts of the plastic water gun on a little lathe and milling machine in the basement."

It would be super interesting to find out which lathe and milling machines he had used. It sounds like they might have been Sherline machines. [4] I wonder how easy it would be today to 3D print a SuperSoaker prototype given the difficulties due to overhangs in the geometry of SuperSoaker parts (e.g. tube, barrel). Something tells me that manually fabricating it on a small lathe/mill like Lonnie Johnson did would be much faster for prototyping than 3D printing, even today ... but I could be wrong.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingo_(programming_language) [2] http://www.black-inventor.com/John-Thompson.asp [3] http://www.black-inventor.com/Lonnie-G-Johnson.asp [4] http://sherline.com/

yincrash
Can 3d printed parts handle higher pressures very well?
auxym
FDM parts are actually porous and won't hold pressure at all.

In my limited experience SLA can be made to work.

derefr
Come to think of it, is there a 3D-printing process that involves a rotating lathe for some parts, when you know you need part of the object to be a tube?
farva
Wouldn't that be a CNC lathe?
nibnib
>Something tells me that manually fabricating it on a small lathe/mill like Lonnie Johnson did would be much faster for prototyping than 3D printing, even today ... but I could be wrong.

I think you are correct, and this is true for many designs. Widepsread love for 3D printing doesn't change that. When all you have is a hammer etc.

selimthegrim
Johnson gave a talk at my department about the J-TEC. He really was quite polished and answered some tough questions we had.
weaksauce
I always loved the supersoaker growing up. Glad to see that he didn't get screwed out of his royalties like a lot of inventors/creators did.
Rolpa
"I had no idea what to say to him. In the end, I said, 'Well… you know… I think we should have more of that.'"

I love it.

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jemfinch
What happened to real Super Soaker guns, like the 50, the 100, or even the 300? When I search for "super soaker" on Amazon I see only a few Nerf branded guns that look like cheap knockoffs.
qbrass
Hasbro bought Larami then rebranded them as Nerf guns.
avn2109
Wait they threw away the Super Soaker branding on purpose? This is madness.
yincrash
They still use the branding but as "Nerf Super Soaker". Also, the guns look totally different than what Larami toys looked like.

http://nerf.hasbro.com/en-us/toys-games/nerf:super-soaker

massysett
As a black man there is no way I can give my kid any toy that looks even remotely like a gun.

That a black guy invented this thing makes this even more ironic.

redwood
A powerful comment: thank you for sharing this. I hope your own kids will not need to feel this way when they become parents.
agumonkey
If only Super Soaker were the only gun people carried.
yardie
As a black father as well I've had this very same discussion, repeatedly.
barking
Supersoakers look nothing like real guns and what's 'even more' ironic about a black man inventing it?

What's ironic about it at all?

typetypetype
The irony is that the inventor of a super popular toy would have to think twice about letting his own children play with it. If you are not aware of the difference between a white child and a black child playing with a toy gun, here is an article to get you started:

http://abcnews.go.com/US/cleveland-cops-recklessly-shot-boy-...

zanek
That's being a bit ridiculous . I get it that the news/cable stations plaster every cop shooting of a "black" person all over TV anytime it happens but I think it's not as bad as you're acting. We're at multi-decade lows of crime. I think everyone is hyper-sensitive with the news cycle.

I would tell my son if there was a realistic looking gun not to play around with it outside, but that's regardless of his color. I say that as a "black" man

macintux
I really wish people would stop telling black people how to feel about the way that police react to black people.
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yakk0
as a kid my favorite Super Soaker was the one that had a backpack as the reservoir. It was threaded just like a garden hose, so I would hook the gun up to the hose instead.
andrewflnr 

  > I went on to design the N-Strike range of Nerf dart guns...
Maybe having a guy like this design them is why they're so awesome. Those things are accurate at a surprisingly long range, in a package the size of your palm. I was quite impressed with the one I used.