I know you’re thinking: “that’s a bat-shit crazy title.” But bear with me on this one. It’s not as (bat-shit) crazy as it seems. Just slightly crazy.
It turns out that the humble anvil has a storied history of flight. So it’s even more useful than you thought. You see, in England back in the day (like 200 years ago), anvil quality control was a hot topic. Apparently it was a common problem that you’d buy an anvil from thames.com (predecessor to amazon.com) and the damn thing would break.
Well, it’s moments like this where the mesh of human will and creativity take hold. A visionary enters the story. We don’t know who that visionary was but we know for certain that this guy didn’t fuck around.
The idea was as simple as it is brilliant: “Anvil Firing.” It’s a method of testing anvils where you stack one anvil on top of another anvil and then gunpowder is poured in between the two anvils – and ignited.
This accomplishes two things, both of which are impressive. (1) If the bottom anvil did not shatter, it was deemed safe to use. (2) The other anvil (on top) is launched like a rocket. It flies. Like 1000s of feet. Into the air.
Think I’m joking? People still do it today. Because how else are you going to get views on YouTube? Video link here.
What conclusions can we draw here?
Aerodynamics? An anvil cuts through the air like a hot knife through butter.
Thrust? The anvil has impressive and efficient acceleration capabilities. When explosives are used.
Hover? An anvil can hover. At its apogee. For perhaps a second.
Payloads? An anvil can deliver payloads. As long as that payload is an anvil.
Now, let’s compare the anvil to the standard drone shown above.
Aerodynamics? The standard drone loses on all fronts. It has an inefficient design with way too many extraneous parts – and this adds weight. It’s a direct-drive open propeller. The most aerodynamically efficient propellers are ducted and spin at low RPMs.There’s nothing superfluous about an anvil. It is the essence of a very efficient design.
Thrust? Because it is thin, the propeller is poorly designed to deliver thrust. It has to be thin because it has to spin at very high rpms, a necessary trade off with a direct-drive motor.
Hover? Score one point for the standard drone. Even the most inefficient drone can hover longer than an anvil.
Payloads? Anvils are over a hundred pounds, so the anvil wins the payload contest.
So our recommendation is that you buy an anvil for your next drone.
Or a Modovolo Lift. Your choice.
Pre-Order your Modovolo Lift here and now.
