Pumkin Cannon!

[Klenchblaize]

What to do with all those leftover Halloween pumpkin heads now that they are starting to sag?

Well fling them of course!

Just how far can a pumpkin be launched? Well the current world record is an astounding 4,860 feet, held by the Aludium Q-36 Pumpkin Modulator, an 18-ton air cannon stretching over 100 feet in length. The Q-36 achieves its amazing results using an 1800-gallon compressed air tank pressurized to a max 125 PSI, which drives the orange gourds through an 80-foot-long barrel. Muzzle velocity is an impressive 1,000 feet per second. Matt Parker, one of the designers, and co-owner of Parker Fabrication in Morton, Illinois reports that, at atmospheric pressures, the air chamber would hold 18,000 cubic feet of air, enough to fill a large four-bedroom house. What about the ballistics? Well, Matt observed, "[the pumpkin] is traveling 681 miles per hour when it leaves the tube, but it loses velocity quickly." According to PumpkinCapital.com, "The Q36 established a Guinness Book World Record in 1998 with a chuck of 4,491 feet, and in 2001 they shot a pumpkin 4,860 feet at the Morton Punkin Chuckin' Contest, which is still the current world record." At Morton's most recent Pumpkin Festival, held on 0ctober 23, 2006, the Q-36 took top honors again with a 3,367-foot launch.

Only in the USA!

Cheers

 

[torjusg]

That is extremely impressive! And very USA (though I have heard of some wierd pub-bets from the UK too).

 

[Tengu]

Wheres the link to this?

<Tengu hates pumpkins and feels this a useful use of them.>

 

[British Red]

There is nothing weird about hitchhiking round Ireland....with a fridge......

Well.....a bit

And he wrote a book about it too

Red

And yes, it was for a bet, a small one IIRC

 

[Batfink]

Didn't they do a Scrapheap Challenge special on this event? Gave the All-Stars team a couple of days to build their cannon - whereas everybody else has (quite literally) spent a whole year building them?

Yeap: http://www.channel4.com/4car/ontv/scrapheap/challenges/16_punkin_chunk/index.html

 

[Too Much Kit To Carry]

What to do with all those leftover Halloween pumpkin heads now that they are starting to sag?

Well fling them of course!

Just how far can a pumpkin be launched? Well the current world record is an astounding 4,860 feet, held by the Aludium Q-36 Pumpkin Modulator, an 18-ton air cannon stretching over 100 feet in length. The Q-36 achieves its amazing results using an 1800-gallon compressed air tank pressurized to a max 125 PSI, which drives the orange gourds through an 80-foot-long barrel. Muzzle velocity is an impressive 1,000 feet per second. Matt Parker, one of the designers, and co-owner of Parker Fabrication in Morton, Illinois reports that, at atmospheric pressures, the air chamber would hold 18,000 cubic feet of air, enough to fill a large four-bedroom house. What about the ballistics? Well, Matt observed, "[the pumpkin] is traveling 681 miles per hour when it leaves the tube, but it loses velocity quickly." According to PumpkinCapital.com, "The Q36 established a Guinness Book World Record in 1998 with a chuck of 4,491 feet, and in 2001 they shot a pumpkin 4,860 feet at the Morton Punkin Chuckin' Contest, which is still the current world record." At Morton's most recent Pumpkin Festival, held on 0ctober 23, 2006, the Q-36 took top honors again with a 3,367-foot launch.

Only in the USA!

Cheers

That's fantastic

Imagine having to go to hospital having been injured by a pumpkin that was launched best part of 5,000 feet away whislt lazing in the back yard - the doctors would be unable to do anything to help for laughing

Thanks for the post - cheered me up no end!

Phil.