On Wed, 22 Oct 2008 11:07:22 -0700, Jim Lux
wrote:

Don't recall how tall it was, but it laid back down to get under the
overpass at the end of the route. It was built by professional float
builders (Phoenix)
http://floatcam.caltech.edu/ has a link to video clips during
construction, etc.

My Real Media player is having its usual bad day. I'll look at it
later.

I forgot about the overpass. That would be a problem. One year,
someone built a float over a large fork lift. The plan was to lower
it at the overpass and again at the park entrance (due to overhanging
wires). When the forks were lowered, the skin of the float was
shredded. Someone used baling wire to tie together the ends of the
chicken wire skin at the junction. Oops.

Cal Poly traded space in the Rose Palace with D.E. Bent and Sons. I
think he retired in about 1978. We supplied him with surplus labor
(mostly for decorating and handling flowers) in trade for floor space
and "borrowing" tools. It was a very professional operation.

One of the funniest things was watching Disney Animation attempt to
build their first animated float. Everyone expected big things from
them due to their experience at Disneyland. As expected, the float
had more moving parts than stationary. Just one problem; Disney ran
on pneumatics instead of hydraulics.

The centerpiece of their design was a rather large globe with a
satellite spinning around it. The globe was bisected at the equator
with a cantilever rod supporting the satellite. It, and other moving
parts, sorta worked. Then, they added the flowers and watered them.
That added lots of weight, which they hadn't expected. The support
rod bent and had to be reinforced. Instead of smoothly orbiting the
planet, the satellite lurched and jerked its way around the globe. The
pneumatics could not overcome the added friction. The pressure just
built up and up until the satellite suddenly lurched free. This was
repeated every minute or so. I vaguely recall that it finally died
about half way through the parade when some hose or fitting finally
broke from the concussions. By then, all the flowers had been
catapulted off anyway.


--
Jeff Liebermann
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Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
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