Human cannonball

thumb|Stephanie Smith, human cannonball at the [[Royal Melbourne Show, 2005]]

The human cannonball act is a performance in which a person who acts as the "cannonball" is ejected from a cylinder that has been specially designed to resemble a cannon. The human cannonball lands on a horizontal net or inflated bag placed at the predicted landing point. Outdoor performances may aim at a body of water.

History

thumb|[[Rossa Matilda Richter ("Zazel") with her cannon in 1877.]]

William Leonard Hunt, known in the circus world as "The Great Farini", conceived and designed the basic act in the early 1870s, filing a patent for launching a human projectile in 1871. Hunt's cannon used rubber springs to launch a person from the cannon, limiting the distance they could be launched. His adopted son, Samuel Wasgate, was the first to perform as the human projectile, dressed in female clothing and billed as "Lulu" in an 1873 act referred to as the "Lulu Leap". She later toured with the P.T. Barnum Circus. Richter's career as a human cannonball ended when she broke her back during an unrelated tightrope act.

During World War I, Ildebrando Zacchini proposed using spring-loaded cannons to shoot Italian soldiers across enemy lines, but the Italian government considered the plan too risky. In Cairo in 1922, Zacchini invented a cannon that used compressed air to launch a human. He first tested his new cannon with his son Bruno Zacchini, and after traveling back to Italy, Ringling Brothers scouts invited the Zacchini family to the United States. Members of the Zacchini family were later inducted into the Ringling Brothers Circus Hall of Fame.

Cannon mechanics

The impetus in the cannon is provided either by a spring or jet of compressed air. This makes the device work more like a catapult, where the cylinder propelling the human stops at the mouth of the cannon. Some cannons utilize nitrocellulose, specifically the dinitrate ester, cellulose dinitrate (pyroxylin).

In a circus performance, gunpowder may be used to provide visual and auditory effects unrelated to the launching mechanism. Fireworks and smoke may also be used to increase the visual effect.

The largest retailer of these human cannons is located in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. This supplier provides approximately 80% of all human cannon catapults.

World record

There is a claim that the current world record for the longest human cannonball flight is , established by David "The Bullet" Smith Jr. on the set of Lo Show dei Record, in Milan, Italy, on March 10, 2011. The distance was measured from the mouth of the cannon to the farthest point reached on the net. Smith was launched by an long cannon. It was estimated that he traveled at a speed of , reaching a maximum altitude of .

There is, however, a contradictory claim that Smith's father, David "Cannonball" Smith Sr., set a record of , on August 31, 2002, at The Steele County Free Fair, in Owatonna, Minnesota. It is estimated that Smith Sr. traveled at over during the flight.

thumb|Leo Garcia is about to enter his cannon to be shot out

thumb|Instant after the performer, Leo Garcia, left his cannon

Risk

More than 30 human cannonballs have died during the performance of this stunt. Among the latest was that which occurred in Kent, United Kingdom on April 25, 2011, where a human cannonball died as a result of the failure of the safety net. Landing is considered to be the most dangerous aspect of the act.

References

External links

The Human Cannonball in Action (video)
BBC News article on being a human cannonball
BBC News article on a female human cannonball
The Straight Dope page about human cannonballs
Human Cannonball (song by Loudon Wainwright III)