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Larami
The Larami Corporation was a toy company established by David W. Ring in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1959. It produced licensed toys based on movies and television shows. Often low-quality, these were manufactured in Hong Kong and Japan for sale on grocery store toy aisle racks for under a dollar. By the 1980s, Larami had a growing water gun product line, and launched the Super Soaker brand in 1991. In 1995, it was acquired by Hasbro Inc, which renamed it Larami Inc. before retiring it in 2002. History In 1947, David W. Ring and his brother founded Ring Brothers Toy Wholesale, selling toys to retailers out of the back of his car. Ring founded the Larami Corporation in 1959 after being introduced to toy imports during a trip to Japan earlier that year. Larami specialized in low-cost, low-quality licensed toys based on popular movies and television shows during the 1960s and 1970s, toy guns, and toy water guns.Toynfo During the 1980s, Larami expanded its water gun line, licen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Super Soaker
Super Soaker is an American brand of recreational water gun that uses manually-pressurized air to shoot water with greater power, range, and accuracy than conventional squirt pistols. The Super Soaker was invented in 1989 by engineer Lonnie Johnson. The prototype combined PVC pipe, acrylic glass, and an empty plastic soda bottle. Originally sold by Larami and now produced by Hasbro under the Nerf brand, Super Soaker has generated more than $1 billion in total sales. The first Super Soaker went on sale in 1990 and was originally called the Power Drencher. Rebranding the name to Super Soaker occurred in 1991 together with a series of TV advertisements that resulted in two million water guns being sold. Super Soakers were popular for many years—so popular, in fact, that the term ''super soaker'' is sometimes used generically, to refer to any type of toy pressurized water gun. History In 1985 Air Force and NASA engineer Lonnie Johnson conceived of the idea of a pressurized ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lonnie Johnson (inventor)
Lonnie George Johnson (born October 6, 1949) is an American inventor, aerospace engineer, and entrepreneur, best known for inventing the bestselling Super Soaker water gun in 1989. He was formerly employed at the U.S. Air Force and NASA, where he worked at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Early life Johnson was born in Mobile, Alabama on October 6, 1949. His mother, who finished high school, worked as a nurse's aide and his father, who didn't finish high school, was a World War II veteran. He had 5 siblings. His father explained the basic principles of electricity to Johnson at an early age. Stating that he "always liked to tinker with things," Johnson earned the nickname "the Professor" from kids in the neighborhood. He once "tore up his sister's baby doll to see what made her eyes close". He also tried to cook up rocket fuel in a saucepan but in doing so almost burned down the house. Education As a teenager, Johnson attended Williamson High School, an all-black school in M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nerf
Nerf is a toy brand formed by Parker Brothers and currently owned by Hasbro. Most of the toys are a variety of Foam weapon, foam-based weaponry, with other Nerf products including balls for sports such as American football, basketball, and baseball. Their best known toys are their dart guns (referred to by Hasbro as "blasters") that shoot ammunition made from "Nerf foam" (partially reticulated foam, reticulated polyether type polyurethane foam). Their primary slogan, introduced in the 1990s, is ''"It's Nerf or Nothin'!"''. Annual revenues under the Nerf brand are approximately . History Parker Brothers originally developed Nerf, beginning with a polyurethane foam ball. In 1969, Reyn Guyer, a Minnesota-based games inventor, and Minnesota Vikings kicker Fred Cox came to the company with a football game that was safe for indoor play, and after studying it carefully, Parker Brothers decided to eliminate everything but the foam ball. The inventors' in-house name for the bal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Water Gun
A water gun (or water pistol, water blaster, or squirt gun) is a type of toy gun designed to shoot jets of water. Similar to water balloons, the primary purpose of the toy is to soak another person in a recreational game such as a water fight. Historically, water guns were made of metal and used rubber squeeze bulbs to load and propel water through a nozzle like a Pasteur pipette. While the oldest surviving example of a squirt gun dates to J.W. Wolff's June 30, 1896 patent, depictions of children using water-spraying devices date back to at least the 16th century. In Pieter Bruegel the Elder's painting ''Children's Games'' (1560), a child appears to be using a squirt toy to spray water, suggesting early forms of water guns. The oldest known reference to a squirt gun is dated thirty-five years prior to Wolff’s patent, with General William T. Sherman's 1861 quote regarding the effort to quell secession: "Why, you might as well attempt to put out the flames of a burning hou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hasbro
Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment holding company founded on December 6, 1923 by Henry, Hillel and Herman Hassenfeld and is incorporated and headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Hasbro owns the trademarks and products of Kenner Products, Kenner, Milton Bradley Company, Milton Bradley, Parker Brothers, and Wizards of the Coast, among others. As of August 2020, over 81.5% of its shares were held by large financial institutions. Among Hasbro's products are ''Transformers'', ''G.I. Joe'', ''Power Rangers'', Rom the Space Knight, Micronauts, ''M.A.S.K. (franchise), M.A.S.K.'', ''Monopoly (game), Monopoly'', Furby, Nerf, Mr. Potato Head, Potato Head, ''Bop It!'', Play-Doh, ''Twister (game), Twister'', and ''My Little Pony'', and with the Entertainment One (now Lionsgate Canada) acquisition on December 30, 2019, franchises like ''Peppa Pig'' a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1999
1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launched by NASA. * January 25 – The 6.2 Colombia earthquake hits western Colombia, killing at least 1,900 people. February * February 7 – Abdullah II inherits the throne of Jordan, following the death of his father King Hussein. * February 11 – Pluto moves along its eccentric orbit further from the Sun than Neptune. It had been nearer than Neptune since 1979, and will become again in 2231. * February 12 – U.S. President Bill Clinton is acquitted in impeachment proceedings in the United States Senate. * February 16 ** In Uzbekistan, an apparent assassination attempt against President Islam Karimov takes place at government headquarters. ** Across Europe, Kurdish protestors take over embassies and hold hostages after ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
