The Great Pyramid of Giza was a Pulse Pump
January 17, 2009 12:13 PM   Subscribe

The Great Pyramid of Giza was a Pulse Pump. (.com) You know, for free energy. Inspired by the work of Ram Pump inventor and "Pharoh's Pump" author Edward J. Kunkel, The Pharoh's Pump Foundation is dedicated to general pyramid pump awareness and answers many relevant questions. For instance: Is this Pharaoh's Pump stuff hallucinations of a raving maniac?

... Their answer? "No." For some reason, some people are skeptical.
posted by ph00dz (23 comments total) 7 users marked this as a favorite
 
Pyramid pumps are not my bag baby.
posted by BrotherCaine at 12:17 PM on January 17, 2009 [2 favorites]


I think The Pharoah's Pump Foundation is just another KLF alias
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 12:36 PM on January 17, 2009 [9 favorites]


Any foundation that can't depict a correct pyramid in their logo methinks is shite.
posted by ZaneJ. at 12:59 PM on January 17, 2009


I guess this is just an example of the other extreme, regarding people's understanding of technology.

Some folks think a CD-ROM tray is a fancy cup-holder. Other folks think a big pile of limestone is actually advanced technology beyond our modern understanding.
posted by Dark Messiah at 1:13 PM on January 17, 2009 [1 favorite]


You shoulda linked to the best bit of that Dawkins forum thread: Pharoah Pump Guy Responds
Further explanation.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 1:21 PM on January 17, 2009


Right, and it just so happens to have the typical architecture of a tomb at that time and some sinister character shut down the pump and made a tomb just to fool youtube nut jobs? Yes, very plausible.
posted by damn dirty ape at 1:23 PM on January 17, 2009


As he says in that post, this site is a much clearer explanation of the theory.

GP-as-water-pump isn't crazy at all, just highly weird and in the end probably utterly useless. Which of course means I love it.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 1:26 PM on January 17, 2009 [1 favorite]


DDA: The GP is a unique pyramid, and even reputable scholors are confused about why it was built differently than the others, which are undeniably tombs.

Except for the Sphinx which is obviously for the Queen to hide in to trick dragons into mating with her.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 1:35 PM on January 17, 2009 [1 favorite]


DDA: The GP is a unique pyramid, and even reputable scholors are confused about why it was built differently than the others, which are undeniably tombs.

Oh come on. Of course it's a tomb. For Khufu. They even baked in the sarcophagus as they went so it couldn't be removed as an anti-theft measure.

As to it's construction, there's a very obvious progression from the third dynasty's bench tombs through Sneferu's three attempts to his son's. The builders weren't super-geniuses, they were learning as they went, pushing the limits of their abilities, and eventually they got it right.
posted by Leon at 2:16 PM on January 17, 2009


Well sure everyone knows it's probably a tomb. But what this theory presupposes is...Maybe it isn't?
posted by Potomac Avenue at 2:40 PM on January 17, 2009 [1 favorite]


Pyramidiots.
posted by Foosnark at 2:59 PM on January 17, 2009


I thought they were landing pads for the Goa'uld.
posted by MikeKD at 3:46 PM on January 17, 2009


Not saying I think the guy is right (or that I bothered to carefully read/listen to much of it) but a hydraulic ram is hardly advanced technology beyond our modern understanding. Hippies living in the woods were using this kind of stuff 40 years ago (see The Whole Earth Catalog, et al.)

It could even be believable if they didn't trail off with this: "Anyone that has experienced the running model all come away saying that the pump function is secondary to the pulse generation." Why the hell would you say this. What is the pulse doing for you? It's like having a long paper explaining how toilets work and then concluding that the musical sounds generated by urine hitting water is the reason they exist.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 4:24 PM on January 17, 2009 [1 favorite]


Well sure everyone knows it's probably a tomb. But what this theory presupposes is...Maybe it isn't?

The point is that they need to first explain why architectecture that looks like a tomb, was used as a tomb, smells like a tomb, and is typical of tombs for pyraminds isnt a tomb. Without that first step the whole endevour is just "hey, theres an off-chance this pyramind could be used a pump. What a crazy coincidence!" not "hey, this pyramind was built to be a pump." This is the CD-Rom drink holder problem.

Future generations might think the pringles people made wifi antennas. It turns out they really just made boring potato chips.
posted by damn dirty ape at 4:27 PM on January 17, 2009


The pulse pump thing is pretty cool, though.
posted by five fresh fish at 6:21 PM on January 17, 2009


That's hilarious and awesome. Also, he could be on to something. I read somewhere recently that some of these huge stone structures had been designed to "breathe" so the workers wouldn't suffocate. Some of these water pump features could actually be AIR pump features.
posted by DU at 6:58 PM on January 17, 2009 [1 favorite]


odinsdream: I think part of what he's getting at with the "pyramid on top" idea is that the pump would need a fair bit of weight/mass above it to stop the top of the pump blowing out (as it did on his model design with a perspex cover).

It could be a case of...
  • Egyptian inventor: I have this idea for pumping water to irrigate the fields and supply drinking water, but it needs a shitload of rocks piled on top to stop it self-destructing.
  • Pharaoh: I want a big pointy tomb built out of a billion tonnes of rock!
  • Egyptian inventor: Hmmmm...
As for the "anyone that has experienced the running model all come away saying that the pump function is secondary to the pulse generation" question: he points out at the end that some aspects of the design (the well shaft) reduce the pumping efficiency quite dramatically. Because they also act to change the resonant frequency of the whole apparatus, he thinks the point of it was to create sound. If it is a ram, I'd like to think they were either a design/construction error, or possibly an attempt at an anti-hammer device.

IIRC, when building the Snowy Mountains hydro scheme in the 50's they found they needed to construct more anti-hammer chambers than planned, to avoid destroying the pipework and gates/valves during operation.

(Having said that, it's interesting, but I think he's a little nuts...)
posted by Pinback at 9:25 PM on January 17, 2009


A pyramid that resonates at a nice working frequency would act pretty much as a clock signal for work efforts, i.e. all those things that require co-ordinated labour effort (rowing, pulling, hoisting, hoeing, pumping).

It'd be labour's heartbeat.
posted by five fresh fish at 9:57 PM on January 17, 2009 [1 favorite]


Also, the inventor/pharaoh common interests thing seems to be a perfectly cromulent explanation. What better way to a lasting legacy than to have one's tomb be part of the engine that revolutionizes an agrarian society's modus operandi? The tomb/pump would be the single most important thing ever to Egyptian society.

All in all, it's a pretty fucking awesome idea. I think it makes one helluva lot of sense.
posted by five fresh fish at 10:01 PM on January 17, 2009


Even George Washington Carver said, "This explanation is the solution to one of the greatest mystery of the ages!"

thanks :D
posted by kliuless at 4:29 AM on January 18, 2009


Kid Charlemagne: I dunno, a massive heartbeat thunderering out from the great tomb of my God and ex-King would be pretty awe-inspiring I think. That alone would be justification enough.

What's really interesting about this idea is that it makes some specific, testable predictions: for it to be viable, that tunnel out the bottom of the pyramid has to go somewhere & have a particular set of properties. That puts it outside the usual "woo" pyramidological theories.
posted by pharm at 8:35 AM on January 18, 2009


Pyramid power again? This is just proof that everything 70s is current again today.
posted by happyroach at 11:46 AM on January 18, 2009


I used to have a pyramid pump, but then they started marketing Viagra.
posted by Lemurrhea at 5:48 PM on January 18, 2009


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