Refrigerator Will Toss You A Can Of Beer

[Kor37 9]

Refrigerator Will Toss You Can of Beer

By ESTES THOMPSON

AP

RALEIGH, N.C. (March 8) - When John Cornwell graduated from Duke University last year, he landed a job as software engineer in Atlanta but soon found himself longing for his college lifestyle. So the engineering graduate built himself a reminder of life on campus: a refrigerator that can toss a can of beer to his couch with the click of a remote control.

 

"I conceived it right after I got out," said Cornwell, a May 2006 graduate from Huntington, N.Y. "I missed the college scene. It embodies the college spirit that I didn't want to let go of."

 

It took the 22-year-old Cornwell about 150 hours and $400 in parts to modify a mini-fridge common to many college dorm rooms into the beer-tossing contraption, which can launch 10 cans of beer from its magazine before needing a reload.

 

With a click of the remote, fashioned from a car's keyless entry device, a small elevator inside the refrigerator lifts a beer can through a hole and loads it into the fridge's catapult arm. A second click fires the device, tossing the beer up to 20 feet - "far enough to get to the couch," he said.

 

Is there a foam explosion when the can is opened? Not if the recipient uses "soft hands" to cradle the can when caught, Cornwell said.

 

In developing his beer catapult, Cornwell said he dented a few walls and came close to accidentally throwing a can through his television. He's since fine-tuned the machine to land a beer where he usually sits at home, on what he called "a right-angle couch system."

 

For now, the machine throws only cans, although Cornwell has thought about making a version that can throw a bottle. The most beer he has run through the machine was at a party, when he launched a couple of 24-can cases.

 

"I did launch a lot watching the Super Bowl," he said. "My friends are the reason I built it. I told them about the idea and hyped it so much and I had to go through with it."

 

A video featuring the device is a hit on the Internet, where more than 600,000 people have watched it at metacafe.com, earning Cornwell more than $3,000 from the Web site.

 

Cornwell said he has talked to a brewing company about the machine, but right now only one exists. Asked if he might start building some for sale, he said: "I'm keeping that option open, depending on interest."

 

When Cornwell was a student at Duke - an elite, private university in Durham - he participated in the engineering school's robotic basketball contests, said mechanical engineering Professor Bob Kielb. He said students tried to build a robot that could retrieve a pingpong ball and toss it into a small hoop.

 

"He always did well in it," Kielb said. "He came up with completely unique ideas."

 

 

 

I have GOT to get me one of these!.. :P

[Wishfire 2]

I took the lazier (and cheaper) way out. I had the minifridge positioned right next to my couch. And I got the kind the opens at the top. Works even better, and guaranteed never to exlope uopn openning.

[Odo 0]

Kids today can not even stumble or crawl to the fridge

for a fresh cold one. :P

[He Who Shall Not Be Named 2]

Does it work for bottles too?

[Odo 0]

Not yet :beer: :taz:

[MrPsychic 1]

Yea, I could just see this thing that dented walls and a drunk working together... Someone's gonna get a broken nose or something...

[Vulcan_lover 1]

What happens when you get to drunk to catch?

[He Who Shall Not Be Named 2]

What happens when you get to drunk to catch?

 

Ah, that is when you switch to the Tequilla Super-Soaker!

[trekz 7]

What happens when you get too drunk to catch?

That's when you either get dents in your wall, a dent in your head, or you drop it and it soaks you when you try to open it! :P

[MrPsychic 1]

What happens when you get to drunk to catch?

Obviously you didn't read my past before yours. :P

[Gummy 0]

Pure Genius.

Nothing more. Nothing less. :P

[ddillard 2]

I really want one of these now.