The Cornell Trick... how'd they do that??? — the world according to bob

Apr 16

Apr 16 The Cornell Trick... how'd they do that???

Twenty years ago, somebody impaled a 60-pound pumpkin 170 feet off the ground on the spire at Cornell University. Such creative activities flourish at institutions of higher learning. MIT may be the champion of this sport, but it’s done everywhere.

Nobody knows who did this or how they did it… here’s my response to my Yale roommates after a discussion of this classic prank …

Bob Barnes's plan to recreate the Cornell trick:
1) Buy or borrow a commercial drone. My DJI_Mini2 with four props would probably do the trick.
2). Buy a very light paper machete pumpkin to match the maximum payload the drone can carry. From the ground it will look like a real pumpkin and that will be to expectation of observers, so it will be reported as a real pumpkin until someone climbs the tower.
3). Cut the bottom out to give it a “socket” that would just settle down over the top of the spire. That makes it a bit lighter too.
4). Use that weight savings to offset several coats of water-proofing clear varnish and the release trigger (See 10 below)
5). To avoid the possibility of crashing the drone into the spire, give yourself a safe distance by suspending the pumpkin on a light fishing line.
6). That would also allow the downward-pointing camera on the drone to see the spire and the pumpkin at the same time … for targeting the drop.
7). Suspending it would keep the pumpkin out of the worst prop-wash, too. However, control of the swaying pumpkin would be difficult.
8). Practice, practice, practice. Set up a mockup spire on the ground and learn how to gently lower the pumpkin into place.
9). Releasing the fishing line comes next. Ideally, you want the release to happen at the pumpkin end so as not to reveal how the trick was done by having a fishing line drooping down. Even a thin plastic line might be seen in high resolution photos. The trick will be carefully scrutinized.
10. A custom mechanism must be placed inside the pumpkin that holds the fishing line tightly until the spire enters the bottom of the pumpkin. At that point, the point of the spire will bump into its trigger. The small mechanism will collapse releasing the fishing line which will quickly exit the pumpkin through a small hole at the top. I envision a “Figure-4” snare trigger right out of the “The Official Boy Scouts Handbook” but made of paperclip wire cleverly cut and bent.
11. The now collapsed mechanism's parts will be small enough to simply drop out the bottom leaving no trace. The only odd bit on the sidewalk below will be the little spring salvaged from an old ball point pen and a small washer.
Ok roommates, now we need to recruit some roughish Yalies to carry this out.