Inventor Creates Flotation Device Bazooka

Australian inventor Sam Adeloju has won the £20,000 ($32,000) James Dyson Award for inventing the coolest piece of life-saving equipment ever. The Longreach is a modified bazooka which can fire an expanding flotation device up to 150m to a person in distress. From the article: "Mr Adeloju told NEWS.com.au that the Longreach was inspired by a grenade-launch training session with the Army Reserves. Weighing just 3.5kg, it shoots the rescue device 150m in a manner similar to the way the army uses a grenade launcher to deliver flares and aerial observation devices. Hitting the water activates an expanding foam unit in the Longreach rescue unit, which also incorporates LED illumination and a vortex air whistle."

Comments

Projectile?

[Reilaos]

"Hitting the water activates an expanding foam unit..."

What about hitting a drowning human?

Re:Projectile?

[rubycodez]

you'll be delighted to know that the impacted human will not have drowning as their cause of death

Re:Projectile?

[Farmer Tim]

What about hitting a drowning human?

Not as easy as hitting the water, but worth more points.

Re:Projectile?

[fahrbot-bot]

What about hitting a drowning human?

Oh, it's not so hard. You just don't lead them as much.
- Gunner, Full Metal Jacket

Re:Projectile?

[Migraineman]

When the first one hits the water and inflates, you can use it as a shield.

Sailor1:"Damn, I missed."
Sailor2:"Shoot him again."
Sailor1:"This isn't a video game, I'm trying to save the guy."
Sailor2:"You'd better hurry, he's gonna camp behind the first one."
Sailor1: *foomp*

Er..

[iONiUM]

So uh, what happens when your aim is a little too good, and you beam someone in the water with this 3.5kg thing? It's hard to swim when you're unconscious..

Re:Er..

[Faatal]

Probably takes some training to be good at shooting it accurately. For example I worked as a lifeguard for several summers when I was in high school. When we threw rescue tubes (those red foam things), we were taught to always overthrow the target and then pull the tube back toward the victim so they can latch on easily.

Re:Er..

[loafula]

If I'd have to make a wager, I'd say the risk of hitting a person in the head with the projectile is much less than the risk of that person having to swim 150m through rough seas to get to a raft dropped off the side of a boat.

Up to 150m you say?

[blair1q]

So someone 60m from the boat will only have to swim another 90m away from the boat to get their floatie, when the jackass firing the thing misreads the directions.

And then there's the chance someone will just toss the whole unit into the drink, thinking it's the flotation device.

Here's my invention: in situations where people are likely to go overboard, require them to wear flotation vests.

Re:Up to 150m you say?

[aquila.solo]

See, the problem with your invention is that it doesn't involve shooting a floaty-grenade launcher. Back to the drawing board with you!

;-)

Re:Up to 150m you say?

[srussia]

Actually, current safety gear for a motorcycle, if worn by the driver can walk away with only minor bruises from a 100mph crash. Unfortunately most Motorcycle riders are too stupid to buy and use said gear.

This "safety gear" you refer to is called a "car".

Scrubs, anyone?

[Dan Dankleton]

A floatation device bazooka sounds like something that The Janitor from Scrubs would create

200 year old technology

[vlm]

That tech is about 200 years old. No kidding. 1st documented rescue rocket rescue 18 February 1808.

http://members.iinet.net.au/~dodd/gail/publications/trengrouse/Essay.html

Re:200 year old technology

[Ihmhi]

Is that website 200 years old as well?

Boom. Headshot.

[Drakkenmensch]

A bazooka that saves lives by shooting people in the face. Safety has never been so cool!

If you have quad damage

[Ukab the Great]

Do you save four times as many people?

Re:If you have quad damage

[tacarat]

Of course, but you do have to be mindful of splash damage.

Re:Beach balls at sporting events?

[smooth wombat]

and say "oops, my aim was off" when the fan gets smashed in the face by the deflated projectile. Cool, huh?

Just ask Maude Flanders how cool that is.

150m isn't that far

[dondelelcaro]

Assuming this is designed for use on large ships where MOB is a distinct problem (consider how difficult it is to stop and turn around an aircraft carrier or container ship), at 20 knots, you'd have to notice the man overboard and fire the device within 15 seconds. At a carrier's max speed of 35 knots, you have less than 9 seconds. While it's certainly an improvement over hand thrown projectiles, it doesn't have enough distance to handle likely scenarios.

echo -e '150 m / 20 knots\ns'|units -t1 if you want to play with the conversion yourself.

Re:150m isn't that far

[Man Eating Duck]

Most ships wouldn't turn.

I was sonar operator on a frigate when in the navy. We sonar guys had a secondary role as crew of the dinghy. In a MOB situation we would get into survival suits and launch immediately, while the ship turned and cut engines after doing 180 degrees, ending up in roughly the same area as the man went overboard. Our target time was four minutes from MOB alarm until the man was safely aboard the dinghy. In realistic unannounced exercises we usually beat that time by a few seconds.

We didn't have a chopper, but we were told that most ships would follow this procedure anyway, simply because more eyeballs is better if the unlucky man isn't found immediately and a search is necessary. In addition the return is shorter for the dinghy, which is good when you have a freezing crew member on board.

On a side note a buddy of mine was stationed on a submarine. A popular prank whenever they got fresh crew on board was to sound a MOB alarm, then command one of the noobs to don a diving suit and exit via a torpedo tube to search for the victim. They got every reaction from "Stop shitting with me" to frantic fumbling with diving suits and tube doors :)

Re:150m isn't that far

[qc_dk]

I've a reasonable fraction of my life along the northwestern coast of Denmark, which has some very tricky beaches. The most dangerous places can be those without waves, especially if it's windy. An area with no waves in strong winds is a sign of very strong undertows. The locals learn to read the waves, but tourist think "what a lovely calm piece of water, I'll swim there". They then get dragged out to sea, and even the strongest swimmers can't fight the currents. Many drown not from being overwhelmed by waves but from exhaustion fighting the currents. A flotation device would be perfect in those cases. They'll be able to keep themselves afloat and much easier to spot and retrieve by boat or helicopter, because there is no way anyone sane would be swimming out after them.

Other Fun Uses

[davegravy]

Am I evil for thinking this would fun to shoot into the open windows of passing cars that play tasteless music too loudly?

Re:It needs...

[Obfuscant]

Generally laser target designators use infrared wavelengths.

Infrared lasers can blind you, too, and since you can't see the infrared you don't have the normal blink reflex to protect you.

Apparently this is a problem with some (many) of the newer green laser pointers that operate by doubling an IR laser to get to green.