Unrealistic thickness and length of the ropes in the manual construction of Peter

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

The thickness of the ropes used in the manual construction of St. Petersburg is comparable to the thickness of the electric cable to the Crimea along the bottom of the Kerch Strait. It can neither be lifted nor twisted by hand.

The answer to the question about too thick ropes has been found. I proceeded from the fact that the figures indicated by Montferrand refer to the thickness of the ropes, and he meant the length of the rope's sectional circumference, which is Pi times larger, that is, almost three times. Then many questions disappear. I got this idea from several people at the Hivemind contest, however. The columns for the building of St. Isaac's Cathedral were brought by ships and unloaded on the embankment. I quote:

Subsequently, Sukhanov's place was taken by Arkhip Shikhin. In particular, on July 12, 1826, he undertook to "roll four granite columns lying at the pier near St. Isaac's Cathedral" at a distance of 24 sazhens (50 m), for which he demanded "pine logs four sazhens long, seven vershoks thick - 100, the rope of the resinous nine-inch- 300 running fathoms

RGIA, f. 1311, op. 1, d.340, l. 7, 10.

9 inches = 22.5 cm!(1 inch is 2.5 cm) This is not to lift the column, only to roll it over! This is the head size of an adult male or a medium watermelon. It is thicker than a 3 liter glass jar. And it looks like this:

Try to wind such a rope into a round bay with your bare hands, as shown in Montferrand's drawing from Isaac's Album on page 97:

In the text, the thickness of the ropes is 22.5 cm, and in the figure it is about 5 cm. In the figure, men in hats with brims calmly clasp the rope with their palm. If 22.5 cm is not a diameter but a circle, then the diameter becomes 3.14 times smaller - 7 cm.

I wonder what kind of load the ropes with a thickness of 7 cm can withstand? Here's what I dug up on the internet:

Rope diameter, mm	Meters in the bay	Coil weight, kg	Breaking load, kgf
10	250	19	628
11	250	23	740
13	250	30	980
14	200	30	1200
16	200	39	1550
19	200	54	2080
22	150	56	2820
26	150	60	3520
29	150	90	4400
32	100	76	5310
37	100	100	6700
40	100	125	7900
48	80	136	10860
56	80	188	14150
64	80	198	18000
72	80	316	22300

Ropes for rolling columns are almost the same thickness as in the last lines of the table and will withstand about 20 tons for breaking. The columns of St. Isaac's Cathedral weigh just over 100 tons. And you don't need to lift them, just roll them over. Moreover, several ropes were used. In the picture there are 5. With a total capacity of 100 tons! Do you know how much easier it is to roll a barrel than to lift it? Approximately 100 times. A passenger car weighing a ton can be pushed by 1 person, but a whole crowd is needed to lift the top. That is, super-thick ropes with a hundredfold safety factor are used to roll the columns! *** After the installation of the columns of Isaac, and, even more so, the Pillar of Alexandria, Montferrand became the chief specialist in weight lifting. And in Moscow, the broken Tsar Bell weighing 202 tons was "not credited" (ie, it has been in the pit for over 100 years since 1735 and is waiting for a weight specialist). Naturally, the choice fell on Montferrand. We read OV:

According to Montferrand's project, strong scaffolding was installed over the pit, equipped with a system of blocks with ropes thrown over them. To observe the preparatory work "for raising the big bell from the pit" Montferrand summoned the draftsman P. I. Volkhov.

On April 30, 1836, the Moscow governor-general invited Montferrand to his place and ordered him to start raising the bell …

… at the St. Petersburg manufacturer P. P. Sazonov, he ordered 20 more ropes in 6.75 inches(17 cm !!!) thickness and 75 sazhens long, 10 ropes in 4 inches (10 cm)thickness and 100 sazhens long (220 meters), 2 ropes 1.5 inches thick and 100 sazhens each in length and 25 slings of different thicknesses and measures

RGIA, 1311, op. 1, d.939, l. 5, 10.

Pay attention to the length. 20 ropes of 160 meters each is 3 kilometers 200 meters + 2, 2 kilometers 10 centimeters and half a kilometer thin 4 centimeters.

I did not understand. Did it take 6 kilometers of ropes to lift the bell from the pit a few meters? Shaw for bullshit?

How was the bell going to be raised 100 years before Montferrand? ***

Now I wonder what is the thickness of the ropes for lifting the column? I didn’t find any information, so I’ll have to count.

The finished column weighs 600 tons, and at the time of lifting it weighed 700 - it was still processed for 2 years. But for now, we will carry out all calculations to a minimum, as if it weighs 600 tons.

Here is a drawing by Montferrand from page 67 of his album:

I counted the number of ropes in the picture - 60 pieces. But this is on the one hand. From 2 sides, respectively, 120. 5 tons for each rope. That is, a normal thin rope up to 5 cm can be used. ***

The most close-up view of a rope next to a person (for comparison with the size of a person) can be seen on page 57 of Montferrand's Alexandro-Colonsky album, which shows the process of installing a megaton pedestal under the future column:

Whoever sees the picture for the first time may be surprised that the pedestal is much larger than what actually stands under the column. My other investigation is devoted to this riddle. Whoever does not read is a fool.

Also surprising is the very gigantic brick structure in the middle of the now empty Palace Square. My other investigation is devoted to this riddle. Whoever does not read is a fool.

Here is a snippet of interest to us from here:

Ropes of different thicknesses are used, and the thickest are more than half of the head, that is, more than 10 cm. Or more than 4 inches. Along the circumference of the section, respectively, 13 inches or 33 cm. That is, Isaac's columns were still rolled with not the thickest ropes. One and a half times thinner than these. This is if we proceed from the version that it is not the thickness of the rope that is indicated, but the girth around the circumference. In this case, Isaac's 100-ton columns are rolled with 5 ropes not of 200 tons of strength, but 10 times less (the cross-sectional area in Pi is times less squared). 5 ropes of 20. tonnes each do not lift the column, they just roll it over. Which is about 100 times easier than lifting. Not a thousand-fold overdoing, but a hundred-fold. Which doesn't look sane either. There are a few more pictures in this album where you can estimate the thickness of the ropes, but not so clearly:

But when the process of winding up the rope and grabbing it with your hands is shown, Montferrand's gigantomania disappears somewhere again:

Below you can see 3 skeins of thin rope. I don’t know how to combine a snake and a hedgehog. Let me remind you. My main version is that Montferrand specially drew an obvious nonsense so that they would understand his hint that he was drawing a lie under duress against his will.