How Disney Designed The Military's Electromagnetic Launch System
 

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I'd call it a stretch to say they helped design it.. I have been selling linear motors for over 15 years and the technology has been around for quite a while.. Fun stuff however

Is this the same thing?.... <object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/euLsg_viWW0?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/euLsg_viWW0?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>

Yes pretty much, no magic there.. two types of linear motors, iron and ironless core..

how about this... <object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/XRUqx8EOa2U?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/XRUqx8EOa2U?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>

Disney has some pretty cutting edge technology. The airlift system for air launching fireworks is really, really amazing. It fills several hundred Kevlar wrapped PVC-type tubes in a few seconds. The system knows how many mill-secs it takes to load each one and if it fills outside of the parameter it logs an exception report. Same for dP/dT on discharge of each tube, to measure stuck release valves.

Initially to test the prototype concept they took plastic balls, put cheap kids walki talkies in them with the talk button taped down and blasted a white noise upwards and listened to the doppler shift from the projectile to calculate acceleration. Many Disney Imaginners graduated from MIT, Cal Tech, etc. One of our top ride designers is a good friend of mine and is having dinner at our house tomorrow.

Dont' get my wrong guys,, I"ve worked with Disney on some pretty cool stuff,,, just that linear motors are becoming pretty common place in industry these days...

The 1968 Encyclopaedia Britannica our family owned had linear motors listed as a type of train and hovercraft propulsion. That last part is still misleading to this day.