DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.33567#0186
9°
seven pieces were shown ; but the contractor having discovered a rock in that bay, from which a
block could be quarried sixteen feet long by ten square, the number was reduced to five. The total
weight of the pedestal is about 236 1-4 tons. The " Luxor " and " Sphinx " were detailed for that
service, and started as soon as the former could be floated again.
This neglect, causing such a great delay, seems inexplicable, and must have been due to some
concatenation of circumstances, political or other, the record of which may have been swallowed in
the graver events of those troubled times. However that may be, the obelisk lay inert for many
months ; it was not until the 8th of September, 1836, that it was placed on the last cradle, which
was to carry it up the slope leading to the top of the pedestal.
This final ramp was built of masonry, with a rise of eight feet in a hundred. The intention at
first was to use a steam-engine to haul the obelisk up this incline, and much enthusiasm was felt at
the idea ; but unfortunately the machine broke down in a preliminary trial, and the same old capstans
and tackles had to be resorted to again.
An article that appeared in this connection, in the of October 16, 1836, is
doubly interesting, portraying as it did the feelings akin to awe with which that motor, since become
so familiar, was then regarded. The following is an extract:
" It is much to be regretted that sufficient precautions were not taken to ensure this engine working
satisfactorily. The idea of inaugurating the steam-engine on so solemn an occasion was most happy. For a
part of the public the steam-engine is of the unknown, a mysterious and formidable creation liable to explode
like thunder. It would have been well to associate the monuments of antique art with one of the finest
productions of the inventive mind of modern times. It would have been well to show two hundred thousand
people one of these engines, so foolishly dreaded by the ignorant, seizing the obelisk of Sesostris, and raising
it little by little with perfect regularity of motion, without the aid of a living being, excepting the one man
charged with supplying coal to the furnace, the soul of the engine. These machines are destined to relieve
man of all work that needs only brute force, and even, such is their perfection, of some work that may seem to
demand guidance from an intelligent being. The steam-engine is one of the greatest triumphs of mind over
matter; it is nature made captive, working for man, and in man's stand. It is nature enslaved ; and it is the
only slave, the only serf of the future."
The writer of those lines probably had as little thought of the future of the electric current as
we now have of—what ?
No difficulty was experienced in pulling the obelisk up the ramp ; five hours sufficed to bring
it close to the pedestal. Great care was then necessary. Advancing up the greased incline not
steadily but in jumps of one to two feet at a time, it finally came to within an inch of the line that
the edge of the base had to cover, and to make it come just to but not beyond that line was a problem
involving delicate manipulation of a great power. To do it the tackles were stretched taut, and the
capstans then stopped ; with this strain on, the very slight movement required was imparted by giving
two slight ramming blows to the Needle.
The q?5<?7i%73<A' in erecting the obelisk was the same, reversed, as that of lowering it in
Egypt, except that only one rotation was necessary and possible. As before, the edge of the base
which was to constitute the axis of rotation was ^ 37% to a heavy beam of wood, rounded on
the opposite side and free to revolve in a corresponding groove in another beam. This last rested
in a step which unfortunately had to be cut in the top and side of the pedestal. M. LeBas
proposed two ways of obviating the necessity of so disfiguring the plinth, but he seems to have
been not entirely unhampered in the prosecution of this work, and the step was cut.
The gear for raising the point of the Needle consisted of ten derricks rigged as previously
described. See Plate xxxiii. The derrick-heads were connected with the obelisk five feet below the
base of the pyramidion by ten cables or shrouds; on the other side were frapped the movable
blocks of as many seven-fold tackles, the hauling parts of which were taken to capstans. By
seven pieces were shown ; but the contractor having discovered a rock in that bay, from which a
block could be quarried sixteen feet long by ten square, the number was reduced to five. The total
weight of the pedestal is about 236 1-4 tons. The " Luxor " and " Sphinx " were detailed for that
service, and started as soon as the former could be floated again.
This neglect, causing such a great delay, seems inexplicable, and must have been due to some
concatenation of circumstances, political or other, the record of which may have been swallowed in
the graver events of those troubled times. However that may be, the obelisk lay inert for many
months ; it was not until the 8th of September, 1836, that it was placed on the last cradle, which
was to carry it up the slope leading to the top of the pedestal.
This final ramp was built of masonry, with a rise of eight feet in a hundred. The intention at
first was to use a steam-engine to haul the obelisk up this incline, and much enthusiasm was felt at
the idea ; but unfortunately the machine broke down in a preliminary trial, and the same old capstans
and tackles had to be resorted to again.
An article that appeared in this connection, in the of October 16, 1836, is
doubly interesting, portraying as it did the feelings akin to awe with which that motor, since become
so familiar, was then regarded. The following is an extract:
" It is much to be regretted that sufficient precautions were not taken to ensure this engine working
satisfactorily. The idea of inaugurating the steam-engine on so solemn an occasion was most happy. For a
part of the public the steam-engine is of the unknown, a mysterious and formidable creation liable to explode
like thunder. It would have been well to associate the monuments of antique art with one of the finest
productions of the inventive mind of modern times. It would have been well to show two hundred thousand
people one of these engines, so foolishly dreaded by the ignorant, seizing the obelisk of Sesostris, and raising
it little by little with perfect regularity of motion, without the aid of a living being, excepting the one man
charged with supplying coal to the furnace, the soul of the engine. These machines are destined to relieve
man of all work that needs only brute force, and even, such is their perfection, of some work that may seem to
demand guidance from an intelligent being. The steam-engine is one of the greatest triumphs of mind over
matter; it is nature made captive, working for man, and in man's stand. It is nature enslaved ; and it is the
only slave, the only serf of the future."
The writer of those lines probably had as little thought of the future of the electric current as
we now have of—what ?
No difficulty was experienced in pulling the obelisk up the ramp ; five hours sufficed to bring
it close to the pedestal. Great care was then necessary. Advancing up the greased incline not
steadily but in jumps of one to two feet at a time, it finally came to within an inch of the line that
the edge of the base had to cover, and to make it come just to but not beyond that line was a problem
involving delicate manipulation of a great power. To do it the tackles were stretched taut, and the
capstans then stopped ; with this strain on, the very slight movement required was imparted by giving
two slight ramming blows to the Needle.
The q?5<?7i%73<A' in erecting the obelisk was the same, reversed, as that of lowering it in
Egypt, except that only one rotation was necessary and possible. As before, the edge of the base
which was to constitute the axis of rotation was ^ 37% to a heavy beam of wood, rounded on
the opposite side and free to revolve in a corresponding groove in another beam. This last rested
in a step which unfortunately had to be cut in the top and side of the pedestal. M. LeBas
proposed two ways of obviating the necessity of so disfiguring the plinth, but he seems to have
been not entirely unhampered in the prosecution of this work, and the step was cut.
The gear for raising the point of the Needle consisted of ten derricks rigged as previously
described. See Plate xxxiii. The derrick-heads were connected with the obelisk five feet below the
base of the pyramidion by ten cables or shrouds; on the other side were frapped the movable
blocks of as many seven-fold tackles, the hauling parts of which were taken to capstans. By