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Machine-gun Lawnmower

NO, not using bullets to mow your lawn!
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When you want to turn over some very large engines, like the ones in large bulldozers, you insert a shotgun shell in a port and fire it to initiate the cranking process.

Thinking along these lines, I reason it should be possible to design an engine for a lawnmower (and other small- engined machines, such as motorcycles) using a belt-fed machine-gun with the firing chamber angled slightly to push the crank/flywheel around. A series of vaned ports on the flywheel/crank can be used as firing chambers.

The use of blank ammunition only, to ensure minimal damage to the engine; a hopper to catch the spent brass and a trigger mechanism hooked to a rheostat to allow faster or slower mowing, as needed. Maybe a grinding wheel and mild steel feedstock, under the front edge of the blade guard, to simulate muzzle flashes.

Then, every Saturday afternoon, suburbia erupts with the sounds of sustained small arms fire, as attentive husbands and gun nuts hose down their lawn with machine-gun fire, mowing the grass down in rows.

Of course, if you're American then you can use the Gatling version, which allows you to mow the grass at high schools and around Post Offices, using live bullets to cut the grass.

UnaBubba, May 19 2012

Gatling generator Gatling_20Generator
Engine run on cartridges, blank and otherwise [Alterother, May 20 2012]

[link]






       I _know_ we've done this one before, but I can't remember what the bugger's called.
Alterother, May 19 2012
  

       I searched for quite a few variations before I posted.
UnaBubba, May 19 2012
  

       I'm pretty sure they already use machine gun powered leaf blowers in my neighborhood.
doctorremulac3, May 19 2012
  

       Technically, this is entirely possible. It need be no noiser than a conventional IC engine, although where's the fun in that?   

       It would be a trifle expensive to run - even usint a triple-expansion piston engine, the cost is going to be something like USD$7-$8 per second, based on using standard 7.62mm blank rounds puurchased in bulk.   

       You get a bit back on the empties, though.
8th of 7, May 19 2012
  

       Cost is not something that's ever deterred us, here on the HB.
UnaBubba, May 20 2012
  

       Bone for not using bullets to mow your lawn.   

       EDIT: bun
Voice, May 20 2012
  

       There. Just for you.
UnaBubba, May 20 2012
  

       It's perfectly possible to cut grass using a widely spaced grid of det cord.   

       There aren't even any clippings to pick up.
8th of 7, May 20 2012
  

       I'm still going for the gat. You know me, I'm a gun guy. If I can possibly think of a practical reason for owning a mingun, I'ma get me $6K and drive right down to Saco to buy one off the showroom floor.   

       Now all I need is a lawn.
Alterother, May 20 2012
  

       I knew we'd done this one before <link>.
Alterother, May 20 2012
  

       //When you want to turn over some very large engines, like the ones in large bulldozers, you insert a shotgun shell in a port and fire it to initiate the cranking process//
I thought lead additives in fuels had been banned?
AbsintheWithoutLeave, May 21 2012
  

       They have, but you can still make exceptions for specialised machinery and the military.
UnaBubba, May 21 2012
  

       // the military //   

       So they can deploy white Phosphorous, cluster bombs, DU penetrators and ultimately fusion weapons, but you want them to use unleaded gasoline ... ?   

       What's wrong with this picture ?   

       To be fair, most Napalm is unleaded .... just thought you should know that.   

       Oh, and Coffmann starters (q.v.) use blank cartridges with a special slow, cool-burn composition.
8th of 7, May 21 2012
  

       //with a special slow, cool-burn composition   

       reminds me strangely of a 1970's fag advert..or cigar advert, I forget.
not_morrison_rm, May 22 2012
  

       I actually have a Coffman starter in my interesting junk collection; it was one of those wonderful flea-market finds where the seller has no idea what it is. I almost pissed myself, I was so excited, so Jenny lovingly doled out $25 dollars for a useless hunk of metal that makes her husband smile every time he notices it sitting under his workbench collecting dust.   

       I've never been able to find any cartridges for it, which is likely a good thing.
Alterother, May 22 2012
  
      
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