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Tensegrity Tower: Third email from Kenneth Snelson

To: Robert W Burkhardt <bobwb@juno.com>
Date: Sun, 2 May 1999 20:51:51 -0500
From: Kenneth Snelson
Subject: Sunday, May 2

Hello Robert,

Thanks for sending me your handsome book describing work with tensegrity/floating compression domes and spheres. I confess that the math is out of my reach although I trust from your thoroughness that it accurately applies to the structures in the illustrations. I thank you for the good research shown in your introductory notes about the history.

As a workaround from my math limitations my work has amounted to an empirical journey, one idea leading to another -- my education into the subject for these past five decades. I've made endless mistakes and experimented with many different forms, all of which has defined for me what is feasible and what's improbably.

As for domes, Bucky's or other people's, I've never been excited by them for my work because of the limited prospects for shape variations in comparison with the kind of modular forms I've developed.

In one of your messages you referred to a comment I made or didn't make about the longer lines being in greater tension. If I was ever quoted in that way it could only have been taken out of context since it's not a correct statement.

>I thought I'd link the patent montage you sent me to the patent number
>listed in
> http://www.channel1.com/users/bobwb/synergetics/photos/tower.html. I
>would embed it in an HTML page with a title like "Patent #3,169,311
>Montage by Kenneth Snelson" and/or anything else you suggest. Is this OK
>with you?

I think it's okay. Do it and let me see what it looks like if you don't mind.

Best,

Kenneth S.

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