Film GO BACK
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 Narrator & Model Frame
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UNISPHERE: the largest representation of our globe ever attempted. UNISPHERE: the largest stainless steel structure yet built. Stainless steel. Why? Because it is to become a permanent landmark, UNISPHERE must be virtually maintenance-free yet remain enduringly beautiful. Stainless steel alone could do the job.
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 Stainles Steel Clad Building Frame
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Decoratively used for years by architect and designer ...
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 Unisphere Model Frame
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... it was easy to suggest stainless steel's strength and beauty for a structure so large.
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 Narrator & Folio Frame
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Here's what our engineers went to work on:
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 Narrator & Assignment Frame
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Assignment:

For purposes of monumental beauty only, complete a feasible design for a stainless steel structure as high as a 12-story building.

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 Harmonious Frame
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If UNISPHERE were to be harmonious when viewed from any angle ...
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 No Bracing Frame
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... no diagonal bracing could be used between parallels and meridians.
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 Heavy & Bulky Frame
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Take away such bracing and conventional structural members normally get heavier and bulky.
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 Light & Attractive Frame
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But each structural member of UNISPHERE must appear light and attractive.
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 Perched on Pedestal Frame
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Perched atop a sculptured base, which must suggest lightness and grace ...
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 Continents Like Sails Frame
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... UNISPHERE would have to withstand the enormous and changing forces of the wind as well as its own weight. The continents and islands would act like sails and wind pressure could exert forces nearly equal to the weight of the entire structure.
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 Model Frame
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Because UNISPHERE is open and its land areas irregular in size and position, the wind blows on either the outside or the inside; the front of a continent or its back.
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 Narrator Shrugs Frame
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No past experience was available to calculate the wind forces because no one had ever built a UNISPHERE before or anything like it!
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 Wind Tunnel Researchers Frame
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To meet this phase of the challenge, exhaustive wind tunnel tests were conducted at the University of Maryland.
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 Recording Statistics Frame
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From these aerodynamic tests came the data that made design analysis possible.
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 Wind Tunnel Dials Frame
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 Wind Tunnel Model Frame
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[wind tunnel model]
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 Computer Statistician Frame
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The mathematics of analysis posed its own peculiar challenge.
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 Computer Circuits Frame
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[UNISPHERE had to be completed by April, 1964. High-speed computers were used ...
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Computer Storage Frame

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... to solve the thousands of problems that would have taken years if attempted manually.
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Bridge Frame

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In the design of this bridge, for instance, it was necessary to solve only 35 simultaneous equations.
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Narrator One Problem Frame

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In UNISPHERE, one problem alone required a solution of 670 simultaneous equations.

CONTINUE Film

 

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