Patent ID: 7753040

Claim:
A helical field accelerator, comprising: a pair of rotating members in close proximity of each other, one of the rotating members comprising a female rotating member having an outer surface that includes a groove in the form of a helix having a continuously increasing pitch, and the other one of the rotating members comprising a male rotating member having an outer surface that includes a raised feature adapted to be at least partially disposed within the groove; and a conduit at least partially disposed in the groove of the female rotating member, the conduit having a fluid disposed therein, wherein a traveling pinch-point is generated in the conduit by the interaction between the rotating members to transmit rotational kinetic energy of the rotating members to the fluid within the conduit, thereby converting rotational kinetic energy of the rotating members to linear kinetic energy of the fluid disposed within the conduit and wherein the fluid has a discharge velocity that exceeds a supersonic velocity of the fluid.