Mental Floss: As the mascot for the San Antonio Spurs from 1983 to 2004, Tim Derk—also known as the Coyote—was constantly looking for ways to make the live game experience better for fans. In addition to dancing, antagonizing players, and engaging with attendees, Derk did what many mascots do to raise morale: He gave the crowd free stuff.
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There are not many things that compare to the thrill of maybe getting the chance to receive a free item shot through the air in your general direction by a tshirt cannon. Even if you know deep down in your heart that you will never be the receiver of such a gift, when they pull out that cannon and you see the mascot or whoever just start aiming around, all common sense tells you to lose your mind. It makes sense that this t-shirt cannon came around from trying to hype an audience up even more, and I’m impressed by the tactics they used to achieve this. I thought it was very interesting how the article mentioned that the technology appeared as far back as World War Two, especially when it came to being a tool used for weapons and distributing (or playing with I guess) food. As for the mishaps, it’s important to keep in mind that with great power comes great responsibility. Please use caution when using any sort of firing object.
I would not expect the T-shirt cannon to have been born during World War II as a way to expel grenades and potatoes, but it makes a lot of sense. I had always assumed that T-shirt cannons were made whenever the modern day mascot came into being and all the other gimmicks that came along with it were made. I am glad that mascots are invested in their jobs enough to want to invent better ways to hype up a crowd. I wish this article delved more into the evolution of who manufactured these and how. Does Derk or anyone have some kind of patent on this invention? Why is the stadium rather than the manufacturer held responsible for injuries? One of the articles linked within this one does answer some questions about the first T-shirt guns, but I’d love to know the process of commercial manufacturing of the product and the legal issues surrounding it.
Who knew the t-shirt cannon had such an interesting history? This seems to be right up the alley of theater considering we are professional prototypers in the business of building something once. The fact that it has its roots in the well known potato cannon doesn’t surprise me too much but it was interesting to hear the launcher like that was originally invented to launch grenades. This is just one more example of war time making civilian life better, safer, and more interesting. Thinking about my associations with t-shirt cannons, it surprises me that they haven’t just been around forever and someone is credited with inventing them. This is partially due to the fact that everything before I was born seems like it’s always been that way, but the t-shirt cannon is certainly a staple. The history within the development of the launcher originally is fascinating as well considering it came out of the department of miscellaneous weapons development which is an oddly specific department.
I want to start by saying how much I love Mental Floss. That being said, I have never really read any of their articles, I have always just watched their videos. I found it extremely interesting how long of a story there is on the T-Shirt canon. My first, hands on, experience with a t-shirt canon was, surprisingly, at my Highschool. When I was a sophomore, someone I had started to work a lot with purchased one for our Homecoming Pep Rally. I was never sold on buying one as out gym, where the pep rally took place, was not very large. Someone could easily run up and down the sidelines throwing shirts into the bleachers. But that wasn't cool enough for him. So one day, this long and skinny, black case appears on my desk with a simple note on it. "Figure out how this thing works. We need it for the pep rally on Friday," signed JD. Well, away I went and by the end of the day I was shooting T-shirts clear across the theater from up in my office. While I'm still unsure if it was worth the money, it was definitely fun to play with.
This article cracks me up. Who would have thought that such a simple item such as a t-shirt cannon had such a deep history and medically expensive current life. I thought it was really interesting how the air cannon first originated in the 1940s. The thought of using the steam from the steam engines makes a lot of sense. Many things at that time were steam powered, so it makes sense that even the air cannon was. It was entertaining to read how they had used the original version to shoot potatoes and empty bottles for fun. I think with the current lawsuits and medical repercussions of the current version that throws soft goods, launching hard potatoes and glass bottles would not go over all that well in today’s climate. I also find it very amusing that people are using them to smuggle goods into prisons. I have heard of people getting contraband via plumbing pipes, but via t-shirt cannon cracks me up.
Ok so this is pretty cool. I don't think there's a person in the world that doesn't get excited when the t-shirt cannon comes out. It's great. We all want a free shirt. I also love the idea of something originally so violent being used to bring people joy. War sucks and we saw this grenade launcher and saw something wonderful: a t-shirt cannon. I actually don't think I've ever seen a multi-barrelled t-shirt cannon in my life, but it's pretty cool. Yes, I guess that t-shirt cannons can be dangerous, but isn't it all worth it to see a giant red dinosaur shoot free shirts at us? I would say yes. Of course, the people who were hurt should sue, but I do not want t-shirt cannons to cease use. I don't like sports, but I do love fun mascot gimmicks, and a t-shirt cannon is the ultimate mascot gimmick. Also, it makes so much sense that someone would try to get contraband in with a t-shirt cannon. It’s actually kind of genius. And hilarious.
Okay, this is exactly the kind of useless tidbit knowledge that I love to have for no reason. There’s just something so interesting about knowing the history of something so obscure. I actually have this fun book I got when I was little called The Kid Who Invented the Popsicle that explained the invention of a lot of random things (and, by the way, the popsicle story? Really cool) that I now know by heart and love to randomly tell people when a conversation gets stale. Anyway, specifically regarding the article, it’s super interesting that the t-shirt cannon of all things traces back to World War II. I’ve always kind of been terrified of those things smacking me (which I guess was not entirely far off regarding those two lawsuits they mentioned at the end), but I also found it delightfully hilarious that a woman used one to get contraband into prisons. I love the show Orange is the New Black and can definitely imagine this having been a genius tactic.
I had no idea that the T-shirt cannon actually had such an extensive history, and was definitely not expecting the gimmicky thing to be traced from World War II. The idea that they had of using the power of the ship’s steam is pretty clever. Not to mention it’s pretty amusing to imagine the “spud launchers” shooting potatoes and all other manners of things. It’s the kind of obscure and somewhat useless fact that’d be a pretty fun trivia question or just tidbit to know. What’s also interesting is how this evolved from an invention to aid warfare, into something to rile up crowds. I can understand how its popularity grew so much considering how excited a large group of people can get with even the slightest chance of getting free stuff- even if it’s a cheaply made/ ugly t-shirt - so of course as many places would want to utilize its popularity. Thinking about other modifications that have been made to the t-shirt cannon, like the Milwaukee Bucks’ triple-barreled gun, makes me wonder how this might morph in the future or be changed to distribute other kinds of merch. Perhaps potatoes will make a comeback.
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