Environmentally Friendly Rocket Bike.

I woke up laughing from a dream . . . the dream of a bicycle being momentarily boosted by  a number of water bottle rockets, using only recycled materials, ( or at least not buying anything new.)

This may seem at first seem like a silly idea but like all good projects I learned a lot, pondered a lot and, above all else, had fun on a bicycle at the same time.

I did not know if it would work but finding out was going to be rewarding and other people also enjoyed the spectacle of the rocket bike..

Think of this like the first car or the first powered flight . . . they were rubbish . . but these humble beginnings led to the supercars and the supersonic aeroplanes that we know today.

I started by making a plywood box that held 9 x 2 litre bottles . . . I planned to have 9 inner tube bungs all being pulled out of pre-charged bottles by a static line.

(See the first photo.)

Behold its majesty and, potentially, frightening watery power . . .  

I then realised that the inner-tube bungs that I use for normal bottle rockets were not up to the job because they always leaked a little bit.

It was at  this point that I realised this was a day wasted and that this would not be not as easy as I thought .
I began to research into a reliable delayed release system.
          

There are many different systems around but the one that I liked the one that used only a Jubilee clip, some old pipe and some zip ties;it is very elegant and I believe that it's conception is attributed to Dave Lowe but some sites say Ian Clark.

This site was very informative:

http://www.aircommandrockets.com/rocket_launcher.htm#_pullwire


The first picture is from this site.

Read on and it will be explained.

I needed a plumbing fitting.

My plumber friend gave me one but Asking for another 8 of them wasn't really an option.

If I ever get another 8 The dream will happen  but until then this is the first step.

Ok here is the fitting; it is  a compression fitting for 22mm pipe with and an end cap.

The pipe that is needed is 21.5mm - I had some handy because a cowboy plumber had used it in my boiler instead of 22mm and it leaked constantly; I asked the man who repaired it for the 21.5mm; who would have thought that it would be used for a major technological leap ?

So ;

Cut a valve from an inner tube.

Drill a hole in the end cap 7mm, just tight enough to allow the valve through.

Fit and tighten these parts together.

Fit this assembly onto the 21.5mm pipe.

Use a jubilee clip to loosely attach about 6 zip ties to the 21.5mm pipe.
See photos for the principle; the ties will be adjusted later.

The tops of the zips ties ' clip '  around the neck of the bottle and hold it in place until lhe launch.

It doesn't really matter where you use the jubilee clip along as when the pipe is inserted into the bottle that the zip tie ends are in the correct position to hold the bottle in place. ( see photos.)

this is another piece of pipe that you will need.

I don't know where I got it but it is the perfect length and diameter.

I will measure it later; it is about 34mm diameter.

This slides over the 21.5mm pipe and the zip ties; it holds them in place.

I used a 2 litre water bottle ( I couldn't wrestle the 3 litre White Lightning bottle off the guy in the park ).

The bottle should be a third filled with water (champagne gives slightly more lift , (except the 73 vintage; a terrible year for rockets)).

The cap has to be drilled out with a 22mm bit.

An o-ring is needed to seal the cap; anything around the 22mm size seems to do the job.


Ok Baby, the bottle is pushed onto to the 21.5mm pipe.

Adjust everything until the zip ties are in line with the neck lip of the bottle.

Now push the wider diameter pipe over the zip tie end ; this locks them in place all rosy like.

For convenience I attached everything to a plank.

But I also added a little split block with a 22mm hole in it for the 21.5mm pipe.

This holds everything in place and also stops the pipe assembly being thrown into the face of an  litigious bystander.

The trigger was just a length of , actually I am not sure what, but anything strong, long and light will do.
This was taped to the trigger pipe.

It's probably better to go to the video on the first page for the end result but here are some stills.


That's one spurt  for man but one giant gush for mankind.

Its been absorbing and fun.


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Thank you