Launchable flying device
View Patent ↗A launchable or throwable flying device that comprises a tapering tube or hollow truncated cone shape with a front aperture that is larger in diameter than the rear aperture. Various aerodynamic and design features are designed to optimize the device's performance in flight, such as (but not limited to) a tail section that induces the device to tack into the wind when thrown.
1. A launchable flying device, comprising:
a tapering tube comprising a stiff sleeve coupled to the inside of a foam tube wall, the tapering tube further comprising a front end and a rear end, wherein said front end further comprises a front aperture and said rear end further comprises a rear aperture, wherein said tube wall further comprises a leading tube edge and a trailing tube edge, and
a high-mass ring coupled to the tube wall adjacent the leading tube edge within the first five percent to twenty-five percent of the length of the device as measured from the leading rube edge,
wherein said leading tube edge also comprises the perimeter of said front aperture and said trailing tube edge also comprises the perimeter of said rear aperture,
wherein the plane of said front aperture is substantially parallel to the plane of said rear aperture,
wherein said front aperture has a diameter greater than said rear aperture,
wherein the outermost diameter of said rube wall is no more than one hundred percent of the length of said tube wall, the length of said rube wall being the distance between said leading tube edge and said trailing tube edge, and
wherein the center of mass of the device is located about ten percent to about fifteen percent of the length of the tapering tube wall as measured from the front aperture.
2. The device of claim 1 , wherein the tube wall further comprises a plurality of apertures.
3. The device of claim 1 , wherein the tube wall comprises a single cambered airfoil, and wherein the outermost diameter of said tube wall is from about thirty-five percent to about sixty percent of the length of said tube wall.