African American who invented the water gun worth $200m

Lonnie George Johnson. Photo: Tumblr

It may surprise you to know that the creator of one of children’s favourite toys, super soaker water gun is an African American, and he is now $200 million rich off his invention.

Scientist and Engineer, Lonnie George Johnson who was on CNBC’s Business Nation’s segment titled, ‘How I Made My Millions’ told the story of how the water gun made him wealthy beyond his wildest dreams.

‘At a point, I thought, why don’t I take time off the high-tech science stuff on hold for a while and see if I can develop a toy that something that anybody can appreciate. It was actually about a year later that I had my first working gun’ Johnson explained

With little or no advertising, the gun was put in stores and the manufacturers couldn’t believe the demand.

‘The demand was so much that the production company couldn’t keep up’ Johnson said.

‘Of course I was going to create a business around it. I was going to manufacture it and sell it and make some money. When I received my first royalty cheque, I knew I wasn’t prepared for it.’  

The Super soaker gun till date generates millions of dollars in annual sales.

It turned out to be the top selling toy in the United States in 1991 and 1992 and has held its ranking among the world’s top 20 best-selling toys every year since its creation.

A former employee of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), 64-years old Johnson has since used part of his wealth to build himself a high-tech laboratory and is now actively involved in serious scientific research.