The marshmallow shooter is a safe fun way to learn some basic concepts of balistics, and to get familiarized with how a pump works. This toy is made for children to shoot marshmallows. Generally a marshmallow does not have enough power to break household objects while still being able to knock over G.I. Joes. Children who play with G.I Joes and see guns in movies will be shooting something whether it be a slingshot or Nerf gun. I want this launcher to be as least destructive as possible while still being fun and educational.
This toy is based on the principle that mass flow rate is conserved in a pipe. Because the part of the tube with the pump is thick, the air inside does not have to have a very big velocity to make a large flow rate. When this air is forced into the small pipe, it has no choice but to speed up forcing the marshmallow out with high speed.
This toy is made from plastic and has relatively few simple parts, and minimal assembly. This toy has only one moving part, the pump, which could break or start leaking. This is where this toy will likely break first so extra care must be put into its design. The safety concerns of this toy are the missles that it fires, and possibly splintered plastic if the tube was broken in half.
Fedya Kleshchev
Rapid Prototype Design
Carnegie Mellon University
January 23, 2007