Spears and knives are used when chasing off sharks but sometimes the shark's skin is so tough that they do not have power or impulse enough to penetrate.
This device was thunk when remembering those finger pricking devices where they pulled on a trigger which cocked the spring and released it, causing a needle to shoot out and retract just as fast.
This device would be similar with some differences: the needle would be a blade, about 4-6 inches long. The spring would be powerful enough to propel the blade through tough shark skin.
Because of the strength of the spring, it would have to be cocked separately from the trigger action.
This is not meant to be a temporary solution, like a boomstick (which are brutal weapons, just a shotgun shell on a stick that kills the shark). It is meant as a lost-at-sea survival tool. Killing the shark would lead to a lot more blood to attract more sharks. A large pin prick would be enough to chase the shark away while being completely reusable.
Now you just have to find some food and water.-- twitch, Nov 20 2006 (?) Like this? http://upload.wikim...hblade_animated.gif [Shz, Nov 20 2006] Mythbusters shark myths episode http://kwc.org/myth...jaws_special_1.html [imaginality, Nov 20 2006] Well, provided you happen to be carrying one of these when you get lost at sea...-- pertinax, Nov 20 2006 Oh, a gun for *deterring* sharks... I thought it was a gun that actually fired live sharks out of it at high velocity.-- theleopard, Nov 20 2006 //ah, sort of the aquatic equivalent of an elephant gun?//
Indeed [Ian], both of which tremendously ferocious weapons. Ammunition clips can be somewhat cumbersome however.
Unwieldly.-- theleopard, Nov 20 2006 Did it fire bread, pasta and rice?-- theleopard, Nov 20 2006 I'm on the side of the shark. --- DrCurry, Nov 20 2006 What do we shoot the elephant at?-- theleopard, Nov 20 2006 I was really hoping that this would be some form of gun that fired out sharks...-- Jinbish, Nov 20 2006 //the needle would be a blade, about 4-6 inches long.// //A large pin prick would be enough...//
A blade makes more than just a pin prick. Isn't this a stiletto?-- Shz, Nov 20 2006 Jinbish's Shark Gun would take care of food.
pesky water!-- daseva, Nov 20 2006 //I was really hoping that this would be some form of gun that fired out sharks...//
That's what I said...-- theleopard, Nov 20 2006 //That's what I said...//
Yep - I know. I just thought I'd express my hope for a better world. Based on guns that fire large carnivorous animals with big pointy teeth.-- Jinbish, Nov 20 2006 DC-10's?-- Shz, Nov 20 2006 Little old ladies?-- Jinbish, Nov 20 2006 oh come on. Do elephant guns shoot out elephants?
This gun need not be wieldy, maybe the size of a regular gun, with a pump, that is included in emergency rafts.
Why let the shark eat your friend when you can eat your friend tomorrow?
[Shz], yes, the blade used would be, to us, a laceration, but probably just a pin prick to the shark.-- twitch, Nov 20 2006 The front end of a shark (the snout, rather than the gaping maw) is extremely sensitive. I suggest a blunt approach to this shark gun, rather than a sharp edge. The pin prick may cause some bleeding, which would be enough to be noticed by other sharks.
A boxing glove could be added for comedy effect, but I suggest that a rubber baton, the size of a can of soda be used rather than a needle-like approach.-- Jinbish, Nov 20 2006 Blunt trauma does make sense. I just supposed that they would hunt down a wounded shark like a pack of dingos. I'm probably wrong.-- twitch, Nov 20 2006 //to punch it on the nose//
Ditto. But not with a naked hand. The shark's skin is rough enough to graze a human - causing bleeding and a potential metaphorical dinner-bell.-- Jinbish, Nov 20 2006 I shouldn't pick on the DC-10 anymore. Their service record has greatly improved. Besides, as everyone knows, anti-aircraft guns launch birds.
[twitch], how is this different than a stiletto?-- Shz, Nov 20 2006 Why not just have a gun that fires a capsule with chum and blood in it.-- Chefboyrbored, Nov 20 2006 //Why not just have a gun that fires a capsule with chum and blood in it.//
Uhm. Well. Let's say the shark will think you're very sweet for providing it with a starter?-- Trickytracks, Nov 20 2006 I just don't believe that a stiletto has the power to puncture shark skin. and you might be too tired to thrust and parry for hours.
I wonder if a pepper/capsaicin concoction released into the water would work, or just attract more sharks..-- twitch, Nov 20 2006 //I've heard the best thing to do when attacked by a shark is to punch it on the nose, though that may or may not be a myth.//
They tested a few shark myths on Mythbusters once, and that one did seem to work, especially when Jamie jabbed at the gills rather than the nose.-- imaginality, Nov 20 2006 //So, hang on, what does an anti-aircraft gun fire out?Ian Tindale, Nov 20 2006// I don't know, but for goodness sakes don't fire it at an aircraft!-- gnomethang, Nov 20 2006 How foolish of me, [leopard]. Right, then, theleopard's shark gun.... I'm reminded of Animal Farm... Or, maybe just Animals...
"I've looked over Jordan, and I have seen Things are not what they seem."-- daseva, Nov 21 2006 No worries! Hey, it's everyone's Shark Gun now. But we have to take turns using it.-- theleopard, Nov 21 2006 //have to take turns using it// Except the sharks, the gun might be too sharp for their little fins.-- zen_tom, Nov 21 2006 Sharks with guns?! Are you mad?! You would take the most dangerous beast on the planet... and give it a gun?! Have you got some sort of apocalyptic deathwish?!-- theleopard, Nov 21 2006 The sharks don't have guns (due to the aforementioned fin issue), just frickin' laser beams.-- zen_tom, Nov 21 2006 Curses! [z_t] beat me to it!
Throw me a frickin' bone here!-- Jinbish, Nov 21 2006 I'll take on your Laser Sharks with my military trained Toxic Dart Gun Dolphins!-- theleopard, Nov 21 2006 [jumps in way too late, can't help elf anyhow]
People put way too much emphasis on a shark's reaction to blood. As a spearfisher who has faced down many, many excited sharks - I can tell you that blood scent is very, very secondary to electro-thingamy they get from their ampule de lorenzi (spelt wrong, but y'know what I mean). Quite literally if you kill the excited fish, the sharks visibly relax. They remain inquisitive, as 1) they can smell the blood and 2) their eyesight and comprehension is good enough that they know that it's the fish that's dead and so they go for the dead fish, which just happens to be in your grasp.
Relevance - blunt/sharp doesn't matter. A trickle of blood out of a small puncture wound will not noticeably alter the behaviour of the sharks. (except for if you're around oceanic white tips. Those fuckers are batshit crazy and will straight up eat bits of you with no reason. They look so gracefull with those big B-52 wings but that's just to fool you while they work out which limb to rend first). Anyhoo, the trick is to give 'em a good thumping, do it once, do it hard. If you badger a shark with multiple jabs from a spear or knife odds on he'll get pissed and bite back. I'm not joking, little reefies will snap like a dog, then it's on like donkey kong. Ever had to juggle a half dozen or so 3-5' long reef sharks all a-jiggle with excitement because you just swapped red stuff with their mate? Learn from my mistakes. So the beauty of this idea is some spring loaded, wind-up whatever, pain machine. Like maybe 3 or 5 thin, sharp spikes that deploy 3" or so with a lot of force (it's hard to "hit" hard underwater, and you don't want to be making sudden moves around the sharkies, anyhow).
The point is, you don't want to hurt them. Sharks are seriously cool, I love freediving with 'em, sans spear, dead fish, etc. Just need a reliable way of giving them the hurry up. Electronic shark shields are not reliable enough to use as the sole defence.-- Custardguts, Feb 27 2012 They don't much care for being yelled at.-- normzone, Feb 27 2012 Wouldn't a sort of shark taser be more effective? And no, I don't mean something that fires two high-voltage sharks on the end of trailing wires.
What you need are two metal prongs which, when pressed hard into something (eg, say, a shark) press an internal switch to release a short high- voltage pulse from the same circuit that powers flash guns (maybe a bit beefier).
Seawater would only partially diminish the current going through the shark, and in any case the prongs could be insulated except at the tip to reduce such current leakage.
I don't know how a shark reacts to couple of kV being discharged through its snout. It's going to make it either angry or scared.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Feb 27 2012 I'd buy a gun that fired two sharks on wires. Granted the maintenance would be fierce, what with salt water tank chemistry and feeding, but imagine the reaction when you fired the damn thing.-- normzone, Feb 27 2012 I presume, then, that it's going to fire one shark leftward and the other rightward? Otherwise the recoil will be disheartening.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Feb 27 2012 Unsettling even.-- Custardguts, Feb 27 2012 But seldom ennuyeux.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Feb 27 2012 //I'd buy a gun that fired two sharks on wires//
Would that be an over-and-under or a side-by-side ?-- FlyingToaster, Feb 27 2012 Maybe a single barrel with two revolving chambers. That way, after you invariably miss the guy with the first one, you can enjoy the look on his face as you draw a more careful bead with the second one.-- normzone, Feb 27 2012 ah, a repeater... perhaps a complicated method of moving the sharks + water into the barrels from a pool or something. I still think two barrels is the way to go though. I would think somebody barely missed by two sharks simultaneously isn't going to be in any condition to return fire anyways (cue giant octopus mortar).-- FlyingToaster, Feb 28 2012 Yeah, but can you imagine the press and the serious respect from the firearm community you'd get when you cleared a jam in that thing while engaged in witty repartee with your opponent?-- normzone, Feb 28 2012 random, halfbakery