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                                 The Vortex Gun

       Dr. Phillips Thomas, research engineer of the Westinghouse Electric &
    Manufacturing Company, picked up what appeared to be a  small copper and
    brass drum with an aperture some two inches in diameter in its head.  By
    means of a  tubular  peep sight affixed to the top of the drum, he aimed
    the aperture at one of a row of lighted candles about ten feet away, and
    then tapped the back of the drum with a rubber hammer.

       Instantly the candle was extinguished.   He  repeated the performance
    half a dozen  times, and each time the striking of the  metal  drum  was
    followed by the extinguishing of a candle.  He pointed the aperture at a
    gong, tapped the  drum,  and  the  gong  rang.   In each case, it was as
    though an unseen projectile had been fired from the strange device.

       These seemingly miraculous feats  were  accomplished  by an invisible
    ring of air, a smoke ring without the smoke, shot from  the  aperture by
    the force with  which  Dr. Thomas struck the back of the drum.  Called a
    VORTEX GUN (remember  the  WHIRLWIND   CANNONS  of  the  Germans  during
    WWII...Vangard), and designed  on  the  basis of elaborate  mathematical
    calculations by Westhinghouse scientists, this device embodies the first
    practical application of the well-known principle of vortex motion.


       Good examples  of  this motion are the common smoke ring which almost
    all smokers can blow, and the funnel-shaped  twister  cloud  familiar to
    anyone who has  lived  in the tornado and cyclone belts  of  the  Middle
    West.

       The twister,  however,  is  ONLY HALF OF A VORTEX, it moves only if a
    wind is blowing, and always travels at right angles to the ground.

       A smoke  ring,  which  is  a true  VORTEX  RING,  will  move  in  any
    direction, according to  the initial impulse, and owing  to  the  vortex
    motion, the smoke will remain in the ring as long as it is moving.

       THE MORE  RAPID  THE  MOTION,  THE  FARTHER  THE  RING WILL GO BEFORE
    BREAKING UP.

       The rings or miniature whirlwinds shot from the vortex gun conform to
    the behavior pattern of the smoke ring  as  blown from the mouth.  Their
    size and velocity, and the distance traveled, depend upon the dimensions
    of the gun  and  the  force with which it is struck.   They  are  always
    invisible unless smoke  or  some other visible substance is put into the
    gun.

       Westhinghouse engineers have constructed  experimental vortex guns in
    two sizes.  The hand model, demonstrated by Dr. Thomas  as  part  of the
    equipment of a  traveling  laboratory with which he has been touring the
    country, is about eight inches in diameter.

       It shoots a vortex ring with a diameter  of from two to three inches.
    which travels at  a speed of 20 feet per second.  The  ring  carries  so
    much force that the impact can be felt at about 25 feet.

                         Popular Science - August - 1942