Larami's 3-ft Super Soaker constant pressure system CPS 3000 Ltd connects to a backpack carrying 2 gallons of water, expels 20 ounces per second, drenching targets 40 feet away. The XP extra power line and the SC series connect to Super Chargers for quick refills. Squirt guns were once 29c plastic pistols barely dousing an insect. Today they're $215 million a year in the U S, 90% owned by Larami. Super Soakers and perennials Tonka and Matchbox dominate the market. New Jersey based Larami tries to get consumers to trade up for more powerful guns, from a few dollars for the cheapest model to the $39.95 CPS 3000. Larami, acquired by Hasbro for $100 million, also maintained its stranglehold through innovation, gaining 20 patents over the last decade, suing toy makers coming near its designs. Hasbro engineers develop new guns all the time.
Super Soakers, chambers, pumps and levers, have top-mounted plastic water tanks. Under the barrel a sliding handle fills the gun with air pressurized at 35 psi. Pulling the trigger opens a seal at the tip of the barrel. Water pushed by pressurized air rushes out in a tight stream. The mechanism ran air rifles, garden sprays and other things for decades. No one applied it to squirt guns until 1982 when JPL engineer Lonnie Johnson, responsible for Galileo spacecraft power subsystems, now running his own Atlanta research lab, tried to make a heat pump use water instead of Freon as coolant. Hooking the pump to a faucet he shot a stream of water across the bathroom into the tub. Pressure was so great the curtains swayed. 1989 Daisy BB guns saw potential, passing on the idea after 2 years' discussions with Johnson. Another company licensing the design never made the gun and subsequently went out of business. In 1989 Johnson met Larami engineers armed with a prototype he made from a soda bottle and PVC pipe, left with a $30,000 check and makes millions of dollars in royalties. Toy retailers didn't think consumers would buy a $10 squirt gun. Toy R Us carried it. Larami's huge break was Nov 1990 when Johnny Carson featured the Super Soaker on his annual toy review. The next 12 months stunned the industry. In 1990 sales of all toy guns, including squirt guns, totaled $89 million. A year later toy gun sales soared to $232 million.
Powerful Super Soakers must not be aimed at people's faces. Larami gave them fluorescent colors and playful designs to minimize association with real guns. They evolved considerably, adding multiple nozzles, larger water tanks, more reliable pumps and quicker loading systems. Super Soakers from the first gun through the CPS 3000 have a maximum firing range of 37.5 feet, a technical limit. Larami sets its sights ever higher with its first line of guns aimed at the college-age market, with a bigger, more powerful centerpiece 11-year-olds maybe can't lift. Larami's main rival is Pleasanton's Yes Entertainment, the only other company supplying high powered squirt guns to retailers. Yes' Doublecross gun, using a bladder instead of a pump, loads under hose pressure, with 2 pistol-like attachments aimed and fired independently.
POPULAR TOYS
The yoyo, history's 2nd-oldest toy, is the 1900s top fad. Ancient Greeks played with them. 1800s British called them bandalores. They were used as weapons in the Philippines for 400 years. D F Duncan, Americanizing the yo-yo, bought the rights to the name yo-yo in 1929 and makes them with names like "Avenger," "Orb" and "Mondial." Hoops date back to 1,000 BC Egypt. In 1958, after an Australian company began making wooden hoops in 1957, California-based Wham-O made them in colorful plastic and added the name of a Hawaiian dance. Atari debuted with 1972's simplistic tennis-like Pong, spawning modern games like Dreamcast, N64 and PlayStation. First with arcade games like Asteroids and Breakout, Atari later ruled the early video game market in the 1980s with Centipede, Missile Command and Battle Zone. Other significant 1900s toys were Rubik's Cube, the Pet Rock, Cabbage Patch Kids (dolls are THE oldest toy), Beanie Babies and Slinkys. Also mentioned were the 1920s college live goldfish swallowing craze and flagpole sitting.