To operate the pump:. These two strokes of the piston, into the cylinder and out again, constitute the entire pump cycle. The downstroke , the piston pushing in, shrinks the volume of the cylinder, forcing water or air out of the pump. The upstroke , the spring pushing the piston back out, expands the cylinder volume, sucking water or air into the pump. In a water gun, you need to suck water in from the reservoir below and force it out through the barrel above. In order to get all the water moving through the barrel, the pump must only force water up -- it cannot force water back into the reservoir.
In other words, the water must move through the pump in only one direction. The device that makes this possible is called a one-way valve. The one-way valve in a basic squirt pistol consists of a tiny rubber ball that rests neatly inside a small seal.
There are two one-way valves: one between the reservoir and the pump, and another between the pump and the nozzle. Throughout the history of water guns, designers have been wrestling with these problems to create a better pumping system. In the next section, we'll look at two simple water-gun designs that increase the stream's range, pressure and duration. Then we'll check out the gun design that blew all other water weapons away. In the last section, we saw that the basic squirt gun uses a simple piston, a cylinder pump and two one-way valves.
Since the pump is activated by moving the trigger back and forth, this design is fairly limited in the size, range and duration of its bursts.
One easy solution to this problem is to increase the size of the pump cylinder and the trigger. This is the basic idea behind classic water bazookas like the one shown below.
In this design, the trigger mechanism isn't really a trigger at all -- it's more like a syringe. Essentially, you hold the piston in one hand and the cylinder in the other. To suck water in from the reservoir, you pull the piston and cylinder apart.
To expel the water, you push them back together. This gives you much more water to work with in each shot. If you push the piston into the cylinder with great force, you can shoot the water a good distance. If you push it more slowly, you can expand the duration of the blast. Some water bazookas don't have an attached water reservoir: To load them, you must suck in water through the barrel, as you would fill a syringe.
Obviously, this design requires a lot more work from the shooter than the conventional squirt gun, so it's not particularly user-friendly. The s saw the arrival of a new sort of water gun that did almost all the work itself. You can see in the diagram below that these guns work in basically the same way as the conventional squirt gun, except the pump is powered by a small motor rather than by the trigger. The trigger is only a switch that completes an electrical circuit so that the battery can power the motor.
The motor moves a series of gears , which move a small cam. The rotating cam has an extended lever that catches the piston, pulls it back and then releases it, allowing a spring to push it forward. In this way, the motor moves the piston in and out of the cylinder, drawing water in from the reservoir on the upstroke and driving it down the barrel in the downstroke.
Since the pump is activated by a turning motor rather than a trigger, the design can have a slightly expanded cylinder size without making it more difficult to shoot.
This extends the blast range somewhat. But the real advantage of this design is that the shooter doesn't have to keep pumping the trigger to continually shoot water. If you hold down the trigger, the motor keeps pumping, emitting a rapid series of bursts, like the continual fire of a machine gun. Both of these gun designs are a substantial step up from the ordinary squirt pistol, but they still have significant limitations.
Blasting the bazooka requires a good bit of muscle power from the shooter, and the motorized gun's water stream is still fairly weak. In the next section, we'll look at the water-gun design that revolutionized the industry, building blasts that reach 50 feet 15 m or more.
As we saw in the last two sections, the main problem with conventional water guns is that they don't produce a very powerful stream. This is because the water pressure must be generated with each shot, either by the shooter or by a motorized system. It's not feasible to produce a high-pressure stream because it would mean applying a great deal of force in a short amount of time.
In , a nuclear scientist named Lonnie Johnson came up with an ingenious solution to this problem. In his spare time, he was working on a new heat-pump system that would use moving water to regulate temperature. Late one night, he attached a model of the pumping mechanism to the bathroom sink, and was startled by the powerful water blast that shot across the room. In that instant, he was struck by the idea for a water gun that would use compressed air to provide pressure for a water blast.
To make his idea a reality, Johnson enlisted the help of an accomplished inventor named Bruce D'Andrade. Super Soakers are built around a pump mechanism, but moving the pump doesn't actually drive water out of the gun; it serves to build up water pressure before the blast.
As the bladder becomes empty, the drop-off in range will be parallel. One thing that we really find interesting with these bladders is that they can adapt perfectly to any design of Super Soaker.
This is also known as the tank. What it does is store the water, so that you can easily carry the gun around without the water wasting. The tank comes equipped with a cap which you can pour more water into, and an outlet to where the pump and chamber connect to. The size of the tank tend to varies base on the model of the Super Soaker.
Some tank you even have the option to detached it from the gun so that you can easily refill it from a water supply. We all should know by now that the pump is the handle that actually slides in and out so that the water can be push out of the reservoir straight inside the pressure chamber. The pump even has a small size plunger that helps to seal a tube. This is use to open and closes the flow of water that comes out of the pressure chamber.
The ball valves is said to be the most commonly used one because it does a wonderful job when it comes to enforcing water flow with large bores. Due to the fact that it has a large ball with a passageway, it can easily rotate to open and prevent the flow of water.
These types tend to have a small plunger that are pulled off of an opening which allows the flow of water into the chamber. This is where the water spray out into the opening. While PR soakers are often lighter weapons, a cannon is designed to be pressurized only before the enemy is engaged.
Water cannons are optimized to get maximum range and output in a single, solid shot. SuperCannon II, for instance, set the record for ranges of portable water guns. Feel free to email us with any question or comment. Your use of Super Soaker Central implies agreement with our terms of service. How water guns work Written by Silence Last updated on All water guns use a system to generate pressure and push water out. Separate chamber water guns Separate chamber is the most common format for water guns.
Reservoir The reservoir is the main water tank in separate chamber water guns. Pump The pump is the sliding device that sucks water out of the reservoir and forces it into the pressure chambers.
Check valves Water guns have to control the flow of water so that water can go from the reservoir to the pump and then from the pump to the pressure chamber.
Pressure release valve On the other hand, there are situations in which water must be released in order to reduce pressure. Pressure chambers The pressure chambers PCs store the pressure generated by the pump. Air pressure Air pressure system water guns are the most common, offering fairly reliable and consistent performance.
Springs Spring pressure systems use metal springs or, theoretically, stretchable cords to exert force on a piston in the pressure chamber. Pressurized reservoir water guns Pressurized reservoir system water guns offer a slight variation on separate chamber water guns. Advantages Because only one tank is present, PR water guns are less complex. For the same reason, PR water guns are smaller. Disadvantages "Dead space" between the end of the pump plunger and the outflow check valve can exist.
If lots of dead space is present, the air compressed in the pump will simply sit there and less pressure will be generated. If the cap is opened, all generated pressure will be lost. Especially with a partly-empty tank, the user will have to pump a lot in order to generate pressure and fill up the empty space with air. Water cannons Water cannons are much more powerful than PR water guns, but they use the same principle.
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