Variation on an existing theme: a helium filled backpack, which you strap on, to go jump around. It won't lift you, because it contains only a few kilos of lift (say 25kgs), just enough to make your body a serious bit lighter to give you the 'moonwalk' feeling.
The underside of the pack is strengthened by a strip of rubber, so that your tail can touch the ground without the pack getting damaged.
Mainly designed because I like the form of the object (see pic). Nothing special, just yellow and kangaroo-ish.-- django, Sep 06 2006 Quickie, the form is pleasant I think http://i3.photobuck...esel/heliumjump.jpgBeen designing so many things with this form, cell-phone, cocktail shakers, macaroni, etc... the line isn't perfect here, but you see where it's going [django, Sep 06 2006] Parabounce http://www.parabounce.com/Using a 20 foot diameter helium balloon, simply push off from the ground and leap 100 feet into the air and travel up to a quarter-mile before gently ... [baconbrain, Sep 06 2006] Holy smurf! http://www.davelgil.com/korea/smurf.jpgThat's it!! [django, Sep 06 2006] Lookie! Giant flying bananas!
*ook*-- DesertFox, Sep 06 2006 Not be used indoors, I presume. Or do I presume too much?-- NotTheSharpestSpoon, Sep 06 2006 A backpack? To get this much lift would require about 900 cubic feet of helium.-- ldischler, Sep 06 2006 /A backpack? To get this much lift would require about 900 cubic feet of helium./
Well, let's divide the volume up into spheres: in the middle a sphere with a radius of 2 metres (=33.5 cubic metres), on top and under it, one with a radius of 1.5 metres (=two times 14 cubic metres: 28m³); and two small spheres of 0.5 metres radius at the extremities (=two times 0.5m³ = 1m³). In total we would have around 62.5 cubic metres.
One cubic meter of helium gives around 1 kilogram of lift, so you would have 62.5 kilos of lift. The total surface area would be somewhere around 90 square metres. Now take a strong hypalon fabric weighing 0.3 kilo per m² and your fabric weighs 30 kilos. 62.5 kilos of lift, minus 30 kilos of fabric = 32.5 kilos of net lift!
That should give you anti-gravity feelings. And all your worries about having a heavy bvtt would be gone instantly!-- django, Sep 06 2006 I already have anti-gravity feelings - horrible heavy stuff that it is.-- wagster, Sep 06 2006 Don't let go of product or hand it to small children. (+)-- GutPunchLullabies, Sep 06 2006 Love the illustration and the idea.
This sounded like something the Clusterballoon guy might have done, though not so prettily. He had a link to Parabounce, which crashes my computer. I googled, and got a lot of hits, but haven't looked at any.
The tail could act as a spring.-- baconbrain, Sep 06 2006 Smurfs! That's it, now I remember where I've seen that form before. I grew up with Les Schtroumpfs, that's it!! Has been lingering deep in the depth of my genius mind for decades!-- django, Sep 06 2006 Not to be used in high... or any... winds. I could see a bunch of people jumping around like nutters in a tall warehouse with a padded floor. [+]-- st3f, Sep 07 2006 //in a tall warehouse with a padded floor. //
A padded ceiling would be more useful I think.-- webfishrune, Sep 07 2006 That, too.-- st3f, Sep 08 2006 Nice.-- doctorremulac3, Mar 19 2011 random, halfbakery