You're Guaranteed To Have A Blast!
OUTDOOR ENTERTAINMENT - SCHOOL SCIENCE - MEDIEVAL ARMS & ARMOUR
A short introduction to each of the cannon types:
TENNIS BALL CANNONS!
As the name suggests these cannons fire tennis balls! The beauty of this design is the sheer simplicity of construction and operation. It is really just a pipe with a bag attached to one end. Push the tennis ball in the open end using the loading rod, inflate the bag at the other end with the foot pump and then stamp on the bag to fire - it is that simple! 100% human powered!
Children of age 2 - 3 years have successfully been able to use them with a bit of parental assistance. There is no upper age limit of course. Depending on your individual technique and stamping energy, some people have managed to shoot tennis balls beyond 60 metres range. Anyone with an ounce of fun will find these rugged, reliable and efficient cannons to be a highly addictive outdoor entertainment!
VIPER CANNON!
The Viper Cannon is also a tennis ball shooter but instead of stamping with one leg, it is designed to harness the energy of the whole human body mass dropping onto the inflated bag via a suspended footplate. The longer barrel provides a greater tennis ball acceleration period for more absorption of the considerable energy generated by a fully grown adult dropping on to the bag!
The result is that the tennis balls have been clocked at speeds up to 100 mph out of the barrel. With a fairly flat trajectory it can be operated for accurate hard hitting strikes on wooden targets around 30 metres distant. At high barrel angles the tennis balls disappear high into the atmosphere to often land over 75 metres away. Of course all ages can easily have a go too - it is probably the most popular single cannon.
WOLF CANNON!
DRAGON CANNON!
The Wolf Cannon is a big step up in performance, launching specially manufactured darts many times heavier than the tennis balls, at just over 100 mph up to 100 metres range. To achieve this performance a controlled drop mass is employed to squash the inflated bag and impart the acceleration force to the dart during the fraction of a second it is actually inside the barrel!
The nature of the method of operation means that a remote trigger can allow anyone to activate the cannon from a suitable safe distance. You can imagine the excitement of small children being able to fire this apparently huge cannon with the easy to use pneumatic plunger trigger. The tricycle chassis means that this cannon is highly mobile and can go almost anywhere at an event location.
Its true function is that of a scientific instrument being able to release predetermined energy to launch darts consistently, allowing dart design comparisons. The energy and barrel angle can be changed. Other interesting objects can be launched as long as they fit the barrel and employ a suitable low friction seal.
OK this is the big one. Designed to reside at the limit of what is practically possible to transport to an event by van, the Dragon Cannon is overpowering in almost every respect! Taking the same idea as the original Tennis Ball Cannons to a logical high point with a 6 metre long 200 mm diameter barrel, it demonstrates what is required to power a projectile some 26 times more massive than a tennis ball and exceed all other cannons in velocity and range.
The controlled violence of the drop mass developing the launch energy is not for the feint hearted standing in the vicinity, but a sight and sound to behold as the giant dart proceeds at well over 100 mph to ranges up to 150 metres.
The Dragon Cannon also provides a feast of engineering discussion with much educational potential on materials, mechanisms and practical physics concepts, developing viable cost effective solutions that must deal with a multitude of design variables. It has a great big mouth full of teeth as well for the cameras!