If you weren't sure Elon Musk deserved the title of "eccentric billionaire", this might convince you otherwise. On top of plans to dig tunnels, create supersonic travel pods, colonize Mars, and load his own Tesla Roadster into the world's most powerful rocket, it seems Musk is getting into the flamethrower game.
Like some of his other ventures, it's hard to tell just how serious Elon Musk is about selling flamethrowers, and for no apparent reason other than to have a laugh. And laugh he does, in a video posted on his Instagram over the weekend showing The Boring Company CEO firing up a flamethrower and running in a not-so-menacing nature at the camera.
There is also dedicated page on The Boring Company's website, where pyro enthusiasts can preorder the weapon for US$500 and watch a video of a pair of company employees letting them rip. Below that is another pre-order button for The Boring Company's Fire Extinguisher for $30, should you feel you need it.
Musk's recent Twitter activity suggests that he plans to produce 20,000 of his little friends. He also says that rumors of him starting a zombie apocalypse to "generate demand for flamethrowers is completely false," and that "you'd need millions of zombies for a so-called "apocalypse" anyway. Where would I even get a factory big enough to make so many!?"
On one hand, the fact that thousands of people already appear to be pre-ordering the flamethrower suggests that this could be a real product. The Boring Company says shipping of the flamethrowers will kick off in the spring (Northern Hemisphere). We'll continue scratching our heads until then.
Update February 1st: Elon Musk has confirmed today that the flamethrowers are all sold out. He also says that all will ship with a complimentary Boring Company fire extinguisher. It is unclear at this stage whether it will be accepting more orders in the future.
Source: The Boring Company
I saw how the tanks, carried on a packboard by the operator, were filled with gasoline, and a jelly-ing powder was added. The tanks were then pressurized, and fed to a trigger. The trigger had a striker, similar to that used by a welder, and the trigger was spring-loaded so that the thing was either fully off or fully on. In the "on" position, it shot a stream of jellied gas out about 30-50 feet, and ignited into a giant fireball at that point. The fireball hung out there until the operator released the trigger, and the flow stopped instantly (theoretically).
At the demo I attended, the kid operating the handle promptly showed us that all Army equipment was substandard and worn. He overrode the spring, and let the handle stop about mid-way between "off" and "on."
The flow reduced immediately to about 15 feet from the operator, where the giant fireball hung in the air, and the kid's hands started to burn. He began to weave around, with the gun in his hand, and only the intervention of a brave second lieutenant saved the group of GI's standing behind the operator.
The lieutenant peeled the kid's hands off the trigger, which immediately shut down the flow, and undoubtedly saved me and several others.
If Elon Musk or anybody else thinks these things are toys, he or they are seriously demented. These are dangerous weapons, and if delivered to untrained civilians, injuries and deaths will occur.
These are NOT toys, and they are not hobbyist specialties. These are NOT equivalent to paint ball guns: These are serious, dangerous instrumentalities. Ralph L. Seifer, Long Beach, California