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Web Shooter

Web Shooter for Spidey-sports
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The web shooter will be made u of three parts, the canister, the webbing and the mechanism.

The Canister
The canister will be a cylindrical pressurised caninster of 15 cm in length, and 3 cm in diameter. This canister will have a total volume of 70.65 cm3. The valve for letting out the webbing is on the top.

The Webbing
The webbing will be inside the cannister. It will be one continuous length of cord, the same thickness as a shoelace, for porper dress shoes. The webbing is impregnated with tiny microscopic hairs, which can grip onto different material, even metal, similar to the way that flies grip on to theceiling using their tiny haired legs.

The Mechanism
The machanism will consist of an arm attachment that will velcro-strap on to the inside of your lower arm. There is a brace for the canister, and when the canister is loaded, the valve is align with the corresponding arm attachment valve. To release the webbing, the arm attachment valve must be activiated. This is simple and easy to do. By cocking your wrist, so that you hand is at 90 degrees to the outside of your arm, your wrist will apply pressure to the arm attachment valve, thus opening it, and allowing the webbing to shoot out of the pressurised canister. To close the valve, just uncock your wrist, and the webbing will be cut, and the valve closed.

For all your spidey-sport needs.

[ sctld ], Feb 09 2002

Spidey-sports http://www.halfbake.../idea/Spidey-Sports
What the Web Shooter was designed for [[ sctld ], Feb 09 2002]

spiderman doing what he does best http://www.spideydude.com/spider24.jpg
...does whatever a spider can... [mihali, Feb 11 2002]

[link]






       If you followed all the steps above correctly you should now have shoelaces dangling from your wrists.   

       This will enable the nice men in white coats with the bright yellow van to tie your arms safely out of harms way while they wipe the drool from your mouth.   

       [sorry [ sctld ] you knew this would happen - you might not have expected it from me but you knew it would.]   

       croissant, though, it made me laugh, and you do need to keep up your strength.
st3f, Feb 09 2002
  

       Sh*t, i forgot to add the detail for the webbing. I have updated the idea
[ sctld ], Feb 09 2002
  

       Now you have porper shoestrings dangling from your wrists...Flies manage to walk on things because they weigh so little. A hairy shoestring, even a porper one, isn't going to manage probably even its own weight, let alone an aspiring wallcrawler. It might manage to get the string out, but it's most likely to make a rude noise and pile it on your feet.
StarChaser, Feb 09 2002
  

       flies have hairy sticky feet and as Star says they weigh very little
po, Feb 09 2002
  

       I believe flies have 6, bm22
po, Feb 09 2002
  

       twenty two...-TWENTY TWO-!?!?!?!?!
technobadger, Feb 09 2002
  

       6, 6, 6, legs not 22 ....
po, Feb 09 2002
  

       I like the fact that sctld says that once you realease the arm valve, the string is cut........
kaz, Feb 09 2002
  

       So, would this be a first-person web-shooter?
thumbwax, Feb 09 2002
  

       Kaz:Obviously there is a very simple blade in the valve, so that when the valve closes, the string is cut.   

       [The temptation to insult has just been resisted]
[ sctld ], Feb 10 2002
  

       temptation to insult me?
kaz, Feb 10 2002
  

       Well, you're on the ball...
[ sctld ], Feb 11 2002
  

       I was merely pointing out that if you were intending to do any swinging from building to building with this thing, that the cutting of your spidey rope after you've fired it may be more than a hindrance to your defiance of gravity
kaz, Feb 11 2002
  

       Obviously you don't uncock your wrist as you swing, hence the webbing remains uncut.
[ sctld ], Feb 11 2002
  

       i'm surpsrised nobody has mentioned that this is half-baked already by the amazing spiderman himself c/o stan lee. aside from the cylindrical canister this is almost exactly how spidey's web-shooter works.   

       see link.
mihali, Feb 11 2002
  

       yeah, but if you keep on releasing web as you travel forwards you're going to end up not being at the appropriate height for your target.
kaz, Feb 11 2002
  

       Obviously you don't uncock your wrist as you swing, hence the webbing remains uncut.   

       [Wait, haven't i said this before?...]
[ sctld ], Feb 12 2002
  

       I keep reading this as a device to set off a gun by remote control. Like one I saw in a car security device animation. (stickdeath)
neelandan, Feb 12 2002
  

       Two slight problems: firstly, a compressed cannister of string on its own would not launch the string a long distance. You'd need some kind of additional explosive-powered projectile.   

       Secondly, there's the issue of weight/bulk. This isn't necessarily a problem, if you imagine a short length of nylon line. But even with a thin line, if you're planning on shooting a lot of webs, you're going to have quite a lot of web-goo to carry. And you'd want a thick, heavy line for aiming, since it would be less susceptible to the wind.   

       The conventional techniques for shooting lines use either a thrown grappling hook, or a projectile shot from some kind of weapon, in either case attached to a length of rope. Even Batman used a baterang (sp?) with rope attached.
pottedstu, Feb 12 2002
  

       sctld: but by the nature of your mechanism, by leaving your wrist uncocked you will continue to release web, which is why I mentioned the problem of consistency of aim.
kaz, Feb 12 2002
  

       Hmm, fair point, maybe some sort of break is in order
[ sctld ], Feb 12 2002
  

       Break or brake, [sctld]?   

       Wouldn't the string stick to itself inside the can?
Mayfly, Feb 12 2002
  

       I thought that the REAL Spiderman pressed some sort of switch in his palm to release his webbing. You can see him doing this in http://www.spideydude.com/spider24.jpg
This would imply some type of valve is being actuated, which would imply that the webbing is composed of some liquid, of course having amazing chemical and physical properties. After all, Peter Parker was a Chemistry major, was he not? This means that rather than 'cutting' a string, you would simply re-close the valve, and the stream of webbing would stop/cut. Whether you would 'shoot' the webbing or release a stream that could be held on to would be a matter of technique. Careful study of the cartoon series would be required.
Of course, the chemical used for the webbing would be in solution; simply fill the wrist mounted canister, and shake to develop the required projectile pressure. Once released, the chemical stream would react with air and exhibit amazing physical properties, like powerful adhesion, and the tensile strength to support the weight of one human + one steel girder. If your nemesis has powers that can defeat your webbing, simply mix up a special counteracting batch of webbing in your apartment.
The exact composition of the webbing would merely be a chemical engineering problem best left to those skilled in the art.
xrayTed, Feb 13 2002
  

       just to add to that, please don't be fooled when the movie comes out. the amazing spiderman's webbing works pretty much as xrayted describes, however, in the movie, the webbing will shoot directly out of spidey's wrists. the reason? the director didn't think it was "realistic" that a high-school student could build a working web-shooter.
mihali, Feb 13 2002
  

       :o)   

       that sounds like something you would see on "the tick": spiderman, butt-side up, swinging through the air with greatest of ease. holding on to the webs as he swings would be his downfall though, unless he has ultra-strong sphincter muscles.
mihali, Feb 13 2002
  

       I don't know about the idea, but the messages are brillinat. Guys, you do have some major free time over there (e.g. I thought that the REAL Spiderman pressed some sort of switch in his palm to release his webbing. You can see him doing this in [admin: URL moved to "link" section above. Thanks mihali. --bristolz])
gutza, Feb 16 2002
  

       I've heard about genetically modified goats producing spider silk enzymes in their milk, apparently this is possible because the mammary gland is more or less identical to a spider's spinneret, is it just me or is the idea of spider-man with webs streaming from his nipples really disturbing.
teletran, Feb 06 2006
  
      
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