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Patent holder profile

Lonnie G. Johnson and the commercialization source trail

Johnson's squirt-gun patent belongs in a commercialization lane because patent proof, licensing, product success, and ownership benefit are different source questions.

Why this belongs on CultureUp

Johnson is a public-record memory story.

This belongs on CultureUp because the patent record connects invention to place, public institutions, work systems, laboratories, employers, federal or corporate assignment, and the limits of public records.

Sprint 5 priority 10 / not final rankStatus: source_reviewedSource grade: A-

Patent: 4591071: Squirt Gun
Issue date: 1986-05-27
Place: La Crescenta, California
Record strength: Patent-record facts are attached with at least one public context source. CultureUp still separates patent proof from biography, adoption, commercialization, and identity claims.
Identity evidence: Public context source attached where available; CultureUp does not use the patent row alone as race, ancestry, lineage, or Indigenous Black identity proof.
Sprint priority: 10 / not final rank
Cluster: Commercialization and assignment
Needed before promotion: Promotion language should remain limited until source-led context, assignment, co-inventor, and commercialization review is complete.
Why this record matters: The record helps CultureUp distinguish patent invention from licensing, product distribution, brand memory, and revenue claims.

What the public record supports

U.S. Patent No. 4591071, issued May 27, 1986.
Squirt gun invention category.
NIHF public commercialization context for Johnson and Super Soaker memory.

What remains open

Licensing-contract evidence.
Assignee and ownership history.
Revenue and economic-benefit source trail.

Article profile

Read the person, place, invention, and record separately.

CultureUp keeps each layer visible so a patent record does not get stretched into claims the source trail cannot support.

The patent record

4591071 was issued on 1986-05-27 for Squirt Gun.

The person in the record

The attached public context sources support a reader-facing profile frame. Any deeper life history, family record, school record, employment file, or community memory needs its own source trail.

Place attached to the claim

La Crescenta, California is the public place anchor used for this route. CultureUp does not infer local family continuity from the patent row alone.

The invention

The invention is summarized from the public patent title and source trail. Technical, market, institutional, and adoption claims stay limited to what the attached sources can support.

Business, labor, and use

Modern patent records often separate inventor, employer, assignee, licensee, and beneficiary. CultureUp keeps those categories apart instead of treating a patent as proof of ownership, wealth, adoption, or public impact.

What the record cannot prove

The patent record does not by itself prove full biography, race, ancestry, Indigenous Black identity, commercialization, institutional adoption, economic benefit, modern product lineage, or community memory.

Identity and correction note

CultureUp treats this as Black American patent memory only through public, reviewable sources. The page does not certify ancestry, descent, tribe, nationality, family history, or private identity.

Send stronger patent images, assignment records, employer records, licensing documents, public biographies, or source corrections through CultureUp's correction path.

Patent records do not prove final rank, private identity, solo credit when co-inventors appear, employment ownership, commercialization, adoption, or later public impact.

Indexable as a source-led Sprint 5 profile with visible source limits.

Commercial success claims need licensing, ownership, and revenue sources; a patent number alone is not a royalty ledger.

Do not use this page to make absolute first, ownership, adoption, or commercialization claims without a separate source trail.

Patent records

Grant trail

Grant rank and unique-holder rank are shown separately so repeat patentees do not distort the chronological sequence.

modern_commercialization_candidateSprint priority 10Not public rankutility patenthigh

4591071: Squirt Gun

Lonnie G. Johnson / 1986-05-27

Sprint 5 commercialization candidate. Patent facts are not the same as licensing terms, toy-market performance, or ownership benefit.

Residence: La Crescenta, California
Category: consumer product / commercialization
Source status: high
Chronology handling: modern_commercialization_candidate
Cluster: Commercialization and assignment
Primary sources: 2 mapped

Source trail

Claims stay tied to source limits.

Commercialization and licensing context

Sources that help separate a patent record from product licensing, market adoption, economic benefit, and public-memory claims.

patent text mirrorcommercialization anchor patent record

US4591071A - Squirt Gun

Google Patents / 1986 patent record

Supports: Shows Lonnie G. Johnson as inventor on a squirt gun patent published May 27, 1986.
Limit: The patent record verifies invention data and issue date. It does not by itself prove licensing terms, toy-market performance, commercialization benefit, full biography, public memory, or economic benefit.
Last checked: 2026-06-09
Source URL: https://patents.google.com/patent/US4591071A/en

public inventor profilecommercialization context

Lonnie Johnson

National Inventors Hall of Fame / current public profile

Supports: Identifies Johnson with the Super Soaker and places the invention inside a commercialization public-memory frame.
Limit: Does not prove patent ownership, licensing terms, royalty history, or every economic-benefit claim by itself.
Last checked: 2026-06-09
Source URL: https://www.invent.org/inductees/lonnie-johnson