Designer Times
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Using the slices, I cold draw a full size three-view design layout tracing the various sections so as to delineate the internal spaces which would be filled with structure and animation parts. The layout did not include the head and hands as these were being made at the Studio Machine Shop. I began to figure out all the possibilities for the mechanical structure and individual motions based on the Moviola film that Walt had provided. He had the Studio film the actor Royal Dano acting as Lincoln in the three-mirror stage setup. Running the film frame by frame on the Moviola, I could pin point the axis for every body motion by making little paper tracings on top of the small projection screen. I then added these locations to the design layout.
As each area of the body mechanism would become clear and the motion of the parts would be what we wanted, I'd hand draw master detailed layouts of every part. These layouts, drawn in red pencil on tracing paper, would go to our drafters to make each production drawing, then get rushed to the shop for manufacture. There was no time to first make all the drawings, generate master assembly drawings, and check to prove everything would move without interference. We just build all the parts, several per day, as fast as we could draw them up. The machine shop had to trust our design. We were a long way from making any assembly drawings. In fact the main assembly drawing was not done until after Lincoln was already running at the Fair.
The only part we built for test was the very highly stressed hip joint. As with all the mechanical parts, this was thin wall welded steel tube and sheet, designed with multiple load path doublers just like small aircraft parts. We put the test part in a deflection test rig to prove the concept. It was stronger than expected, so I made the next parts thinner. We never had any part failures or fatigue cracking in service. I still keep the test part on my coffee table today as a good omen.
A clever trick the machine shop came up with was to mount the very light aircraft control ball bearings into their housings with a trick press fit. By staking the thin housing next to the thin bearing outer race with a center punch, we could remove the slightest play and snug each bearing up tightly so the Lincoln would not have any "waaga waaga". A backhoe has this kind of slop, Lincoln could not have any.
The toughest Lincoln motion was his getting up out of his chair without any noticeable wobble. Walt was insistant on a very steady head motion. He said he could always tell when his animators came back from a "drinking lunch" and wanted Lincoln to be a rock solid guy. All of the Lincoln Figure above the stage floor had to be supported on one leg only. The other leg carried all the wires and hoses to animate everything. This leg could slide on the floor so viewers knew Lincoln was real. There was no room for a pivot at the ankle joint on the support leg. I designed an "apparent ankle pivot" by using a cam follower cradle below the floor which moved in an arc. All of this apparatus was mounted to a welded aluminum triangular frame which carried the hydraulic cylinders to provide the powerful chair rise and erect body posture of the Lincoln Figure mounted above.
The triangle frame was actually a service elevator that could lower the complete Lincoln, floor, and chair down into the equipment basement below the stage. The idea being that as Lincoln broke down, we could get him out of sight, then replace him with the backup No. 2 Lincoln. As it turned out, Lincoln No. 1 ran almost flawlessly thru the 1964 and 1965 Fair season such that the elevator was seldom used. Lincoln No. 2 was installed at Disneyland in 1965, and for a while America had two working Abraham Lincolns. I designed all the mechanical parts in just 90 days so I could get back to my long term Ford Magic Skyway project.
oOo
Next month: Second Generation Monorail Development for Disneyland
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-- Bob Gurr
Bob Gurr began working with Disney in 1954. He retired in 1981 but occassionally consults for the Company. Since Disney he's worked on the sinking ship at Las Vegas' Treasure Island, Universal Studios' King Kong, Godzilla for the film by the same name and much more. Among his proudest accomplishments he lists "making Walt tickled pink that some of the things he wanted to build actually worked. You could tell how proud he was when he would show off things to his friends and the press. Lincoln and the Monorail were two big ones for him."
Designer Times is normally posted the second Wednesday of each month.
The opinions expressed by Bob Gurr, and all of our columnists, do not necessarily represent the feelings of LaughingPlace.com or any of its employees or advertisers. All speculation and rumors about the future of Disneyland and the Walt Disney Company are just that - speculation and rumors - and should be treated as such.
-- Posted June 12, 2002
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