Estes Industries is a model rocket company that was started in Denver, Colorado, USA. The company was the first to mass-produce model rocket engines with consistent and reliable performance. It is popular among hobbyists of experimental amateur rocketry for its simple and easily accessible engines, accessories, and rocket-building kits.
Estes Industries was founded by Vernon Estes in 1958; in 1961, the company moved to a 77-acre tract of land on the outskirts of Penrose, Colorado.[10][1] In 1969, Vernon sold the company to the Damon Corporation of Needham, Massachusetts, a company which also purchased a number of other hobby companies including a smaller competitor of Estes, Centuri Engineering of Phoenix, Arizona. Damon merged the two companies under the name Centuri Engineering. The Penrose entity continued doing business as Estes Industries. Centuri Engineering model rocket products continued to be developed, marketed and sold from the Centuri offices in Phoenix as well, although the actual manufacturing of Centuri products was soon moved to the Estes facility in Penrose. Sales of Centuri model rocket products were never as successful as Estes brand products and the Centuri Engineering offices in Phoenix were finally closed and the Centuri product line was discontinued in 1983.
Following a hostile takeover of the Damon Corporation in 1989, Estes Industries was divested and became part of Hobby Products. The business name of the company was shortened to Centuri Corporation. In 1996, Hobby Products acquired the assets of Cox Products of Corona, California, a company involved with the design and manufacture of model airplanes and glow-fuel model airplane engines. Cox's assets were moved to the Estes facility. In 2002, the combined company was sold again and the company's name was changed to Estes-Cox Corp.[11][12]
On August 30, 2002, Barry Tunick, who had been the chief executive officer since 1991, acquired Estes-Cox Corporation from the private equity fund, TCW Capital, for the sum of $15 million. On January 15, 2010, Estes-Cox was acquired by Hobbico, Inc.[13] On January 10, 2018, Hobbico filed for bankruptcy protection under the auspices of the United States Bankruptcy Court in Delaware.[14] As a result of the bankruptcy, Estes-Cox was sold to Estes Industries LLC on April 12, 2018.[2][3]
Accomplishments
Mabel
Vern Estes created "Mabel".[15] "Mabel" was a machine designed to safely and inexpensively manufacture model rocket engines for Model Missiles Incorporated, primarily using compressed air for machine operations, effectively eliminating the risk of electrical sparks inadvertently igniting rocket propellant. Mabel was capable of producing a completed model rocket engine every 5-1/2 seconds. The operation began with an engine casing tube being loaded onto a rotating table. The table then advanced through multiple stations where the nozzle, propellant, delay and ejection components were added. A paper end cap was then cut from a roll of heavy paper tape and inserted to retain the loose ejection charge. The completed engine was then ejected from the table, sent through the printer and dropped into the finished engine box below.[16]
Indoor launch of model rockets in Astrodome
Along with several smaller rockets, Estes sponsored an indoor launch of a model of a Saturn V at halftime of the BluebonnetBowl in the Houston Astrodome on December 31, 1969.[17][18]
Five rockets from Estes in 1969: the Alpha, Saturn V (Semi Scale), X-ray, Aerobee 300, and Astron Ranger
Estes produced a wide variety of rocket model kits, normally using paperboard tubing for the fuselage and balsa wood for fins and nose cones. Early models tended to be relatively simple in design terms, differing in terms of size, number of stages and recovery method. The first kit offered by Estes was the Astron Scout (Rocket Kit K-1) and sold for $ .70. This kit was followed by the Astron Mark (K-2) and the Astron Space Plane (K-3). A more advanced rocket, the Astron X-Ray, featured a see-through plastic payload compartment. Another particularly well-known design from this era was the Camroc, a small camera that replaced the nose cone of larger models that was designed to take a single image on a small disk of film when the motor had burned out and the rocket was facing downward. The Cineroc used a small movie camera that could be launched from larger rockets, taking a series of frames as the rocket ascended. In the 1960s, Estes featured scale models patterned after the popular NASA designs such as the Gemini-Titan and the Saturn-V crewed rockets.
Later model kits from the late 1970s and early 1980s tended to be more for show than performance, including a series of scale or sport-scale designs and "exotics". The 1981 Estes catalog featured a replica of the Space Shuttle. Centuri was also well known for these sorts of designs, and the two companies often copied design elements from the other's latest models. The downturn in the hobby in the later 1980s led to consolidation of the two companies. During the 1990s the model line was dramatically reduced, and the ones that were left were typically very simple "three fins and a nose cone" designs that were partially or entirely preassembled.
By 2019, Estes was offering a much wider range of rockets for sale, including models as complex as the Saturn V.
Estes rocket engine color-coding
Estes Rocket motors. From left, 13mm A10-0T, 18mm C6-7, 24mm D12-5, 24mm E9-4
Estes engines are color-coded for recommended use.
Green engines are for use in single-stage models.
Purple engines for the top stages of multistage rockets and very light single-stage rockets.
Red engines for all booster and intermediate states of multi-stage models.
Black has been used in the past for static test engines, which were also plugged to prevent blow-through.
It can be dangerous to use upper-stage engines in normal single-stage rockets. The long delay in ejection can be problematic. The rocket may already be halfway through its descent when the parachute or streamer is ejected, and the rocket may not slow down enough before it hits the ground.
Each rocket engine has a code printed upon the outer jacket. This code is defined by the National Association of Rocketry (NAR). An example of one such code is A8-3.
The capital letter (e.g., A) indicates total impulse produced by the engine. Each succeeding letter represents a power range with maximum total impulse twice the impulse of the previous letter. (Example: A single C engine can produce anywhere from 5.01 to 10 newton-seconds of impulse, a G engine 80.1 to 160 newton-seconds.) Anything over a G engine is considered high power model rocketry.
The first number (e.g., 8) specifies that engine's average thrust in newtons or the average push exerted by the engine. Thus a B6-0 and a C6-0 will both produce the same average thrust of 6 newtons, but the C6-0, having twice the total impulse, will fire for twice as long. The rocket engines produce maximum thrust shortly after ignition and thrust declines to a steady-state which is maintained for up to 2.5 seconds prior to burnout.[20]
The final number (e.g., 3) indicates the delay between the thrust and the ejection charge, in seconds. Engines with a delay of zero are typically used as booster engines in multi-stage rockets and there is no ejection charge. In this case, the burning propellant ruptures through the top and hot bits of propellant enter the nozzle of the upper stage engine, thus igniting that engine and forcing the booster assembly away, hopefully to tumble safely to earth.
The solid propellant is ignited by a coated wire inserted through the nozzle and in contact with the propellant. An electric current heats the wire and ignites the solid propellant. An engine can also be ignited by the hot gases from the propellant of a booster engine.
Reception
Estes model rockets are popular and used by a large number of hobbyists and educators. However, measurements reported by a group at the University of Central Arkansas found that Estes rocket motor models A3-4T, A8-3, B4-4, B6-4, C6-5, and D12-3 have a measured impulses from 15.4% to 22.8% below the claimed impulse.[21] A study at the Australian Defence Force Academy found Estes D11-P motor to have an impulse 11.4% below Estes specifications and the C6-0 motor to be 4.45% below Estes' specifications.[22] A third study found the A10-PT motor to have a total impulse 20% below Estes' claims.[23] A research project conducted in 2000 by Ellis Langford (who later became president of Estes Industries, LLC) investigated the performance of black powder model rocket motors at higher altitudes.[24] Langford's findings indicate that total impulse and average thrust increase significantly with increased elevation. Estes Industries claimed specifications are based on testing at the Penrose manufacturing plant at an altitude of approximately 5000 feet, versus the three studies and National Association of Rocketry certification tests, all of which were performed at altitudes much nearer sea level.
A rocket is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using the surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely from propellant carried within the vehicle; therefore a rocket can fly in the vacuum of space. Rockets work more efficiently in a vacuum and incur a loss of thrust due to the opposing pressure of the atmosphere.
A solid-propellant rocket or solid rocket is a rocket with a rocket engine that uses solid propellants (fuel/oxidizer). The earliest rockets were solid-fuel rockets powered by gunpowder; The inception of gunpowder rockets in warfare can be credited to ancient Chinese ingenuity, and in the 13th century, the Mongols played a pivotal role in facilitating their westward adoption.
Specific impulse is a measure of how efficiently a reaction mass engine, such as a rocket using propellant or a jet engine using fuel, generates thrust. For engines like cold gas thrusters whose reaction mass is only the fuel they carry, specific impulse is exactly proportional to the effective exhaust gas velocity.
A model rocket is a small rocket designed to reach low altitudes and be recovered by a variety of means.
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A liquid-propellant rocket or liquid rocket utilizes a rocket engine burning liquid propellants. (Alternate approaches use gaseous or solid propellants.) Liquids are desirable propellants because they have reasonably high density and their combustion products have high specific impulse (Isp). This allows the volume of the propellant tanks to be relatively low.
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Orville H. Carlisle, a shoe salesman in Norfolk, Nebraska invented the hobby that would become known as model rocketry.
Vernon Estes, born January 4, 1930, is the founder and namesake of Estes Industries, the highly recognized model rocket production company, headquartered in Penrose, Colorado.
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Hobbico, Inc. was a manufacturer and distributor of hobby products including radio control airplanes, boats, cars, helicopters and multirotors/drones. Other products include plastic model kits, model rockets, model trains, slot cars, crafts, jigsaw puzzles and games. The company had approximately 850 employees worldwide. On January 10, 2018, Hobbico filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and announced the company is for sale. On April 13, Horizon Hobby acquired control of most Hobbico RC brands & IP. Estes Industries acquired the Estes-Cox business unit and a German venture capital group acquired Revell Germany whole and the Revell-Monogram brands, IP & molds.
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Rocket propellant is the reaction mass of a rocket. This reaction mass is ejected at the highest achievable velocity from a rocket engine to produce thrust. The energy required can either come from the propellants themselves, as with a chemical rocket, or from an external source, as with ion engines.
A black powder rocket motor propels a model rocket using black powder. Black powder rocket propellants consist of charcoal, sulfur, and potassium nitrate. Adjustments can be made to the amount of each component to change the rate at which the black powder burns.
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