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Disney Launches Fireworks With Compressed Air
Posted by
simoniker
on Mon Jun 28, 2004 03:46 PM
from the zoom-zoom dept.
from the zoom-zoom dept.
rtphokie writes "When Disney debuted its new firework show at Disneyland recently, they also debuted some new technology which uses compressed air to lift fireworks. This virtually eliminates the need for smoke-producing black powder and other materials at launch, significantly reducing ground-level smoke, and apparently: 'Disney is in the process of donating all seven patents associated with the new air launch technology to a non-profit organization so these patents can be licensed to other pyrotechnic providers'. Something to think about for those of us attending fireworks shows this weekend in the U.S."
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Disney Launches Fireworks With Compressed Air
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because rockets are only used by terrorists... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:because rockets are only used by terrorists... (Score:5, Funny)
Wedding Celebrations (Score:5, Funny)
(http://communitycolor.com/ | Last Journal: Monday November 19, @12:08AM)
Re:because rockets are only used by terrorists... (Score:5, Insightful)
I know this is meant to be funny, but I would think anyone making a rocket propelled weapon wouldn't really care whether the propellent was black-powder based or air-based as long as it gets its payload to target.
Actually, the U.S. military has a preference for non-flamable launch/propellent technologies because it's safer for the troops who're fireing the rockets. Basically a flamable propellant adds little or nothing to the damage to the target, but if the ammo store is hit, it adds quite a lot to the destruction of the ammo store.
TW
Re:because rockets are only used by terrorists... (Score:5, Informative)
(Last Journal: Tuesday November 26 2002, @07:28PM)
And the Iowa-class battleships had 16" guns, not 21", firing projectiles ranging from 1900 to 2700 pounds propelled by 550 to 650 pounds of powder. The largest deployed naval guns were on the Japanese Yamato-class battleships, and were 18.1" bore diameter.
They are impressive, though.
Re:because rockets are only used by terrorists... (Score:5, Informative)
(http://www.rawb.org)
Although fire is a big risk, you are all (hopefully) shooting with the same gear on as a low-budget fire department, so the odds of you catching on fire are pretty slim. The entire time you are shooting (if it's a hand-fire), you are being rained on by burning embers (barring good winds)
It's the concussion of the charge that will get you. Whenever you are loading or handling fireworks, you always keep your back to an open area, so if something happens you get thrown away instead of thrown into something solid. The buildings that they build fireworks in will blow to pieces much easier than any normal building so that anyone inside doesn't get compressed by all that pesky expanding gas.
I've only done around a dozen shoots, and am not a licenced pyrotechnician, but on two of the shoots we have had misfires. One was one of my tubes on a hand-fire, and fortunately blew out the other side of the rack (it was my first shoot). The second misfire was on a finale so everyone was quite a ways away, we didn't even really realize what happened until we were cleaning up and found a 2-by-4 twenty yards or so away and a half of a rack with a pretty much destroyed tube. Fireworks are fun.
Not true about the propellant (Score:5, Interesting)
Falklands Island war between the UK and Argentina - the Sheffield was sunk by an Exocet SSM whose explosive payload did not detonate. The damage (and subsequent sinking) was caused by the rocket fuel.
Re:because rockets are only used by terrorists... (Score:5, Interesting)
Disney is in the process of donating all seven patents associated with the new air launch technology to a non-profit organization so these patents can be licensed to other pyrotechnic providers'.
Its nice to see a company using patents correctly, and donating them to an organization who oversees the pyrotechnic industry.
Re:because rockets are only used by terrorists... (Score:4, Interesting)
(http://www.cursor.org/)
But then a company like that goes and does something like this... creates an actually clever twist on an old piece of technology, and then gives it away for free. And I also remember how they took on, not too long ago, the Christian Coalition and its ilk in order to provide domestic partner benefits....
It all leaves one conflicted; are they evil or are they not?
Re:because rockets are only used by terrorists... (Score:5, Funny)
(Last Journal: Thursday May 24 2007, @01:08AM)
Re:because rockets are only used by terrorists... (Score:4, Insightful)
(http://www.alsa.org/ | Last Journal: Tuesday September 27 2005, @09:02PM)
You should donate what's left of your spinal column to medical science after your first test launch...
Will only supplement normal launch methods (Score:5, Informative)
(http://www.kenpurcell.com/)
They have a large several hundred horsepower air compressor at each air launch system for the lifting oumph. No nitrogen involved as it is too expensive to use in the quantities required.
The shells are plastic encased shells that are a little enlongated (not sperical like normal shells, think eggish). Inside each shell is a little electronic circuit and electric match. The circuit is engergized by a inductive coil in the base of the fiberglass launch tube. The circuit doesn't use altitude per se but a timed interval instructed in the coding pulse at the launch event.
The bulk of the show will still be fired normally as they have lots of ground level effects and lots of smaller shells that would be too numerous to fire in the air launch system unless they have made great strides in its firing rate. I shot many a show that had 100 of 3 and 4 inch shells going up per second.
Still plenty of smoke to be smelled around the lake in Epcot.
Ken
Re:Will only supplement normal launch methods (Score:4, Informative)
I don't know if Disney uses nitrogen or not, but it is possible to generate compressed nitrogen in fairly large quantities. My step-dad works on a natural gas drilling rig. When they hit a gas pocket they switch from compressed air drilling to nitrogen drilling to reduce the risk of a down-hole fire. They do this with a special compressor that outputs 98%+ pure nitrogen gas at more than 3000 CFM at several hundred PSI.
The mighty Thor (Score:5, Funny)
Fireworks with no cannon?? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Fireworks with no cannon?? (Score:5, Funny)
"What's the fun in fireworks if there's no boom when they're shot?"
The celebration of freedom will now instead contain the Looney Tunes sound of "FWOOMP!"
Which tragicomically seems a good fit, given the world today.
Re:Fireworks with no cannon?? (Score:4, Funny)
""FWOOMP!" isn't a bad sound. Gernade lauchers make a FWOOMP sound when fired."
I guess good/bad depends on which side of the FWOOMP you're on then, eh? :-)
Re:Fireworks with no cannon?? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Fireworks with no cannon?? (Score:4, Informative)
As Ivanova says . . . (Score:4, Funny)
(Last Journal: Thursday April 28 2005, @11:53AM)
not fun anymore (Score:5, Funny)
(http://slashdot.org/)
Re:not fun anymore (Score:5, Funny)
(http://matt.waggoner.com/ | Last Journal: Tuesday February 17 2004, @02:03PM)
If It's Monday... (Score:5, Funny)
Kinda ruins the fun. (Score:5, Interesting)
Fireworks with no gunpowder smell? With no black snow falling? I have so many memories of watching the fireworks over the lake in Epcot, the clouds of smoke only visible when the fireworks explode and light up the sky.
Sounds like something I could just watch on my computer or TV, if I wanted. I'll pass. It was bad enough that they had to take away Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, now they're robbing of me of smoke filled fireworks.
Re:Kinda ruins the fun. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Kinda ruins the fun. (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://mypuppet.net/ | Last Journal: Monday June 23 2003, @01:58PM)
Disney? (Score:5, Funny)
(http://umsis.miami.edu/~raycock)
explosions? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:explosions? (Score:5, Informative)
(http://www.hyperlogos.org/ | Last Journal: Wednesday July 18, @08:19PM)
If they are using nitrogen, it's a non-issue.
From what I understand the fireworks are self-igniting based on input from some onboard logic so it's not like you have to worry about blowing them out - I'd use nitrogen gas.
Having self-igniting fireworks is potentially very cool, especially if you could get a nice cheap altimeter on a chip. If you coupled that with an accelerometer on a chip (analog devices makes a couple of different models) you could detect launch, free fall, terminal velocity, and make sure that the fireworks are over a certain altitude before firing.
Re:explosions? (Score:4, Informative)
(Last Journal: Wednesday March 15 2006, @04:00PM)
Wait a sec!!! (Score:5, Funny)
(http://chrisgonyea.com/)
Re:Wait a sec!!! (Score:5, Funny)
(http://www.pokerblogger.com/)
I Wonder... (Score:5, Interesting)
Hmmm... (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://www.slashdot.org/~lukewarmfusion/journal/ | Last Journal: Tuesday August 02 2005, @02:49PM)
How FireWorks Work (Score:5, Informative)
Tax Scam (Score:5, Insightful)
(Last Journal: Saturday June 30, @01:22AM)
Patent them and donate the patents to a non-profit, and you get a huge tax write off based on the assumed commercial value of the patents.
Disney isn't really doing anyone any favors here, they patent the common potato cannon and then donate the patents to a non-profit for the tax write off.
Re:Tax Scam (Score:5, Insightful)
2) If they did NOT patent them, someone else could try to patent them and we would have to try and proove Disney's "Prior art".
I think Disney did a good thing here, not a greedy one.
Re:Tax Scam (Score:5, Insightful)
Then again, I'm probably just a shill for Disney, so ignore me.
Re:Tax Scam (Score:4, Informative)
Bah!!! (Score:5, Funny)
(http://www.fantasticdamage.com/)
Re:Bah!!! (Score:5, Interesting)
(http://www.leibman.net/)
Are you refering to Mulan? If so, Disney didn't edit it, they pretty much wrote a new work *loosely* based on the original poem (which I've read in what I'm told is a good translation into Esperanto). I found particularly funny one line in the poems that mentions Mulan leaving "little brother" behind, in the Disney movie that's her dog's name.
Still, all in all, it's probably one of my favorite Disney movies, its heroic, has a good message (particularly for little girls: you can do anything a man can do) and balances well a G rating with the harshness of war (that scene when they go into the recently hun-plundered village makes me gasp every time).
Re:Bah!!! (Score:5, Interesting)
See this page [kimbawlion.com] for more details about this.
To my knowledge, Mulan is 'in the clear' copyright wise, but The Lion King is obviously in violation.
Someone has to say it (Score:5, Funny)
(http://geexology.org/ | Last Journal: Tuesday October 11 2005, @07:25PM)
Disney does something environmentally sensitive... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Disney does something environmentally sensitive (Score:5, Informative)
(Last Journal: Friday May 27 2005, @05:33PM)
People like Mike Hiskey at Los Alamos have been contracted by Disney to make fireworks that are based on organic molecules, and use smaller amounts of chemical salts for the color. He also works on high-nitrogen explosives, along with several others working in the specialized field of novel explosives design and synthesis.
Safety (Score:4, Insightful)
(http://www.awesomeplay.com/ | Last Journal: Thursday November 10 2005, @04:51PM)
Re:Safety (Score:5, Informative)
Colors in smoke... (Score:4, Interesting)
The cloud that's created from launch turns into the color of the current firework going off. It just adds to the experience. So does the smell of the gunpowder. I guess that's why laser shows bore me.
I also hate the crowds at firework shows. That's another rant.
4th of July (Score:4, Funny)
It'll reduce Bottle Rocket wars down to an aiming contest. Instead of a crap-shoot on wether or not you'll escape with your hands intact.
In other news.. (Score:5, Funny)
Posted by BREAL69 on Monday June 28, @1:06PM
From the ba-da-bing dept.
breal writes "When SCO deputed its new CD-Delivering service, they also deputed some new technology which uses compressed methane to launch CDs to potential customers. Darl McBride reports that it significantly reduces the cost of their distribution. We're able to use employees and users alike to deliver our product! SCO also says it has patented the technology, which they call "Gas on DEMAND" which they plan on donating the patents to many non-profit organizations.'"
Looks like something at SCO smells fishy again.
HOTT DAMN!!! (Score:5, Funny)
(http://members.cox.net/mayorgusmccheese)
I have heard quite a bit about this at work (Score:4, Interesting)
(http://www.mikesingletary.net/)
Another reason why this is a good idea (Score:4, Interesting)
It rained on the day of the 4th, and apparently some of the powder in the launch tubes got wet. Quite a few of the fireworks went off at lower altitudes than intended. One particular launch went up about ten feet, came back down, lit on the ground of the launch site, paused a moment (during which the launch crew scattered), then went off on the ground. A couple seconds later, several more tubes launched. I don't know if the crew launched them, or the "extreme-low-altitude" firework did.
Obviously, launching with compressed air is immune to this problem...
Local Firework Company (Score:3, Interesting)
(http://members.surfeu.fi/kklaine/primebear.html | Last Journal: Tuesday March 15 2005, @01:16PM)
As an aside, the Bartolotta's do the Big Bang in Milwaukee each year, at the start of Summerfest. [summerfest.com] This year there were an average of 6000 fireworks set off each minute for well over 20 minutes. It's impressive. I grew up about 3 miles from the Bartolotta grounds, where they would occasionally test fireworks. Pretty neat seeing fireworks in the middle of the winter.
Used to have a boss who work with this (Score:3, Interesting)
(http://127.0.0.1/default.htm)
He had some wooden balls that were used as test projectiles for the launching mechanism, and would amuse us with stories of how they'd have to seek cover for when the balls would return. A lot of his effort went into making sure that the communication between the launch tube and the projectiles was correct (apparently, the chip inside the projectile had to be told to stop listening for a few milliseconds during launch or it would see some false signals)
Safety First (Score:4, Insightful)
(http://www.gotsheep.com/ | Last Journal: Wednesday August 13 2003, @11:49PM)
Using any form of explosive to launch this is dangerous. The tubes must withstand the tremendous launch pressure. There is also the severe risk of burning ashes falling back into the cylinder complex and igniting a shell from the top down- at which point you have a buring bomb waiting for the heat to fry the launch charge.
Modern shows alleviate nearly all of these problems... but I've still witnessed a number of accidents- the most memorable (for me) was when an ash fell into a mortar array atop the Citibank tower in Indianapolis- the entire rooftop 'lit up'. Someone was severely burned, and (I believe) lived... burned over a good portion of his body.
Non-flammable launches won't eliminate (I'm going to miss the downwind smell, sigh) misfires in the tubes, but they should lower the risk during launch. It won't eliminate (or even affect) an ash falling into a shell, but at least you have less explosive contained in a small space waiting to go off.
Just my opinion, of course.
Thank you, Disney.
You haven't seen fireworks (Score:3, Interesting)
(http://members.lycos.co.uk/rsallan/)
I wish we had more holidays like Earth Day- where people are encouraged to participate. Modern life in the US has sort of lost the old idea of holidays- where you'd interact with a community, at the very least building relationships.
How helpful are the UN's "Special Days"? [un.org]
My dad built original Dland fireworks computer (Score:5, Interesting)
Before that, a man named Mickey (i'm not making this up, the guy's name was Mickey) physcially ran around and attempted (pretty well, from what i hear) and manually lit the fireworks to coincide with the music. Eventually, he started using electrically fired squibs. My dad's system allowed folks to pre-program sequences to launch with electrically fired squibs that would be in time with the music.
Since you didn't run to Fry's in the mid 80's to pick up a Pentium III to run Star Tours ride control (actually, Star Tours runs on a 486 for its ride control, with one redundant computer for each simulator), a ton of the hardware for ride control, gate counters, etc. have all be built by hand by the Disneyland Sound department and WED.
Many of the rides at Disneyland have my dad's name on the circuit boards in them.
Just about every system, even to this day - are Z80 based. Its simple, its cheap, and they are bulletproof.
Some of the Disneyland items he's made...
- Invented/installed the fireflys in Pirates of the Carribean
- Came up with putting the green-eyed rats at the end of Pirates as you go up back to ground level. We have a bunch of them at home and put them in windows and under the Christmas tree
- Invented the light flicker-ers that have been used at Dland for almost 30 years to make plain lightbulbs in opaque houseings look like they are flame
- Real-time population counter for Disneyland. Even went to the president's office and installed the LED display on his desk (prior to the popularization of "computer networks")
- Completed the transition of all of Disneyland's audio and attraction control tapes to solid-state ROMs for playback. They used to have rooms FULL of huge tape bins with 1" wide magtapes that would spool into a big 1" x 40" x 20" bins and be one big long lopp track - literally. This took a long time becuase back in the early 90's when they did it, they needed to send out the tapes to special subcontractors that could digitize it.
Its neet to see Disneyland, and how its starting to come back a bit after the 90's trashing by Eisner (ptooey!) now that he's been emasculated a bit. Things are getting better, and he's still making all kinds of neat stuff.
I need to get to Disneyland more often now.. i haven' been in years.. and i used to go 3 times a month when i was a kid.
Re:My dad built original Dland fireworks computer (Score:5, Informative)
- Invented/installed the fireflys in Pirates of the Carribean
- Came up with putting the green-eyed rats at the end of Pirates as you go up back to ground level. We have a bunch of them at home and put them in windows and under the Christmas tree
- Invented the light flicker-ers that have been used at Dland for almost 30 years to make plain lightbulbs in opaque houseings look like they are flame
Tell your dad he's my new hero for today. Those three things are, no joke, three specific details that my brother and I were discussing a few months ago when we were talking about the old-school Disneyland detail.
I are a pyrotechnician (Score:5, Insightful)
Then there is the safety problems, thy don't say how they ignite the time fuze and verify it's burning before a tubeload of rapidly decompressing, cooling air hits the shell. I would like to see some dud data.
For a recurring display where you can leave the equiptment and just drop shells in the same tubes every night or week, this sounds like a dream though. I just can't see it coming to a municipal 4th of july show near you any time soon though.
Didn't read the article... (Score:3, Informative)
(http://www.phoenixgarage.org/)
Something people here seem to be wondering is how this system will compare in safety of preventing ground explosions of the shells (in the event of a misfire or other mishap).
Something that I hope a lot of you know about is that the shells used in many displays are becoming very sophisticated. For a couple of years now they have had microcontrollers and other electronics in the shells, which can be programmed to cause the shells to do various effects (almost to the point of a custom effect shell). Some of these effects allow for timed designs - if the shell goes off right, you now have an expanding circle of "pixels" - so of you may have seen happy faces and hearts and similar designs done with shells. The microcontrollers can be programmed right before the launch to know when to explode (time or altitude based). I wouldn't be surprised if they don't have RF-based (hopefully over a secure encrypted channel) detonation. Perhaps even in-flight reconfiguration?
Fireworks have recently become really high-tech, thanks to virtually throwaway low-power microcontrollers which are small and easily integratable into the shell. While none of this removes the possibility of a ground explosion, it does help lessen it (electrical ignition rather than timed fuse), and allows for more impressive effects and displays...
Disney-fied Fireworks -- No Thanks! (Score:3, Insightful)
I've been to most every display on The Mall in Washington, DC for over 20 years. For July 4, 1986, I went to the Statue of Liberty centennial in NY, which was the most fantastic and outrageous display I've ever seen (they somehow removed ALL the cars in lower Manhattan to accommodate the crowds); it was surreal.
I highly recommend seeing a display close up. On The Mall in DC, I love to get as close as possible to the launch site near 17th Street. The experience of HEARING each launch, and the anticipation of seeing the shell rise above you before exploding in all its glory is FANTASTIC. You know when they're coming, and have some idea of how big they will be. It's much different than watching from far away, there's no delay between the flash and the bang--and you FEEL the big bangs. There's also all kinds of sizzling, screaming, and crackling that you don't here from far away. Most of the ground level smoke comes from personal sparklers, firecrackers, and such (I expect that these things are prohibited in the magic--and antiseptic--kingdom); smoke from the official display is not a problem.
The best place to see the fireworks on The Mall in DC would be from the Washington Monument grounds, but this area is mobbed with people from early in the day. Better to go just before Showtime to the much calmer and uncrowded Constitution Gardens (enter near 20th and Constitution Ave.). People think that the trees here will obstruct the view, but they don't, because most all of the fireworks will be STRAIT UP. They don't allow people to get TOO close, but you may see the rare bit of shell fragment or ash falling, don't be alarmed as they will burn out before getting to the ground. However, please do PAY ATTENTION to what's going on around you if you're out anywhere on the Fourth.
Fireworks would not be the same with some sissy air launcher. This cleaned-up fireworks technology might be appropriate in Disneyland, but I really hope that it stays there.
Disney, home of inconsistencies. (Score:3, Interesting)
"We're a multi-billion dollar conglomerate buying up controlling interest in virtually every market."
"Watch 'Home on the Range,' a movie about small time businessmen getting ground under by the heel of evil corporations."
"We oppose the flow of information and ideas through copyrights expiring. 75 years isn't long enough!"
"We just made some revolutionary technology. Here, have it for free."
What corporate schizophrenia is going on here?
Terrific News... now, get rid of the shells too (Score:3, Insightful)
(Last Journal: Thursday November 28 2002, @09:21AM)
Everytime you watch a fireworks display, you are watching tonnes of heavy-metal and radioactive [angelfire.com] materials being peppered on your community. Making the evening not as wonderfull as Id like.
But, tell me, how is a prudent environmentalist to come out against fireworks? What will the public think about the environmentalists who want to take something generally considered joyfull and request its abolition?
on a more practical note, people need to be aware... we are capable of putting *some* amount of 'pollution' into our environment, but a wise person would not want to see so much that it adversly affects our (and nature's) health. If everyone decided "yes, we will release x,y and z of quatities a,b and c for this display and instead will stop buying/making/behaving in manner T" The trouble is we are not near this level of organization/understanding in the will of the public. Like most environmental issues that the public is directly connected to (consumption) they dont A) care or B) recognize their very real contribution to our looming problems.
So, who wants to martyr themeselves on the Anti-Fireworks Brigade?