Pulley inspection

by **Ornea** on April 22nd, 2015, 1:22 pm

Pulley inspection
Timestamp: Day 30 of Spring 515 AV
Location: One of the pulleys at Sharai Peak
OOCThe pulley and the block and tackle system is a kind of very simple/primitive machine used by humankind for ages and the mechanics are really elementary. l hope this will be easy enough and alright for a novice to learn very basic gadgeteering lore from.

ORNEA AND EDWARD ARRIVE AT THE PULLEY

Ornea and Edward Lucis was up and out early this day. They had walked together over the bridge from Shinya Peak where Lucis like many other crafters had their workshops, to the mostly agricultural Sharai Peak. They were going to inspect the pulleys.

It was just routine, but routine was important at Lucis. Edward explained to Ornea that is was only being proactive they could keep up the high degree of safety and quality they excelled at. Nothing at all had happened with the pulleys and they seemed to function as well as always, but they were still going to inspect them now in order to see if manintenance work was needed. The inspection was going to be thorough and detailed. Otherwise, said Edward, what would be the use of doing it at all?

Ornea listened and learned. Edward was her boss. It wouldn’t even occur to her to have another opinion. If Edward said so, routine inspections were essential.

They weren’t going to do any repairs this day. They would just investigate the pulleys very thoroughly. This was the reason for all the tools Ornea was carrying in the Lucis backpack she had been given at work before they left the workshop. Edward Lucis didn’t leave things to chance. They were going to check every part of the pulleys and Ornea was going to make notes too. In addition she had been told to bring her short bow and some arrows and those were strapped on top of the backpack. Edward hadn’t given her a reason and she hadn’t asked. She had just brought the weapon.

There were two bigger pulleys on Sharai and both were used for the same things. Sometimes they transported people up and down between the peak and the areas near the amaranthine river, where Lhavit’s rice was cultivated. This was much quicker than walking all the long way up and down the path on Zinthia Peak. And it was the main way for bringing up the meat and fish that hunters and fishers provided, as well as some other wares that reached Lhavit from the harbor.

Ornea and Edward arrived at the first pulley around two bells after dawnbreak. They were greeted by the lift operators who were working this shift, under leadership of one Zbignieva Maurhan, a woman of uncertain age, dressed in typical Lhavitian peasant working clothes and already tanned by the early spring sun. Her hair was covered under a shawl and her brown gaze was friendly. Her face wrinkled a bit when she smiled at them. When she moved she gave an impression of sinevy, gangly strength.

Ornea pulled out a Lucis Light Special Spanner (LLSS, as Edward called it) and made ready to begin. She didn’t know how to start, but Edward Lucis was giving her instructions and she followed them. As far as she could see, the spanner was just a normal spanner with a more than usual shiny name. Edward had crafted it himself it though. So she was prepared to accept that it was special and a product of Lucis. It didn’t weight so much, so it could also be called light, and it was a spanner. So, alright, she was equipped with this eminent tool, “de ellessessesse” as it sound when Ornea said it. The inspection and investigation of the lift could now start.

...

by **Ornea** on April 23rd, 2015, 6:42 am

ORNEA EXPLAINS THE PULLEY

“I have de ellessessesse” said Ornea with a distinct touch of nari in her voice. She didn’t use to speak with this much accent, her common was normally relatively good, but it was something with the combination of letters that brought out the sound of her native language.

Edward laughed. “If you say that one more time I’m going to star to suspect that you are mocking me” he said cheerily. “Now, as I have already explained, the core of the pulley is the wheels here on which the ropes and chains are moving ...” he pointed at the fairly simple mechanism. “You have seen it on drawings I made and you have seen a tiny model in the office, but this is the real thing. Now we’ll see if you have learnt and understood. Please tell me how it works.”

It was nothing unusual with this question. Edward often asked her to explain things, in order to see if she had understood. It was part of his way of teaching her about gadgeteering. He believed in teaching by letting her do her best to recall things and tell him about it in her own words, instead of just lecturing over and over again. So he would now teach her about machines and gadgeteering by asking questions she had to answer. That way she would learn more, by being active and having to recall and think and understand, not just repeat things he said.

“The pulleys are simple mechanical machines” Ornea started. “They are a kind of really big gadgets that are powered by human manual labor, or sometimes by donkeys. But the thing is, when you use a pulley you don’t need to apply as much strengths to pull as you would normally have to do; instead it is like you pull a lighter weight slower and many times, instead of pulling one bigger weight at once.”

Ornea wasn’t sure if she was so good at describing this, but she tried her best. “It’s like you divide the larger weight up in a number of smaller weights, kind of. It gets lighter, but you get to pull like petch.” She pointed at the pulley. “The round thing here, which the wheel is placed, this shaft ... you call that one an axle if I remember it right. An axle. That is actually a shaft.

And the wheel has a hole in the center, and is put on the axle, so it can spin around it. Or move freely, it is maybe a better way to express it. The axle goes through the middle of the wheel and the wheel can move freely. And around the edge of the wheel there’s a rope. The wheel helps the rope move; it kind of rolls over the wheel, and this way it goes down without getting stuck against edge of the peak. ”

The explanation wasn’t perfect, as Ornea was quite the novice gadgeteer, but Edward was satisfied with this as a first step. “That’s right. You are maybe not totally on the track yet, but in principle this is what happens; it gets easier to lift and move big weights. But how can this be, Ornea. How does this work ? There is definitely a bit more to explain isn’t there ? Do you remember what I told you about block and tackle? Can you add something about this?”

Gadgeteering really was very hard and complicated and Ornea wasn’t sure if it even was what she was doing right now. Edward said it was gadgeteering so she believed him as she was her superior and her teacher, but to be honest she was so novice that she found it hard to define gadgeteering. Edward told her that a lot of thinking, discussing and understanding the uses and the inner workings of mechanical machines was part of what was called gadgeteering. So she guessed she might be doing it right now. It was an odd discipline with many aspects. Intriguing and interesting, but hard.

...

by **Ornea** on April 24th, 2015, 1:41 pm

ORNEA EXPLAINS THE BLOCK

Ornea wouldn’t dream of saying it of course, but she kind of hated the block and tackle thing. She had tried her best to understand it. But she didn’t really feel like she had grasped this. It was typical for Edward to no let her get away without explaining it, which she had against all odds hoped he would. But oh no! Block and tackle it was !

“Well!” Ornea said for a start and made a vaguely waving movement with the spanner. “Yeah ...”

Sbignieva Maurhan had listened to the tirades about the pulley and was now looking impatient. She was softspoken and polite like people were in Lhavit, but went as far as to softly ask how long time this inspections was planned to take. Edward who was a native Lhavitian too answered in the same very softspoken and polite way; it would take as long as his apprentice would need to carry out the tasks he would give her. At this point the two Lhavitians smiled politely at each other.

Ornea was however not that polite and not softspoken either. “It’s going to take time” she said in a straightforward way. “Don’t rush me!”.

The Maurhan woman vinced a bit, but produced a nod and a silent smile. Ornea didn’t care. She was focused on what to say about the block and tackle.

“The block and tackle is a whole bunch of pulleys connected to a bigger mechanism” she stated. “It is called a system, because it consists of a number of parts, which are the pulleys. “ She made a pause and contemplated this circular explanation. It felt enigmatic. And unclear. She tried to clarify it a bit.

“You take one pulley and put it on the axle. And then you take one more pulley and add it to the first one the axle. Then you thread both of them together with a rope or chain, but often it’s a rope. Now you have what’s called a block. A block is two pulleys side by side on an axle and threaded with same rope. And you can have more than two pulleys on the axle and thread all of them together, but it doesn’t matter, it’s still called a block. So a block consists of two or more pulleys mounted on same axle and threaded together with a rope.”

Sbignieva Maurhan looked a bit sick. Ornea noticed this and wondered if the woman had an illness or had just eaten something unsuitable. She was on the verge of asking, but Edward was quicker and cheered her on by saying the block explanation was right, but there was a lot more to it and he wanted her to go on. It could be a good idea to try to complete the inspection before the noon rest. There was farm nearby where they could eat, not a tavern exactly, but a kind of informal food place.

This subtle hint about best to hurry up if she wanted lunch today was totally lost on Ornea who had the subtlety of all Inarta; none at all. She took it as nothing else than random information about the local places. “Good to know” she said in a matter of fact tone that indicated her view.

...

by **Ornea** on April 25th, 2015, 5:35 am

ORNEA EXPLAINS THE BLOCK AND TACKLE

She continued. “Now you take two blocks” she said. “ So now you have two blocks each on their own axle and now you also thread the blocks together with rope. In a special way, that is, which you showed me yesterday. Anyhow, when the two blocks have been connected this way, the result is called tackle. The total of it is called tackle. This is also called a system, although it’s a ...bigger ... system.“

It was annoying how the same word was used for everything she thought to herself. System. One time it meant one thing, next time something totally else. It was tricky. What was it, really. Edward’s answer had been that it was something that consisted of parts. Anything that consisted of parts. This was as vague as a definition came, in Ornea’s definition. It was beyond her to understand how any gadgeteering could be done at all when same word was used for everything and could mean most anything.

“Well, that’s the block and tackle” she said hopefully. Maybe Edward would stop there so they could go on to just checking up the pulley now.

“That’s right Ornea” said Edward patiently. But you need to also explain how it works. This system, with rope threaded around several sets of wheels which are combined to blocks and connected to a tackle, makes it easier to lift heavy weights. But why ? How does it work?”

Ornea knew why. Or more correctly, she knew the name of the reason for why the block and tackle worked. “The mechanical advantage” she said. “The mechanical advantage makes it work.”

Edward was a tenacious teacher as usual and demanded a more detailed explanation. If she wanted to learn gadgeteering she couldn’t shy away from complicated things, he told her. Ornea obeyed of course. Edward was the boss, and besides she wanted to learn. She drew her breath and prepared to go on.

A small sound from Sbignieva Maurhan made her lose focus though and she looked at the woman. Sbignievan smiled a pale, taxed smile. Very Lhavitian and incomprehensible. As she didn’t say anything Ornea supposed she hadn’t wanted to say anything, so she shrugged and turned to Edward again.

“There is only one single rope” she started. “And when the weight is lifted the rope tenses.” This was easy to understand. Anybody who had lifted a weight with a rope knew the rope went tense once you had started to life the weight and it was dangling in the air. But, the next thing was still a new way of thinking for Ornea.

“This can be seen as the weight pulling at the rope, like the weight is a power that pulls at the rope. Or weight is a power that pulls a the weight. Anyway, you think of it as a power that pulls downwards and that’s way you have to use your strength, or a donkey, to counter with a power that pulls upwards.”

Powers. It sounded like a kind of magic. Ornea could in an abstract way feel she could understand this, as it seemed similar to the way magic power and overgiving worked. You blasted outwards with reimancy, and then the overgiving power blasted inwards into the mage. Fire and backfire.

“You know what Edward” she digressed from the topic on hand. “Powers. They backfire. When you use power it hits back on you. If you pull the rope the weight hits back and pulls downwards as soon as it leaves the ground. So the power you put in to lift it makes another power appear out of the blue and pull downward. I know I’m the one pulling upwards, with my arms, but there’s nobody pulling downwards, just that ... weigth power.”

...

by **Ornea** on April 26th, 2015, 12:57 pm

ORNEA EXPLAINS THE POWERS

Edward glanced at Sbignieva Maurhan. The woman’s eyes were wide open now. Edward must admit he was a bit worried about the way Ornea was speaking. It was no secret to him that she was registered as reimancer and he also knew the reason she wasn’t an active wizard. He had so far been spared witnessing any of the dreamlike mental states she had told him she could enter once in a while, but he feared he was about to witness this now, here, and Sbignieva too.

The latter was the problem. Edward didn’t care about Ornea’s less practical sides, but he didn’t want any gossip that could harm the reputation of Lucis and Lucis. He decided to finish the explanation himself in order to prevent a disaster.

“That is the right word for it” he said in a lecturing tone. “And as I have explained to you, when the rope is going around the sets of wheels, the blocks, this creates the mechanical advantage. There’s a lot of mathematics that could make this very clear to you if you were skilled in mathematics, but as is we will take the quick and easy explanation. You can learn mathematics later. So. In principle you can say that the block and tackle divides the pull of the weight, the power, up on a number of parts so that each part carries a smaller power. The more pulleys and blocks the lower the pulling power on each part becomes. “

Ornea nodded. She didn’t understand the more complicated explanations, but she grasped the principle. It was back to what she had said from start. She confirmed this to Edward by repeating with her own words what she had learnt.

“The weight, or pressure is maybe a better word, on the system becomes lower than the weight, or pressure of the power, on just one rope. It’s divided up on the parts. Spread out, like. Just like when several people carry some heavy chest or so. Each one carries less, only the carriers of this machine, this system,are blocks and tackle instead of people. And so, when you pull, you only need to match this smaller power. And the more they are the lighter the split weight becomes. But what you gain in lower weight, you have to compensate by lenght, which means you pull kind of longer, more times.”

She looked at Edward in her straightforward way. “Is that correct?”

Just for a moment she thought she saw something move over Edward's face. But it vanished so quickly that she wasn't totally sure she had really seen the fleeting expression. She watched him and waited, feeling a little bit nervous.

...

by **Ornea** on April 27th, 2015, 3:04 pm

ORNEA SUMS UP HOW THE WHOLE PULLEY BLOCK AND TACKLE SYSTEM WORKS

“Good!” Edward felt his usual enthusiasm return. His apprentice had after all not had some mental trouble there. She had just been bad at explaining. “Can you make a summary of what you have learnt?”

Ornea hoped this was the final question. “Yes. The pulley is one of the most important machines we have as it makes it possible to lift heavy weights with less effort. This is vital for Lhavit, as it’s the way we transport goods to the city, things that would be hard to get here by okomo on the mountain path. It can be bulky goods, but also sensitive goods like fresh fish and meat that isn’t good to take for a long walk on the mountainside, in particular not in summer heat.”

She paused and looked at Edward who nodded in confirmation. “We call them the pulleys, but we are in fact using a number of pulleys that have been combined to one greater machine which is named block and tackle. The pulley consist of a wheel that moves around an axis through it’s center, a shaft that is, the axis I mean."

After drawing her breath she continued. "You make blocks by adding more wheels on the axis and thread the rope around these wheels too. Then you thread take the rope to one more block, the same single rope, and thread it over the pulleys in that block too. Now it’s a block and tackle. And the weight of whatever you are going to lift will now be split in as many parts as the there’s parts in the block and tackle machine. System, it can also be called. So now, when you pull, you only have to exceed the power of the divided up weight, which is much smaller than the full weight ... power. So you get to pull a lot, but it’s much easier than just lifting the full weight.”

She had now explained it well enough for this time, in Edwards opinion.

Her explanations had not sounded so professional, but Ornea was a novice at gadgeteering and machinery. Explanations at higher level could hardly be expected of her in this early phase of learning the complicated discipline with it’s many aspects. The lack of higher mathematical knowledge was a problem. He supposed she would be able to move on to more advanced thinking when she had learnt more about mathematics. That might take several years, to be honest.

But she had obviously paid full attention to what he said yesterday and learnt the principles well enough to be able to describe them to him in a novice’s way. The basic understanding of the fairly simple but useful machinery named pulley and block and tackle seemed to be in place.

“Let’s stop here and proceed with the inspection after we’ve had lunch” he said.

It would soon be noon. After assuring Sbignieva they would be back and do the inspection as soon as the rest was over, they walked over to the farm with the "informal lunch". Ornea felt oddly spent despite how all she had done was speak. No hard physical work at all. Still she felt like she has been working harder than many other time in life. She didn’t whine about this though. She was Inarta and hard work was good, in her opinion.

And also, in the back of her mind a thought she at first didn't want to acknowledge arose, half suppressed but avoiding her control and bleeding through into her awareness, unstoppable and enthralling. It was addictive this knowledge about the powers of the machines; nearly as exiting as getting a kick out of using magic !

"Power", sang the sweet whisper, this insatiable magic hunger in her soul that could no longer be fed with reimancy, but still wanted to live. "Power".

Continues in Make your own lunch

...

by **Neologism** on June 12th, 2015, 4:51 pm

Skills:

Lores:

Notes: Don't forget to edit your post in the request thread as 'Graded', and PM me if you have any questions.

Completed Pulley inspection