On a method used for bringing the blocks necessary to build a pyramid, along an helicoid stone ramp with a non constant slope, a structure allowing to position the blocks within a centimetre and, after being used for the construction becoming the final casing.

J.P.Petit, translated by Claire Bougain

Abstract : The idea of using an helicoid ramp to build a pyramid is not new, but, always conceived with raw clay, it raises numerous problems. It is fragile, especially when considering heavy loads. Moreover it hides the construction while the pyramid is being built, and makes it impossible to align the blocks visually. The ramp proposed here finds its basis on an underlying structure, with stairs, similar to the one which is still present in the Keops pyramid. It climbs by one step every quarter of turn and we conceive it with the same material as the stones used for the casing, simply because this ramp, after removing some of the blocks which compose it, will be the casing itself, established from top to bottom. The problem raised by the resistance to heavy loads is then solved because the total structure is submitted to constraints of compression only, and the problem of alignment of the blocks is also solved because of the recursive characteristic of the geometrical structure. The positioning method, centimetric, is completely described. The model implies a narrow ramp. We describe a simple machine, on the basis of the object found by Selim Hassan near the Kentkaouès pyramid, which enables a dozen men to bring blocks weighing forty tons along such a slope.