How do you decide whether to use ignition spheres or torches to light a prescribed burn? For a long time, the answer was simple. You use ignition spheres to conduct an aerial burn of a large or inaccessible area. For anything else, you use torches or flares. End of story....Well not quite.
Anyone who has worked with aerial ignition spheres long enough has toyed with the idea of using them for some type of ground based application. You could simply inject them with the reacting chemical and drop them on the ground, but that really isn’t an improvement over a drip torch. To be more useful, the primed spheres need to be propelled a distance away from user.
The first commercial device capable of doing so was invented in Australia by John Reid of Aerial Ignition Sales Pty Ltd. It resembled a shot gun and used butane fuel to propel the primed sphere much like a potato gun. Unfortunately, the device never achieved widespread adoption outside of Australia.
One of the problems with trying to launch a conventional sphere is that it doesn’t have enough weight for its size to be a good projectile. If the same weight were concentrated in a smaller diameter sphere, you would have a much better projectile.
Such a projectile is available from SEI Industries in the form of its Dragon Egg ignition spheres. These spheres are only 26mm in diameter instead of the conventional 32mm, yet they have the same net weight. They were designed with a higher weight to volume ratio so that they would better penetrate heavy tree canopies when dropped from a helicopter.
Since the introduction of Dragon Egg ignition spheres, two ground based products which are specifically designed to launch these spheres have entered the market. The first was the PyroShot FBS-1 which is manufactured by Field Support Services of Atlanta. It is a hand-held launcher capable of propelling a Dragon Egg up to 25 yards.
The operator "cocks" the launcher by pulling back on a handle to compress the main spring. When the handle is pushed forward, the sphere is first injected with the reactant chemical and then propelled out of the barrel by the power of the spring.
The PyroShot is intended as a supplement to hand-held drip torches. It allows the operator to ignite areas that are inaccessible with a drip torch due to obstacles such as ditches. This is particularly welcome in areas where ditches are havens for alligators and poisonous snakes.
A complaint with the PyroShot FBS-1 is the lack of distance. While effective for clearing small obstacles, it cannot compete with flare guns. To address that part of the market, Field Support Services has now introduced the PyroShot-HS. It is also a handheld launcher, but its uses compressed gas to propel the spheres up to 100 yards.
The gas can be compressed air, but is more commonly carbon dioxide as this is readily available in a variety of small cylinder sizes. By regulating the pressure of the propellant gas and changing the angle of the barrel, the operator can control the distance.
The HS has two handles that resemble the prohibition era Thompson machine gun. To fire the launcher, the operator first pulls back on the front handle to inject the sphere with reactant. Then the handle is pushed forward to retract the needle and allow the sphere to drop into the barrel. The handle is then pulled back again to close the barrel and the trigger is pulled.
The extended range of the PyroShot FBS-HS can easily match the distance of a flare gun. With a 12Ga flare selling for twenty times the price of a Dragon Egg, the savings on consumables can soon pay for the purchase of the launcher.
In part two of this article, I will discuss a third product soon to be released into this market.
Anyone who has worked with aerial ignition spheres long enough has toyed with the idea of using them for some type of ground based application. You could simply inject them with the reacting chemical and drop them on the ground, but that really isn’t an improvement over a drip torch. To be more useful, the primed spheres need to be propelled a distance away from user.
The first commercial device capable of doing so was invented in Australia by John Reid of Aerial Ignition Sales Pty Ltd. It resembled a shot gun and used butane fuel to propel the primed sphere much like a potato gun. Unfortunately, the device never achieved widespread adoption outside of Australia.
One of the problems with trying to launch a conventional sphere is that it doesn’t have enough weight for its size to be a good projectile. If the same weight were concentrated in a smaller diameter sphere, you would have a much better projectile.
Such a projectile is available from SEI Industries in the form of its Dragon Egg ignition spheres. These spheres are only 26mm in diameter instead of the conventional 32mm, yet they have the same net weight. They were designed with a higher weight to volume ratio so that they would better penetrate heavy tree canopies when dropped from a helicopter.
Since the introduction of Dragon Egg ignition spheres, two ground based products which are specifically designed to launch these spheres have entered the market. The first was the PyroShot FBS-1 which is manufactured by Field Support Services of Atlanta. It is a hand-held launcher capable of propelling a Dragon Egg up to 25 yards.
The operator "cocks" the launcher by pulling back on a handle to compress the main spring. When the handle is pushed forward, the sphere is first injected with the reactant chemical and then propelled out of the barrel by the power of the spring.
The PyroShot is intended as a supplement to hand-held drip torches. It allows the operator to ignite areas that are inaccessible with a drip torch due to obstacles such as ditches. This is particularly welcome in areas where ditches are havens for alligators and poisonous snakes.
A complaint with the PyroShot FBS-1 is the lack of distance. While effective for clearing small obstacles, it cannot compete with flare guns. To address that part of the market, Field Support Services has now introduced the PyroShot-HS. It is also a handheld launcher, but its uses compressed gas to propel the spheres up to 100 yards.
The gas can be compressed air, but is more commonly carbon dioxide as this is readily available in a variety of small cylinder sizes. By regulating the pressure of the propellant gas and changing the angle of the barrel, the operator can control the distance.
The HS has two handles that resemble the prohibition era Thompson machine gun. To fire the launcher, the operator first pulls back on the front handle to inject the sphere with reactant. Then the handle is pushed forward to retract the needle and allow the sphere to drop into the barrel. The handle is then pulled back again to close the barrel and the trigger is pulled.
The extended range of the PyroShot FBS-HS can easily match the distance of a flare gun. With a 12Ga flare selling for twenty times the price of a Dragon Egg, the savings on consumables can soon pay for the purchase of the launcher.
In part two of this article, I will discuss a third product soon to be released into this market.
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