Gizmodo: Catapult

AirKick Human Catapult Sends Your Flailing Body 26 Feet Into the Air

Adam Frucci — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 10:45:00 EDT

We've seen before how fun getting launched in the air over a body of water can be. Now we have another way to do it: the AirKick Human Water Catapult.

Powered by air and water, the AirKick launches people over 26 feet in the air and into either a pool or a foam pit. Creator Jochen Schweizer explains it thusly:

It propels participants through the air in a pre-calculated parabolic trajectory using a special combination of air pressure and water recoil technology. Approximately 60 Liters of water are then forced through a rocket nozzle under the seat. This pressurized water (8 to 10 bar of air pressure) propels the participant 8 meters though the air for a cool and refreshing splash down in a swimming pool.

It's available to rent in Germany. There are no words to describe how badly I want to use this thing. Sigh. [AirKick via Baller House]

Thirty-Foot Trebuchet Fires Chicken Poop at Potential Thieves

AddyDugdale — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 11:15:23 EST

A businessman in the UK has come up with a novel way to deal with potential thieves: firing chickenshit at them from a 30-foot catapult. Joe Watson-Webb, a retired showman, had the iron trebuchet left over from his days as a showman, and gets his avian ammo from the farm next door. Local cops have said that they will prosecute Watson-Webb if he uses the catapult to defend his property against arsonists and robbers—but what would they think about the other weapon he has up his sleeve? Watson-Webb is also the proud owner of a 20-foot-long cannon, out of which he used to fire his wife!

He's modded it to shoot rubber-tipped railway sleepers at criminals. And in spite of the police's stance, the 70-year-old is standing firm. "I'm not out to kill anyone or even hurt them," he says. "I just want to keep yobs off my land."
Signs up at the entrance to Watson-Webb's flooring business warn of the fate that will befall anyone who attempts to get onto the Nottinghamshire property. SmartPoo, it seems, is no laughing matter. "This is a serious issue. People all over Britain are sick and tired of feeling like prisoners in their own homes and seeing yobs get away with it."
After trying just about every security product on the market—fencing, motion-sensor lights and CCTV cameras—the 70-year-old is unrepentant, and has pooh-poohed the attitude of the law. "Maybe the police think I'm joking, but the only people laughing are the criminals. That's why I fully intend to take the law into my own hands." [Daily Mail]

Mini Catapult and Trebuchet Kits

gizmodo.com — Thu, 13 Apr 2006 18:29:34 EDT

One of our favorite episodes of Junkyard Wars was the pumpkin-flinging catapult competition so when we saw these functional mini catapult and trebuchet kits we briefly but immediately wished we lived somewhere with a yard big enough to use them—the catapult can hurl things ten feet and the trebuchet twenty, so they wouldn't be much fun in a New York apartment unless you live in an industrial loft or don't mind potentially breaking all your stuff.

The catapult will set you back $19.99 and the trebuchet costs ten bucks more; if you get one or both, send us photos of the mayhem, we like to live vicariously through our readers. In the meantime maybe we'll just get a Monty Python Cow Catapult for fun around Gizmodo HQ.

Catapult and Trebuchet Kits [ThinkGeek, via Uncrate]