So, the way this works is the dinosaur "Louie" is crammed into a 5 inch diameter by 30 inch "bag" that has a 30 inch zipper. This bag is sewn onto the 30 foot Kevlar shock cord. The ejection charge pushes the bag and main enough to break the nose shear pins and get the main out, the main pulls the bag the rest of way out. There's an elastic cord that stretches as the Kevlar cord straightens; it is tied to a paracord that's tied to a zipper on the bag. To prevent the zipper from unzipping while the bag is still in the upper tube, or before the main slows everything down enough, there's a simple mechanical delay, which is an elastic cord which is tightly wound around the paracord and the Kevlar cord. It has a nut on the end so as it unwinds the nut flings outward. This takes 3 to 4 seconds, then the elastic cord can pull the zipper and the Louie falls out of the bag.
Louie has a reinforced strap in his head; there's a 12 foot piece of surgical tubing that arrests his fall. Later, the top of this surgical tubing will be attached to an RC release. This time it was just tied to the bag.
Inside Louie is a 12V 2.5 amp 3 inch marine bilge ducted fan. In the other foot is a 12V 6.5 amp LiFePo battery (1.7 lbs). The switch is a clothespin with wire soldered around the pinchy part and a piece of plastic separating the pinchy part. The plastic is tied to a sting that goes through his body and out a little hole in the top of his head. The original costume fan requires over a minute to inflate Louie; the bilge fan did it in 3 seconds.
It is total Rube Goldberg and I can't believe it worked. It does, however look like he wasn't released from the bag until just under 300' and it looked like he was partially out before that. So, I think the zipper got stuck.
