Samson is a cross between a hydrualic lift and a small remote controled car... In a HSP a following police squad will eject a "short range" - "high speed" mini-car (Samson) device which will expand as it barrels under the car and detects a obstruction above it, the upper plate will grip onto the bottom frame with a conforming "gator-grip"-"like"(see link) 4" grid of vertical steel pins onto of the car or and the omni-direction wheels of the base unit will cause the subject vehicle to loose lateral control by the lifting of the rear wheels several inches off the ground... if for axample the car is 4x4 drive it will still loose lateral control regardless...

halfbaked?
-- oxygon, Jun 14 2002

Gator-Grip.com http://gator-grip.com/
official gator-grip webpage [oxygon, Jun 14 2002, last modified Oct 04 2004]

Gator-Gripless http://www.gatorlan...mages/gator-guy.jpg
Kinky, if ya ask me [thumbwax, Jun 14 2002, last modified Oct 04 2004]

(?) Police Prepare Stunning End for High-Speed Car Chases http://www.infowar....3/class3_a.html-ssi
[phoenix, Jun 15 2002]

(?) Police Prepare Stunning End for High-Speed Car Chases http://www.interest...99608/msg00019.html
[This link now dead] [Revived --admin] [phoenix, Oct 04 2004]

What's a 'gatorgrip'?

I've seen a little rocket powered widget that shoots out from the front of the cop car and shorts out the ignition with a stun gun type effect...
-- StarChaser, Jun 14 2002


/cause the subject vehicle to loose lateral control /

Not exactly the safest way to end a pursuit.
-- dag, Jun 14 2002


StarChaser, when you saw that device, was there any mention of a similar rocket thingy, with a very sticky giant cotton bud type arrangement on the end? Some years ago I saw a military glue gun which fired a sticky giant cotton etc. attached to a wire. The glue was so strong that shooting it onto the side of a building produced a bond capable of withstanding many tons of force - the bricks came away from the wall rather than breaking the bond. I've since wondered if a similar device could be applied to halting car chases - fire the sticky grappling iron and reel 'em in.
-- drew, Jun 14 2002


Add a remote control. Jack up the back of the car, (or the front, as the case may be, and then just slow it down). For 4x4's use two.
-- RayfordSteele, Jun 15 2002


Oh, that thing. I'd forgotten the name...

Drew, no I hadn't see something like that, although I have see a military 'rope in a can'. It wasn't a wire, it was a goo that stuck then dried into something that could be used as a rope.
-- StarChaser, Jun 17 2002


With a bang.

The device in my link isn't exactly what [StarChaser] mentioned in his initial annotation. I've seen the same device, but was as close as I could come to it. The device [StarChaser] speaks of is a little sled that rockets out from under the police car to under the pursued vehicle where an aerial sends kilovolts through the body to blow out the electronics. I couldn't find a link to it, so either it hasn't taken off or I didn't use the right terms to find it.
-- phoenix, Jun 17 2002


GREAT IDEA! now you just have to make sure that devise doesn't hit anyone else while you're weaving through traffic, and that the guy you're chasing doesn't see it coming and and try to escape into oncoming traffic
-- loke, Jun 20 2002


The problem is that cops want to end chases with out injury to anyone. if you jack up the end of the car you could quite easly cause it to loose control.

Also the cost of a hydrolic lift on remote control isn't feasable.
-- SunTzu, Apr 14 2003


Why isn't it feasible? In this past years MIT robot war competition both winning entries (1st place tie) were jacks on remote control wheeled platforms. Not a big budget operation.
-- bristolz, Apr 14 2003


This might put a damper on those "World's Most Hilarious High Speed Pursuit Videos" tv shows.
-- snarfyguy, Apr 14 2003


" Why isn't it feasible? " Cops budgets are very low. Most cops if not all have had to provide some or all of their gear.

It isn't just about the price of one. You need one for each car, + training (man hours = cost), + Attachments (to car), + more policies for use. If that if $500 to $1000 for each. Then its $50,000 to $100,000 more out of there budget, for each department.

That is another 4 officers for one year, or 1 for 4 years. More officers would save lives.
-- SunTzu, Apr 30 2003



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