Have a golf cart, helicopter rescue seat, fire extinguisher and old lawnmower in your workshop?
If you’re Lance Greathouse, with those ingredients and a few others you can create a 15-horsepower wheelchair (five times faster than a normal wheelchair!) complete with a device that produces flames 35 feet long (the length of a bus!).
@ScienceChannel asks: Why would anyone need a “four-wheel flamethrower”?
Greathouse, the genius mechanic behind Phoenix, Arizona’s Greathouse Labs, explains in an interview with Outrageous Acts of Science:
“A lot of people ask ‘Why do you need a flamethrower?’ Until you’ve ever shot one, you’ll never understand.”
“Every disabled person that’s been in our stuff … has said ‘Dude, we love it. You’re right on track, Being disabled can be fun.’ So, I’m going to keep doing it.”
A non-profit he co-founded, Wheelchair Labs, enhances lives with the gift of electric wheelchairs and scooters. Greathouse’s commitment to that cause is fueled by the effect one such machine had on the mobility and mindset of his late brother Brent.
Learn more about that inspiration: https://thedailyfloss.com/2016/06/16/brotherly-love-knows-no-limits-especially-when-greatness-is-in-play/
Meet the innovator who earned a #6 rank from Outrageous Acts of Science, the series that scours the Web for the best amateur and professional scientists whose homegrown research has gone viral: Outrageous Acts of Science video