• About InventHelp
• Invention Services
• Invention Resources
• Marketers & Manufacturers
• Media Outlets
• Contact Us

Summertime, and the Livin' Is Easy

It's summertime summertime sum sum summertime...

Ah, summer. Time for swimming, picnics, baseball games and all sorts of other fun in the sun. Throughout the long winter months, millions of people eagerly await the opportunity to partake in their favorite warm-weather pastimes. Some things are so ingrained as a part of summer tradition that it's hard to imagine the season without them. And yet, our enjoyment of the dog days wouldn't be quite the same if not for various summer-related innovations that we now take for granted. With that in mind, InventHelp® presents the tales of four inventions – the Super Soaker®, the bikini, the Frisbee® and the Popsicle™ – that have become lasting summertime favorites.

Super Soaker®

An anonymous source said of the Super Soaker: "I got fired from a job once because of my Super Soaker. I guess that's what happens when you accidentally drench a customer when you're trying to get a co-worker who ducks."

Lonnie G. Johnson probably didn't have that little scenario in mind when he invented the Super Soaker squirt gun, but it is one of the countless memories that can be recalled by those who were young enough to enjoy the Super Soaker after its release in 1989.

Johnson's impressive resume boasts work with the US Air Force and NASA (including work on the Galileo Jupiter probe and Mars Observer project), a nomination for astronaut training and more than 40 patents, but it's for a squirt gun invention that he's best known. Johnson conceived of a novelty water gun powered by air pressure in 1982, when he conducted a home experiment on a heat pump that used water instead of Freon. This episode, which resulted in Johnson shooting a powerful stream of water across his bathroom and into the tub, led directly to the development of the Power Drencher, the precursor to the Super Soaker.

Bikini

On July 1, 1946, the United States was doing peacetime nuclear testing by dropping an atomic bomb on Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Even though it was just a test, it stimulated great attention worldwide. On the same day, in Paris, designer Louis Reard was preparing to introduce his 2-piece swimsuit at a fashion show. To capitalize on the media buzz, he picked the name that was on everyone's minds, likening the enormous commotion his swimsuit would cause to the explosion of an atomic bomb. On July 5th – four days after the bomb was dropped – the bikini made its debut.

Reard's design for the bikini was based on the work of fellow Frenchman Jacques Heim, who had released the "Atome" – advertised as "the world's smallest bathing suit" – just two months earlier. Reard reduced the Atome to even smaller proportions, and its miniscule coverage area was considered so scandalous that the only model who would agree to wear the bikini was nude dancer Micheline Bernardini. Trumping Heim's momentum, Reard promoted his invention with the tagline "Bikini – smaller than the smallest bathing suit in the world." The initial public outcry over the garment eventually subsided, and with the help of famous supporters like actress Brigitte Bardot and singer Brian Hyland ("Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini"), the bikini went on to become an enduring symbol of pop culture.

Frisbee®

In the 1870s, baker William Russell Frisbie was looking for a way to promote his Bridgeport, Connecticut-based Frisbie Baking Company. He decided to feature the family name in relief on the bottom of the light tin pans that contained the company's homemade pies. The pies were sold throughout much of Connecticut, and sometime in the 1940s, Yale students began sailing the pie tins through the air and catching them.

Ten years later, Walter Frederick Morrison, a flying-saucer enthusiast from California, invented a saucer-like disk for playing catch. Morrison's plastic toy boasted greater accuracy and longer flight time than Frisbie's tin pie pans. The disk was produced by a company called Wham-O, and on a promotional tour of college campuses, the president of the company encountered the innovative Yale students. Shortly after, Wham-O incorporated the students' terminology to rename the disc the "Frisbee."

Popsicle™

A wildly popular hot-weather treat for children and grown-ups alike, the Popsicle was accidentally invented by a young boy with a sweet tooth. One night in 1905, eleven-year old Frank Epperson was on the porch mixing his favorite drink – fruit-flavored soda powder and water – but he mistakenly left the concoction outside.

Temperatures dropped to a record low that night, and the next morning Epperson awoke to find his drink frozen solid, with the stirring stick buried inside. The surprised youngster tasted the icy invention and found it to be delicious. He called the new refreshment the "Eppsicle." However, it was 18 years before Epperson decided to apply for a patent for his "frozen ice on a stick." By that time, Epperson's children had begun referring to the treat as the "Popsicle," and the inventor officially adopted that familiar name, which has stuck for the better part of a century.

Demand skyrocketed when Epperson began producing his ice pop in different flavors, and he sold the rights to the Joe Lowe Company in 1925. A few years later, the ever-popular "twin Popsicles" (two ice pop sticks together) hit the market, paving the way for countless other variations like the Creamsicle and Fudgesicle.

We here at InventHelp® hope you've enjoyed reading about the origins of these summertime favorites. As you enjoy the hot sun this summer, remember that the season wouldn't be nearly as much fun without the help of a few creative individuals and their extraordinary inventions.

Back to Articles for Inventors  |  Back to June 2005 Newsletter