JohnRich 4 #1 September 8, 2004 There was an interesting one-hour show on The History Channel last night. A group of British researchers have a theory that parachutes may have been used to help build the great Egyptian pyramids, in moving the large stones. The idea is that chutes were used, inflated in the wind, to produce pulling force, to drag the huge stones up a ramp to be placed on top of the pyramid. This sounds like a wild idea, but there is actually some support for it in Egyptian hieroglyphics, which show large wings, attached to ropes, being handled by workers on the ground. They tested their theory with a 400 sq. ft. ram-air chute. One of the interesting things they found was that the intial snatch force of a parachute inflated on the ground, produces about three times more pull force than the steady-state force of a flying chute. The chute was rigged to a rope, which ran through some pulleys in a tower. By flying the 400 sq. ft. chute, in a 20 mph wind, with the mechanical advantage of pulleys, they were able to lift a 22,000 lb. concrete obelisk! They hired professional kite-flyers to fly the ram-air parachute. It was kind of humorous to watch them continuously dive it into the ground, and describe it as "dangerous". They would have done better hiring a couple of skydivers to handle the chute. I'm skeptical about the idea of ancient Egyptians having ram-air chutes. But giving their amazing feats of engineering, I think it is plausible that they could have used round chutes to harness the wind, just as they used sails on boats. The show is called "Flying Pyramids, Soaring Stones". The next showing is Weds. Sept. 8th, from 3:00 to 4:00 a.m. Oh yeah, set your VCR to record that one... Reference TV Schedule Search Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
turtlespeed 212 #2 September 8, 2004 Nah - if they could do that with stones - there would have been BASE jumpers then.I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PhreeZone 15 #3 September 8, 2004 Ram air kits are incredibly powerful. I've got a baby version (5m) now that will easly lift me off the ground in winds over 25 mph. I can't tell you how many times I've crashed my kites since they are 100-150 feet away and a slight hand movement is a huge movement that far out. If a 5 sq meter kite can lift a 175 pound guy, controling a 350 sq meter kite is in a completely different galaxy. I'd LOVE to see skydivers try to control a canopy that large on 200 foot long control lines. More injuries are bound to happen that way then after the beer light comes on. They were showing that a single skin kite would be able to provide the same drag, but the ram air canopy was a lot easier to control. They used nylon rope after proving Hemp rope would have worked.Yesterday is history And tomorrow is a mystery Parachutemanuals.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
