View Single Post
  #1  
Old 01-14-2014, 05:53 AM
Jerry Irvine's Avatar
Jerry Irvine Jerry Irvine is offline
Freeform rocketry advocate.
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Claremont, CA "The intellectual capitol of the world."-WSJ
Posts: 3,780
Default Model Rocket Pre-History!

Model Rocket Pre-History.

It is generally accepted that model rocketry was started by Carslile and Estes and Stine. While that is true for what evolved into NAR and what we know today in terms of commercial suppliers, there was a pre-history.

Remember first model rockets included making your own motor until it became possible to buy one, and more importantly they were readily available by mail-order.

In this April 1954 Popular Mechanics article, reference is made to hobby rockets, as compared to semi-professional amateur rockets!

http://books.google.com/books?id=Nd...nepage&q&f=true

Quote:
Originally Posted by April 1954 Popular Mechanics, "With the amateur - but serious - rocketeers out on the Mojave desert, it's Fourth of July the year around." By Shep Shepherd. pp. 81-85.
The PRS builds small, functional rockets, but they are not model-building hobbiests. The rockets they build may not travel as high as the Vikings, but they will travel as fast and as accurately. The purpose of the society is to "promote study and active research and to disseminate information in the fields of rocketry and space travel." They design and build rockets, fly them and study the results to see if they performed as expected and if not, why not. And when they build another rocket that will outperform the previous one, solve new problems and test new theories.
In a subsequent correction/amendment letter to the editor, the RRS wrote in part:

Quote:
Originally Posted by 1954 Popular Mechanics, letter to the editor, by Arthur Louis Joquel II
The micrograin propellant, mentioned in the article as "a type developed for use in military rockets" was actually discovered by two members of the Reaction Research Society, George James and John Cipperly, in 1943 and has never been used by the military in any way. Its low cost and ease of handling have made it an excellent solid propellant for the civilian rocket societies to whom the RRS has made the formula available without restriction or charge.
They make reference to activities conducted between 1943 and 1953 in the 1954 magazine.

Pre-Historical Jerry!

cite:
http://www.v-serv.com/usr/images/Po...hanics-1954.pdf
8mb PDF!

I wonder if this goes into the pin-up girl thread too?

Reply With Quote