Prater’s Theory makes the construction of the great pyramid look easy, a fifth of the block weight moved with minimal exertion by a 13-year-old girl.

2-degree Ramp Test – Real

The small-scale tests were ok, but I could not really live without knowing how the methods would work for constructing the pyramids in real life, so I tested the 7.5-degree ramp first, as I knew this would give me all the figures I needed and conclude my brief. Sticking to a 2-degree incline, which was just as exciting, I asked a 13-year-old girl, Pipi and a friend, Carl, to help with these tests.

Using a Lattice Rig. The rope from the blocks connects to the small circumference of the spool, and the pull rope, wraps around the spools outer section. It is a little bit like gears on a bicycle, but instead of having two sets, there’s just one. (See: Two Spools-Gearing The Pyramids)

Pipi very easily moved 544 kg / 0.544-tonnes up the 2-degree ramp. So five 13-year-old girls would move a block weighing 2.5 tonnes. The majority of the blocks in the great pyramid weigh this amount. Amazing really. The effort necessary from Pipi was minimal, and like all the tests carried out in the garden, there was no training, explaining, or practice run.

Pipi moved 0.544-tonnes so that’s ninety-two 13-year-old girls moving a 50-tonne block to the inside of the great pyramid for the King’s and Queen’s chamber and the Grand Gallery.

To move a 100-tonne block for the relieving chambers would take one hundred and eight-four, 13-year-old girls, and going on how easily Pipi moved over ½ a tonne, they would probably have a laugh doing It. It would not be a hard slog, especially with a large spool.

In a test previous to this, the rope from the block was over the larger circumference of the spool, finding out how one man, Carl, would move the load on this incline.

Carl had difficulty getting the load moving, but it became easy once it started to move, ending the test crashing into the rig. After seeing this, I knew that another 300kg added would have been about the right amount of weight. Keeping the figures at, 0.544-tonnes, gives the same numbers as Pipi and her team to construct the Grand Gallery, the King’s and Queen’s chamber, and the relieving chambers.

Continuing the build, using 2-degree ramps, would mean 26 Pipis’, or Carl’s, moving a block weight of over 14 tonnes, within 5 meters from the very top of the great pyramid.

I was very happy with these tests, as they showed that large blocks could move on a flattish, 2-degree ramp, up the pyramid, supported on the internal structure, and a sizable percentage of the casing stones could also get moved on the external structure, to quite a height.

There would be some forces acting on the equipment. When the rope is pulled, the spool rotates towards the load, drawing up the blocks up the ramp as it does so. The stresses are on the lattice rig’s two rear, guide ropes holding the spool. Keeping half the men pulling the rope at the rear of the spool and half the men on the ramp, relieves the force on these guide ropes. The spool is then suspended in space. The guide ropes that coil around the spool help to hold the wood fibres together.

2-degree Ramp Test – Theory

Before I carried out the tests with a lattice rig for real, these were the figures and concept for the A-frame.

Dropping a weight of 1.75 drew 13 up the 2-degree slope.
Equating this to tonnes. 1.75 tonnes of pulling force for 13 tonnes.

So if, 1.75 tonnes became 13.47 tonnes, then this would theoretically draw 100 tonnes up a 2-degree ramp.

According to research, an average man can insert a force on a rope, anywhere between 100 kg and 200 kg.

If there were 130 men on a sledge, each weighing 100 kg (13-tonnes), and it takes 12 men pulling 146 kg (1.75-tonnes) to bring the sledge up the slope, to find the ramp ratio, I divided the load by the pulling force.

Using the A-frame, the 2-degree ramp has a ratio of (13 / 1.75) = R7.42.

• R7.42 x 0.150-tonnes = 1.113 tonnes per man.
• 90 men. Each man exerting 0.150 tonnes of pulling force = 13.47-tonnes.
• A pulling force of 13.47-tonnes. Equating to a granite block weighing 100 tonnes.

For more explanation on ramp ratios, see Images Relevant to Pages.

The men have to last the job, and the easier they have it, the better the morale, and better health, meaning more production.

In these early stages of developing the ideas, I was unsure how gravity and friction would play a part in the real world. Not wanting to learn how to calculate it, in case it put me off trying out scaled-up versions and thinking of exhaustion, the 90 men became180 men.

Men could be on the ramp, spaced at 750 mm, roughly 2½ feet apart, requiring a length of 67.5 meters, around 221 feet.
But given more space, say a total of 90 meters.

The image shows, there is space on the ramp for the 180 men to move a 100-tonne block above the relieving chambers.

The tests in the garden showed, 180 men or 13-year-old girls would easily move it, even utilising a small spool.