Motorized pyrotechnic system
AssigneeStrictly FX
InventorsReid Nofsinger, Mark J. Grega
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
One aspect of the invention provides a firing apparatus that provides an arcuate visual effect. The firing apparatus includes a motor, an enclosure housing the motor and an arm connected to a shaft of the motor for moving a pyrotechnic device such as a gerb. Another aspect of the invention provides a pyrotechnic system that includes a firing apparatus including a reciprocal motor, a firing arm having a first end connected to a shaft of the reciprocal motor and a second end adapted to emit an arcuate pyrotechnic effect, a control unit in communication with the firing apparatus for controlling operation of the reciprocal motor and an ignition unit in communication with the firing apparatus for initiating the pyrotechnic effect.
Claims14
A pyrotechnic system, comprising:
- a motor having a rotatable shaft;
- a firing arm including a proximal end that is attached to the rotatable shaft, a distal end adapted to receive a pyrotechnic device and a body portion including an ignition contact;
- a control and firing interface including a motor control input and an ignition input, wherein the motor control input is linked with the motor and receives a signal from a control unit that is located remotely from the control and firing interface for controlling movement of the rotatable shaft and the ignition input is linked with the ignition contact of the pyrotechnic device body portion and receives a signal from an ignition unit that is located remotely from the control and firing interface for firing the pyrotechnic device;
- and
- a synchronizing element selected from the group consisting of a programmable logic controller (PLC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a microcontroller, a microprocessor, a microcomputer, a state machine, and hardware logic elements for operating the control and firing interface synchronously with musical cues or lighting cues.
A pyrotechnic system, comprising:
- a motor having a rotatable shaft;
- a firing arm including a proximal end that is attached to the rotatable shaft, a distal end adapted to receive a pyrotechnic device and a body portion including an ignition contact;
- a control and firing interface including a motor control input and an ignition input, wherein the motor control input is linked with the motor and receives a signal from a control unit that is located remotely from the control and firing interface for controlling movement of the rotatable shaft and the ignition input is linked with the ignition contact of the pyrotechnic device body portion and receives a signal from an ignition unit that is located remotely from the control and firing interface for firing the pyrotechnic device;
- and
- a synchronizing element comprising a microprocessor that is linked with one or more pulse width modulation (PWM) modules for controlling operation of motors of a plurality of firing apparatuses for operating the control and firing interface synchronously with musical cues or lighting cues.
A pyrotechnic system comprising:
- a first firing apparatus including a reciprocal motor, a firing arm having a first end connected to a shaft of the reciprocal motor and a second end adapted to emit a pyrotechnic effect of a gerb or other pyrotechnic device;
- a second firing apparatus separated from the first firing apparatus by a distance that is slightly less than twice a predetermined shower height of the pyrotechnic effect;
- a control unit in communication with the firing apparatuses for controlling operation of the reciprocal motor;
- and
- an ignition unit in communication with the firing apparatus for initiating the pyrotechnic effect,
- wherein the first and second firing apparatuses are arranged in a mirror-image fashion such that the arm of the first firing apparatus is initially oriented toward the second firing apparatus and the arm of the second firing apparatus is initially oriented toward the first firing apparatus, the gerbs or other pyrotechnic devices of the first and second firing apparatuses being operable so that when they are ignited and the motors are energized and operated together, the showers of the gerbs or other pyrotechnic devices move in an arcuate fashion generally upward and downward to form converging and diverging fans of sparks and flame.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.