By Paul Kurtz

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- This past week saw the death of a local man who was the brains behind a toy that became a kids favorite all over the world, the Super Soaker.

Alvin Davis was co-owner of Laramie, a small, struggling Philadelphia-based toy company until 1989, when Davis brought in an engineer who had patented an air-pressure idea that transformed the water gun into something...super.

Richard Gottlieb, a New York based toy expert says the Super Soaker instantly became a must-have weapon for those epic water battles.

"Basically what it did was revolutionize two things. One, the engineering was brilliant. It really took water guns to a whole another level in which it went from being a child's toy to really to an adult toy. Adults loved to play and still do with that."

Alvin Davis grew up in South Philadelphia and was a graduate of Overbrook High School. He was 78.