PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT AT JOHNSON RESEARCH The primary focus at Johnson Research is the development of consumer oriented products for license and manufacture. Toward this end, the company has successfully developed innovative products in a wide range of technology disciplines including toys, consumer products and environmentally efficient energy systems. Products are not directly marketed to consumers but are sold through license agreements with companies who have the capability to manufacture and distribute the products created at Johnson Research. To protect innovative products that are licensed to manufacturing entities, and to establish a competitive advantage over non-patented technologies, Johnson Research maintains intellectual property rights on all of its technologies for toys, consumer, and environmental products. Further protection of Johnson Research’s technology is ensured by the procurement of non disclosure and confidentiality agreements at the beginning of potential license relationships.
TOYS AND CONSUMER PRODUCTS Super Soaker®, which is licensed to Hasbro Corporation, remains the centerpiece of the company’s toy line, and Johnson Research continues to contribute technology and design innovations to the product line. A second license agreement with Hasbro covers the design, engineering and development of NERF® soft foam dart guns. These toys, like the Super Soaker®, have outlasted national trends and the traditional one to two year life cycle for toys. The NERF® product line includes several new items each year, and continues to be a staple of summer outdoor toy lines. Another license agreement involves the design, development and engineering of a new generation of Estes Air Rockets. Estes, long known as the standard in toy rocketry with a product line of black powder rockets, implemented the Johnson Research air power technology into its product line in 2000, and has since become known for its air powered rockets. With this technology, the Estes line of products has expanded from the traditional hobby market into the much larger retail toy market. The following products are currently available for license:
ENVIRONMENTAL ENERGY PRODUCTS In the environmental energy area, through its spin off companies, Excellatron Solid State, and Johnson Electro-Mechanical Systems, projects include advanced battery technology and thermal to electric power generation technology. Excellatron Solid State, LLC was created to commercialize the solid state thin film lithium rechargeable battery technology originally developed at Oakridge National Laboratory. Excellatron is developing processes that will reduce the manufacturing costs of these batteries by an order of magnitude. Improvements and innovations to the Oakridge technology have resulted in several patents owned by Excellatron. The company has expanded its battery research to include the development of lithium air batteries which offer a major breakthrough in energy storage capacity. Johnson Electro-Mechanical Systems, LLC (JEMS), has invented energy conversion technology that converts thermal energy to electrical energy with significant advantages over alternative energy systems. With a targeted efficiency goal of 80 percent of Carnot, this technology has the potential for revolutionizing the global energy market when fully commercialized. JEMS’ research efforts include the development of intermediate temperature fuel cell technology which addresses the major issues that have limited the commercialization for fuel cells and power scavenging technology for generating power from ambient energy which eliminates the need for a fuel supply. Johnson Research is a technology company that has the creative culture and radically innovative atmosphere of a toy company. The synergistic effect produced between creativity and technology is the driving force behind Johnson Research and its revolutionary products. Consistent with its mission and the Super Soaker® legacy, ongoing Johnson Research projects will establish dramatically new standards of performance in their respective markets. |