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30-571: In the 1990s, Larami 's Super Soaker was the leading brand of water guns. In 2002, Larami was acquired by Hasbro and subsequently terminated a number of Larami engineers . In 2003, the former Hasbro engineers started a company called Buzz Bee Toys and created the Water Warriors brand. The "Firefly", "Hornet", "Zzapper", "Wasp", "Lightning" and "Blazer" were the first six types of water guns offered by Buzz Bee Toys. The Firefly, Hornet and Zzapper were standard air pressure water guns,

60-646: A Cylon soap bubble toy called the Battlestar Galactica Cylon Bubble Machine to coincide with the television series of the same name. In the same year, a commercial was also made for the product featuring its use in dispensing "big bunches of bubbles" and a jingle . The jingle was described in one review as "amazingly goofy with a chorus yelping, 'Battlestar Galacticaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa ...CYLON BUBBLE MACHINE!'" and in an interview Re-imagined Series comics writer Greg Pak as said "I still periodically find myself humming

90-516: A constant stream, and allowed it to continue shooting for a moment after pumping ceased. In 2009, Water Warriors made the Pulse series, a line of pressurized water guns that used spring-loaded pressure chambers. Water Warriors has produced a few motorized water guns. The first was the Scorpion, which used a motor to automatically pump water into its Hydro-Power pressure chamber. In 2007, they made

120-573: 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. 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

150-493: A podcast in recent years, including regular features Most Useful Podcast Ever and How Your World Works . Popular Mechanics was founded in Chicago by Henry Haven Windsor, with the first issue dated January 11, 1902. His concept was that it would explain "the way the world works" in plain language, with photos and illustrations to aid comprehension. For decades, its tagline was "Written so you can understand it." The magazine

180-627: A regular column, Jay Leno's Garage, starting in March, 1999. *In general, dates are the inclusive issues for which an editor was responsible. For decades, the lead time to go from submission to print was three months, so some of the dates might not correspond exactly with employment dates. As the Popular Mechanics web site has become more dominant and the importance of print issues has declined, editorial changes have more immediate impact. National Magazine Awards Other awards In 1999,

210-467: 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. During the 1980s, Larami expanded its water gun line, licensing designs for a battery-operated water gun from inventor Alan Amron in 1984. By 1987, Alvin Davis and Myung Song had become co-owners of Larami. At

240-557: Is designed so that water is pumped from the reservoir into an empty plastic container. As the water is pumped in, the air sitting inside becomes compressed. When the trigger is pulled, the valve opens and the compressed air forces the water out. Although Water Warriors did not use this design for the first several years of production, they did use a variation they referred to as "air-piston" (below). The brand first used separate air pressure in 2009. After being sued by Hasbro, Buzz Bee started taking advantage of air pressure technology, releasing

270-405: Is pressurized by air being pumped and compressed into its reservoir. When the trigger is pulled, a valve is opened and the compressed air pushes the water out of the nozzle. Water Warriors started with three pressurized reservoir water guns, and has continued to produce them in various shapes and sizes. This is a more powerful air pressure system that was also first introduced by Super Soaker. It

300-598: The June 1962 Alcatraz escape attempt , where three men, Frank Morris and John and Clarence Anglin, used the magazine as a reference to build life vests and a raft out of rubber raincoats and contact cement. Articles have been contributed by notable people including Guglielmo Marconi , Thomas Edison , Jules Verne , Barney Oldfield , Knute Rockne , Winston Churchill , Charles Kettering , Tom Wolfe and Buzz Aldrin , as well as some US presidents including Teddy Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan . Comedian and car expert Jay Leno had

330-547: The 1989 North American International Toy Fair in New York City , Davis and Song met former Jet Propulsion Lab engineer Lonnie Johnson . After being impressed by his prototype of a pressurized water-air reservoir, Larami licensed his designs and developed the Power Drencher. In 1991, the Power Drencher line was relaunched as the Super Soaker . Talk To Me Products filed suit against Larami in 1993, alleging that

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360-514: The Gorgon, Ultimate Explorer, Colossus, and others. Hydro-Power was Buzz Bee's equivalent of Super Soaker's Constant Pressure System (CPS). Hydro-Power consists of a flat, circular sheet of rubber (known as a diaphragm ) clamped with several bolts onto a disk with a hole in it. Water is pumped into the hole, pressing on the rubber sheet and building up pressure. In 2009, Buzz Bee Toys started manufacturing water guns with CPS type bladders under

390-498: The Power Shot and Power Squirt. Piston water guns have been produced for many years. These guns do not have triggers; they are fired simply by pumping. Although this design feature allows them to reload rapidly, piston pumpers tend to have less range and less power than other designs. Originally made popular by the Super Soaker 50 , pressurized reservoir systems are still common for small water guns. A water gun using this system

420-614: The Super Soaker as part of the Nerf line. Larami toys were produced based on several movies, television shows, etc. By the 1980s, Larami Corp. had a growing water gun product line. It was Larami Corp. that eventually marketed and sold the Power Drencher, rebranded as the Super Soaker in 1991 which was based on the pressurized water-air reservoir invented and developed by the former Jet Propulsion Engineer Dr. Lonnie Johnson and Larami designer William Raucci. In 1978, Larami created

450-502: The Super Soaker infringed on their 1978 patent for a battery-powered water gun. On March 11, 1993, Talk To Me Products' claims were dismissed, as their patent referred to a water gun "having a chamber therein". Instead, the Super Soaker had a detachable chamber at the top of the water gun. Larami was acquired by Hasbro Inc in 1995. Hasbro continued to manufacture Super Soakers under the Larami name until 2002, when Hasbro began marketing

480-581: The Tarantula, which ran entirely off of a motor to fire water. The Tarantula was considered by Popular Mechanics to be "The Best Battery-Powered Gun." They also made the Jet, a smaller and less powerful gun intended for small children. In relation to its test of four water gun types, Popular Mechanics commented that the Water Warriors Gorgon was "too heavy for even the oldest tester, and

510-541: The Test Zone. From the first issue, the magazine featured a large illustration of a technological subject, a look that evolved into the magazine's characteristic full-page, full-color illustration and a small 6.5" x 9.5" trim size beginning with the July, 1911 issue. It maintained the small format until 1975 when it switched the larger standard trim size. Popular Mechanics adopted full-color cover illustrations in 1915, and

540-887: The United States Joe Biden called "Things My Father Taught Me" for its fatherhood issue. Apple Inc. CEO Tim Cook guest-edited the September/October 2022 of Popular Mechanics . The magazine is mentioned in the 2013 film The Wolf of Wall Street . In June 2020, following several high-profile takedowns of statues of controversial historical figures, Popular Mechanics faced criticism from primarily conservative commentators and news outlets for an article that provided detailed instructions on how to take down statues. In early December 2020, Popular Mechanics published an article titled "Leaked Government Photo Shows 'Motionless, Cube-Shaped' UFO." In late December, paranormal claims investigator and fellow of

570-724: The Wasp was a " piston pumper", and the Blazer and Lightning employed "Hydro-Power", a system that the Buzz Bee Toys engineers invented. Hydro-Power is an alternative to the patented Super Soaker Constant Pressure System (CPS). Water Warriors guns have several designs that work in different ways. These include the following: Buzz Bee Toys has made traditional squirt pistols such as the Kwik Grip and Kwik Grip XL. Some of their squirt pistol designs have improved features. These include

600-541: The back again. This system gave the guns extra pressure, and allowed them to shoot any direction. Water Warriors has made a variety of spring -powered water guns. The first was the Splat Blaster, which was cocked with a lever action , and fired a small burst of water. Next was the Steady Stream, which was pumped like a piston blaster, but had a spring-loaded pressure chamber behind the nozzle. This gave it

630-880: The dispute was over, it is strongly suggested that Hasbro was suing for the Water Warriors Hydro-Power water guns, which were becoming too similar to Super Soaker's Constant Pressure System . As a result, the Water Warriors line did not contain a single Hydro-Power water gun again until the CPS patent expired. 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

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660-520: The look was widely imitated by later technology magazines. Several international editions were introduced after World War II, starting with a French edition, followed by Spanish in 1947, and Swedish and Danish in 1949. In 2002, the print magazine was being published in English, Chinese, and Spanish and distributed worldwide. South African and Russian editions were introduced that same year. The march 1962 issue of popular mechanics magazine aided in

690-492: The magazine published a book based on that article entitled "Debunking 9/11 Myths: Why Conspiracy Theories Can't Stand Up to the Facts," with a foreword by then senator John McCain . An October 2015 issue of Popular Mechanics , featuring director Ridley Scott , included an interactive cover that unlocked special content about Scott's film The Martian . In June 2016, the magazine ran a cover story with then-Vice President of

720-692: The magazine was a puzzle on Wheel of Fortune . In April 2001, Popular Mechanics was the first magazine to go to space, traveling to the International Space Station aboard the Soyuz TM-32 spacecraft. In December 2002, an issue featured the cover story and image of "The Real Face of Jesus " using data from forensic anthropologists and computer programmers . In March 2005, Popular Mechanics released an issue dedicated to debunking 9/11 conspiracy theories , which has been used frequently for discrediting 9/11 "trutherism." In 2006,

750-410: The pump-fire was hard to shoot on the run." The criticism was isolated and similar comments have not appeared in other internet reviews. A consumer perspective on the Water Warriors products was ascertained in a survey of water gun enthusiasts from WaterWar.net. All of the enthusiasts who participated in the survey agreed that, although they preferred the appearance of Super Soakers, Water Warriors, at

780-477: The same name of Hydro-Power. Because of this, Buzz Bee was sued by Hasbro. Air piston was a short-lived variation of air pressure that was made in 2005 under the Aqua Master Pre-Charger lineup. A tube with a piston in it was pressurized with air in the back, pushing the piston to the front. Then the gun was switched to water mode, and water would be pumped in the front, pushing the piston to

810-410: The time of the survey, manufactured the best water guns. Buzz Bee Toys has previously invited selected enthusiasts to its annual meeting in order to assist with effective decision-making. In 2010, Buzz Bee Toys was successfully sued by Hasbro for patent infringement . Hasbro claimed that Buzz Bee Toys infringed on a patent related to its "Super Soaker water toy." Although it is unknown exactly what

840-740: The tune song [sic] to the Cylon Bubble Machine commercial." In a Los Angeles Times article covering Battlestar Galactica ' s influence on Facebook , the toy's Facebook Fan Page is noted alongside the book The Science of Battlestar Galactica 's. Popular Mechanics 11.9M digital 5.69M print Popular Mechanics (often abbreviated as PM or PopMech ) is a magazine of popular science and technology , featuring automotive , home, outdoor , electronics , science , do it yourself , and technology topics. Military topics, aviation and transportation of all types, space , tools and gadgets are commonly featured. It

870-701: Was a weekly until September 1902, when it became a monthly. The Popular Mechanics Company was owned by the Windsor family and printed in Chicago until the Hearst Corporation purchased the magazine in 1958. In 1962, the editorial offices moved to New York City. In 2020, Popular Mechanics relocated to Easton, Pennsylvania , along with the additional brands in the Hearst Enthusiast Group ( Bicycling and Runner's World ). That location also includes Popular Mechanics' testing facility, called

900-639: Was founded in 1902 by Henry Haven Windsor , who was the editor and—as owner of the Popular Mechanics Company—the publisher. For decades, the tagline of the monthly magazine was "Written so you can understand it." In 1958, PM was purchased by the Hearst Corporation, now Hearst Communications . In 2013, the US edition changed from twelve to ten issues per year, and in 2014 the tagline was changed to "How your world works." The magazine added

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