67 lines
3.3 KiB
Plaintext
67 lines
3.3 KiB
Plaintext
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Placed in the public domain from the VANGARD SCIENCES archives on
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September 8, 1989. Our mailing address is PO BOX 1031, Mesquite, TX
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75150. Voice phone (Jerry 214-324-8741...Ron 214-484-3189
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KeelyNet (214) 324-3501
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The Vortex Gun
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Dr. Phillips Thomas, research engineer of the Westinghouse Electric &
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Manufacturing Company, picked up what appeared to be a small copper and
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brass drum with an aperture some two inches in diameter in its head. By
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means of a tubular peep sight affixed to the top of the drum, he aimed
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the aperture at one of a row of lighted candles about ten feet away, and
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then tapped the back of the drum with a rubber hammer.
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Instantly the candle was extinguished. He repeated the performance
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half a dozen times, and each time the striking of the metal drum was
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followed by the extinguishing of a candle. He pointed the aperture at a
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gong, tapped the drum, and the gong rang. In each case, it was as
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though an unseen projectile had been fired from the strange device.
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These seemingly miraculous feats were accomplished by an invisible
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ring of air, a smoke ring without the smoke, shot from the aperture by
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the force with which Dr. Thomas struck the back of the drum. Called a
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VORTEX GUN (remember the WHIRLWIND CANNONS of the Germans during
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WWII...Vangard), and designed on the basis of elaborate mathematical
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calculations by Westhinghouse scientists, this device embodies the first
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practical application of the well-known principle of vortex motion.
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Good examples of this motion are the common smoke ring which almost
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all smokers can blow, and the funnel-shaped twister cloud familiar to
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anyone who has lived in the tornado and cyclone belts of the Middle
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West.
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The twister, however, is ONLY HALF OF A VORTEX, it moves only if a
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wind is blowing, and always travels at right angles to the ground.
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A smoke ring, which is a true VORTEX RING, will move in any
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direction, according to the initial impulse, and owing to the vortex
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motion, the smoke will remain in the ring as long as it is moving.
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THE MORE RAPID THE MOTION, THE FARTHER THE RING WILL GO BEFORE
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BREAKING UP.
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The rings or miniature whirlwinds shot from the vortex gun conform to
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the behavior pattern of the smoke ring as blown from the mouth. Their
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size and velocity, and the distance traveled, depend upon the dimensions
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of the gun and the force with which it is struck. They are always
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invisible unless smoke or some other visible substance is put into the
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gun.
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Westhinghouse engineers have constructed experimental vortex guns in
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two sizes. The hand model, demonstrated by Dr. Thomas as part of the
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equipment of a traveling laboratory with which he has been touring the
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country, is about eight inches in diameter.
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It shoots a vortex ring with a diameter of from two to three inches.
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which travels at a speed of 20 feet per second. The ring carries so
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much force that the impact can be felt at about 25 feet.
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Popular Science - August - 1942
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