30-Foot Kite Used to Raise Obelisk

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A remarkably simple and elegant solution. I see it as very possible that the Egyptians could have done something similar.

-Buddy

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20010623/sc/obelisk_kite_1.html

Saturday June 23 8:05 PM ET

30-Foot Kite Used to Raise Obelisk

By ANDREW BRIDGES, AP Science Writer

LANCASTER, Calif. (AP) - Researchers used a mammoth kite Saturday to set a 6,900-pound obelisk upright, a feat they say demonstrates that ancient Egyptians may have harnessed the wind to move even the most massive of stones.

It took two tries but less than five minutes before the reinforced concrete obelisk, which had been prone on the ground, was raised by the tug of a brightly colored parachute modified to fly like a kite in the stiff Mojave Desert wind.

``It's a heck of a lot easier lifting it with the wind than it is pushing it or pulling it,'' said Maureen Clemmons, a Reseda, Calif., business consultant who has spent the last four years spearheading the project.

The feat required just two people to fly the 30-foot kite, which provided an estimated 400 pounds of thrust as it danced in the 14-16 mph wind. A complex system of pulleys provided enough mechanical assistance to make the task possible.

Clemmons, 44, said the idea for using wind power to move heavy objects came to her in 1997 after she read a magazine article about modern efforts to replicate how experts believe ancient Egyptians built the pyramids. Stones used in the pyramids weighed about 5,000 pounds.

``I was looking at this picture, all these guys pushing, pulling, sweating, the ramps and the sand, and nothing worked,'' said Clemmons, who has spent $30,000 on the project. ``There had to be another way.''

Clemmons was inspired by tales of Viking ships sailing across land on log rollers, using wind power. In 1999, she brought her idea to the California Institute of Technology, where a small group took on the project as an engineering challenge.

``You can lift up any weight if you provide the right kite size,'' said Mory Gharib, a professor of aeronautics at Caltech, who has worked with Clemmons for three years perfecting the concept.

Clemmons began with a child's kite and a foot-high toy obelisk and has gradually scaled upward. Saturday marked the fourth time her team has used wind to lift the 6,900-pound version. Eventually, they hope to lift a 20,000-pound obelisk.

Kite experts and Egyptologists are skeptical.

``We just do not believe she's got a prayer. It's just not logical. It doesn't bear the scrutiny of people who know kites,'' said Valerie Govig, the publisher and editor of Kite Lines magazine, which recently ceased publication.

Experts in Egyptian art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York added through publicist Egle Zygas that the concept of kite-flying pyramid builders is ``highly unlikely.''

But Clemmons - who maintains ancient paintings and reliefs suggest the Egyptians flew kites - remains a firm believer in wind power.

``How many people does it take to pull an oak tree out of the ground? One gust of wind can pull it out by its roots,'' Clemmons said.

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On the Net:

http://www.fdsmail.com/archeologee/Default.htm

-- Buddy (buddydc@go.com), June 25, 2001

Answers

Ms. Clemmons seems to be saying that to achieve a mechanical advantage, kites rather than humans have to supply the force. That claim mystifies me completely.

-- David L (bumpkin@dnet.net), June 25, 2001.

David,

Perhaps it would be clearer to describe the situation as substituting wind power for human power, or augmenting human power with wind power. IOW, a given task can be accomplished by fewer people if some natural force is harnessed to provide power.

Sailing a boat instead of just rowing it.

-- No Spam Please (nos_pam_please@hotmail.com), June 30, 2001.


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