I certainly didn't hurt for toys when I was a kid. However, I didn't have EVERY toy.
Witness the Texaco Fire Truck. Another cool toy that sadly never made it into my toybox was the water rocket.
I saw hundreds of ads for water rockets in various comic book ads.
One day at junior high school, for a science demonstration, I finally got to witness a water rocket in action.
Pretty cool stuff! So cool, that nowadays there is a passionate online following of homegrown water rockets. Read on.
The water rocket was allegedly created in 1930 by future professor Jean LeBot in Rennes, France. While still a student at school, he experimented with a champagne bottle (designed to hold high pressure) filled partially with water and pressurized by compressed air from a bicycle pump fed through a cork with an inner tube valve at its center. The rocket was launched from an inclined plank forming a ramp.
It flew well, but the bottle would smash on impact.
At some point after that (the details are very sketchy), toy manufacturers began marketing water rockets made from high-impact plastic. The rocket would sit on a plastic hand pump and launch with a trigger pull.
I found photos of some rockets that were manufactured in Germany in the early 50's and that looked just like the V-2 models that rained down on Great Britain.
Later models included curved fins that would put a spin on the rocket, causing it to fly higher and straighter.
Once you pumped the launcher enough times to achieve optimal pressure, you pulled the trigger and were rewarded by a rocket shooting skyward, accompanied by a satisfying hissing sound and a jet trail of water and water vapor.
Then, the device would plummet to earth (the nicer models included a rubber padded nose cone to absorb the impact).
The comic book ads we grew up with are long gone, but water rockets continue to exist today, looking very much like we remember them.
However, there is a passionate following of home-built water rockets out there on the web. Most of the rockets are made out of plastic two-liter soda bottles. The lightweight cylinders can withstand high pressure, and are thus ideal for aeronautical flight. Not only that, they don't shatter like glass champagne bottles when they land.
If you are so inclined, check out this site for details on how to build your own water rocket.
Your grandkids will never forget it. ;-)
Comments (6)
Back in the 1960s, my uncle was showing my cousin how to use his new water rocket while sitting at the kitchen table. He inadvertently pulled the release lever and launched the rocket directly through the kitchen ceiling. He whole in he ceiling remained for years until they finally remodeled.
Posted by Steve Skinner | December 29, 2008 10:20 AM
Posted on December 29, 2008 10:20
While you're on the topic of rockets, why not do an item on Model Rockets?
I had a great time with those and the movie October Sky brought back memories too.
Michael
Posted by Michael Mirsky | December 31, 2008 6:55 PM
Posted on December 31, 2008 18:55
These water rockets were the coolest thing while growing up! It was the space program era, mercery, apollo, and always had a fasination with rockets! Of cource we also put alkaselzer and baking soda in helping with the launches! My rockets were the red and white one like the photo! Thanks for the memory!
Posted by Rivers End | January 1, 2009 5:38 PM
Posted on January 1, 2009 17:38
I had the blue and red one in the photo. I had forgotten about them! There were lots of "rocketry" things in the 60s due to the fascination with NASA at the time. I remember also having a rocket that was about a foot long, and thin, looking, in silhouette, about like the NASA ones. It was light gray with a yellow nose cone, plus four fins at the tail-end. It was launched with a rubber sling-shot type thing. It went very high. On its return, it would open in halves (hinge in the base) and a plastic parachute would deploy, bringing the rocket safely to the ground, ready for another shot at the moon! But first, one had to properly refold the parachute into the fuselage and snap it shut.
Posted by NCeddie | January 12, 2009 1:13 AM
Posted on January 12, 2009 01:13
The problem I remember with water rockets is that the plastic that held the rocket as pressure went up, would crack and break. Pumps would start to leak as well. But there was a fair amount of pressure and flight, while they lasted.
I did not fully appreciate drag and resistance till I had a friend who bought an Estes drag racer that used an Estes rocket engine. I had used plenty of these on my rockets but in the drag car, which ran on a string, it hardly went at all. Running it without the string did little to help. the Wheels were sponge and it might have been better with harder wheels but running on wheels presents a lot of drag.
I wonder what diet and Coke and Mentos would do for these bottle rockets ;-)
Posted by Scott Irv | June 17, 2009 1:56 PM
Posted on June 17, 2009 13:56
Thank you for bringing back a wonderful memory. When I lived in Jersey, I had wonderful next door neighbors, the "G's". They were like my grandparents. I used to be over their house as much as I was at my own.
One day, Mr. G had to bring some trash down to the dump and asked me if I wanted to go with him to dispose of it. Checked with mom, it was a go. We went there and I helped him with the trash. As a reward, he stopped at the candy store in town and bought me a water rocket!!!!! I thought I was in heaven! I got home and my dad put oil on the pump, and we spent all summer launching that water rocket....
I saw a reproduction in the dollar store a few years back, and sent 2 to an online friend for her daughters for a summer swap. They loved them too!!!
Posted by roxanne | March 16, 2010 7:02 PM
Posted on March 16, 2010 19:02