Dangerous Briefcase

[Sausagemit]

I had a physics teacher who used to be employed by the government in some think tank for the Air Force. Great teacher, always went off on rants about killing things and dead babies. One day he mentioned this briefcase that they used to carry around sensitive documents. It looked like an ordinary briefcase but inside it was far from ordinary. It contained a 25-30 lb rotating mass (think bicycle tire filled with lead) spinning at around 10,000 rpm.

When someone would try to steal the briefcase out of the couriers hand they would inherently rotate it quite fast thus either it would break there hand, fly out of there hand, or take there legs out from under them.

Has anyone ever heard of something that crazy? Has anyone ever heard of using gyroscopic motion as a anti-theft device of any kind?

[anonymous411]

Nope, never heard of it... but it wouldn't surprise me a bit if his friends at the think tank invented it for themselves. Semi-nuts geniuses with access to unlimited DoD money come up with all kinds of crazy stuff to keep themselves entertained.

[cyclosarin]

That's an incredible idea. Do you know how it was powered?

[sdjsdj]

The main problem with such a device would be keeping it in one place under normal circumstances; 35 lb at 10,000 rpm is a hell of a turning moment just waiting to happen.
If the rotating section of the case were spun up in advance, its momentum may remove the need for any motor - how fast would friction cause speed to decay?
I have seen a car anti-theft device which attatches to a steering wheel and rotates when a connected alarm is tripped; my favorite document protection system was developed by the SOE and consisted of a cylindrical armoured case, with a lead-based paste (to prevent scanning for security systems) in its walls, multiple mechanical and electrical locks and two conductive outer cases - if a drill or cutting disk were used to attempt entry, the gap between the two cases would be bridged and a thermite charge around the documents within it would be destroyed - probably along with significant bits of whoever was foolish enough to attempt to gain access!

[Sausagemit]

The main problem with such a device would be keeping it in one place under normal circumstances; 35 lb at 10,000 rpm is a hell of a turning moment just waiting to happen.

Thats the main problem I see with it acctually being feasible. If the courier has to make a left or a right turn there going to have to do it really slow to not have a floating briefcase on there hands and even then It's going to be really hard. As long as they move in a tangential direction to the rotation or in the direction of the moment being imparted on the wheel they would be fine. So basicly, the courier is confined to forward/backward and side to side. That just doesn't seem right.

The guy really knows his stuff so I wouldn't doubt the validity of it, just the problem of it acctually being used.

if a drill or cutting disk were used to attempt entry, the gap between the two cases would be bridged and a thermite charge around the documents within it would be destroyed

That's a good idea that pretty much any home hobbyist could do if he had any sensitive documents.

[nbk2000]

If, instead of rotating in the vertical plane, it rotated parallel with the ground, then transportation wouldn't be a problem.

But then neither would stealing it.

[atlas#11]

This sounds hilarious, I would love to see someone trying to grab a brief case only to watch it break their arm off and fly thirty feet...

I would think that tolerances and give in the bearings would determine the sensativity. Any courier who knows what he is dealing with will probably go slow as balls to avoid imparting the necessary force to move the disk in contact with the breaks or whatever was in the case.

This seems pretty impratical for document protection, but it would be fun to play with. Watching a seemingly harmless briefcase twist it's way up someones arm and break the bejesus out of their bones out of no where would be entertaining to say the least.

[Grapes Of Wraith]

...and two conductive outer cases - if a drill or cutting disk were used to attempt entry...

Not all drill bits are made of conductive material.

[sdjsdj]

Hmm . . .
Perhaps filling the void with pressurized Nitrogen, and integrating a secondary (pressure loss) actuator for the thermite would be in order? It'd certainly make breaking in at least a little more complex.
Sorry for going off topic.

[Lewis]

I can vouche for this technology working exceedingly well.

A few years ago I went to some science fair, and one of the exibits was this exact device, albeit much less powerful.

The breifcase had only a small cable trailing out of it, and when turned on, twisted its way out of even the strongest volunteers' hands.

[Sausagemit]

Any info/guess on the weight, size, and speed used Lewis?

[Jacks Complete]

Far too dangerous to be used. The version NBK suggests is the nearest to practical for a system that runs all the time, as it would be fine and noraml when walking along, but if you tried to run... the change in the torque would flip it hard as you tried to swing it. Cuts down on your load space a heck of a lot, though.

A small incendiary to destroy vital papers has been done, many times. I recall a patent somewhere, as well as various (factual) books from the Second World War.

I'd go with a simple pressure switch to fire these things, with a sealed briefcase. Any penetration by anything would trip it, metallic or not. Oh, and there are very few non-conductive drill bits about the place. A carbide tool would be about it, and they are rarely turned into a drill bit shape as it isn't strong enough to not shatter when it catches on an edge or gets pushed sideways.

[PYRO500]

Why not just have a 5" aluminum cylinder with a screw on cap. Inside the cylinder is a LOT of high pressure gas, I am thinking 5,000 psi of nitrogen. The guy steals it and tries to twist off the top. Being under pressure and sealed the guy is likely to hold it with the cap facing his face and when the cap does come off, it flies at him at a high speed causing injury, and after a short delay 200-250 grams of PETN, allowing all those un injured time to come and see what the loud noise was, and become victim's to the secondary explosion from the gotcha hidden in the bottom of the device which also shreds any papers to unrecoverable dust. To disarm the device a special key is inserted that holds open the one way valve and bleeds the gas off slow enough that the internal barometric sensor doesn't sense the rapid pressure drop and set the detonator into short delay mode. Instead it would go into a slightly longer delay witch would allow a little bit more time for the user to disarm the device .

One could also simply have a remote trigger (think dog trainer collars, press button to shock) which one would detonate a charge inside of an otherwise normal briefcase. Imagine baiting this in a public area know for theft:

you leave briefcase in public area, some guy grabs it and tries to make off, you detonate the charge inside the handle, guy looses hand, and then you have justice as the arabs have been doing it for theft for thousands of years :-)

[cyclosarin]

I didn't think you wanted the briefcase to be stolen.

[anonymous411]

Personally, I can't imagine booby-trapping my own equipment. How many people have been killed as a result of their own absentmindedness? Sheesh, as if I don't have enough to worry about already...

My rule of thumb is the less papers you have around, the better. "Pulp and burn" beats "secure storage" any day.

[PYRO500]

Isn't diversion a legitimate strategy? have the important papers in your pocket, carrying around what looks like a high security briefcase, yet when stolen, the thief looses a hand, you keep everything close to you. Booby traps only work the way they are intended when they aren't dodgey and more complex than they need to be. Remember NBK's KISS RTPB. It really does depend on what you are carrying though. If you have the nuclear football to protect then a team of armed guards might just be what you need, yet if it is something like the account numbers you put the money you have embezzled from your company in you need another strategy.