Jefferies Tube construction as seen on TOS

[slipcover]

Hello. I am a long time reader, but this is only my second post.

I was curious about the construction of the original series Jefferies' Tube. Using Google, I easily found the original production sketches drawn by Matt Jefferies, as well as the overhead stage layout.

I had two specific questions:

1. The construction of the tube itself - I know the tube itself was created with Sonotube. It looks to be about 36 inches in diameter, and about 8 to 10 feet long. It looks to be at about a 45 degree angle. Are these conjectures close to correct?

2. The construction of the steps or stairs - I have seen many screenshots at TrekCore, but I can't figure out much. They look to be about 12 inches wide, but I really don't know. The shape really throws me. Could anyone teach me about these?

I noticed a few people had built the more... exciting sets using Lightwave. The work from both blssdwlf and Mytran is absolutely inspiring. I would love to know if anyone had done this kind of detail work on the Jefferies tube?

Thank you,
Bill

 

[Robert Comsol]

I recently noticed on an old still that the tube still had the manufacturer's label on it and (just like the infamous chairs) deliberately or coincidentally it read "Burke".

Sorry to be unable to offer more on the issue, but hopefully some other members can and will provide more insight.

Greetings to OK (lived there for a while)

Bob

 

[Mytran]

slipcover: Were you just just after the dimensions of the steps or what they were actually made from? I'll check the other measurements when I get home tonight.

Bob: I have yet to spot that label, nice one!

 

[slipcover]

Hello!

Thank you for reading my post! I love reading your research, sir. It is always interesting to me. And it was interesting to read you once lived in Oklahoma.

Anyway, I was looking for the actual dimensions of the tube set. Especially when it comes to the strange little stairs up the tube. Honestly, I can't even really figure out how they are shaped from the stills I have seen on TrekCore. I would love to re-create them.

Thank you for taking the time to answer my question. I am truly honored you would take the time.

Sincerely,
Bill

 

[Robert Comsol]

It's an honor to hear your encouraging comments. Hope you or your relatives weren't affected by the twisters in Carney or Shawnee.

Bob

 

[slipcover]

We have been very lucky (so far), when it comes to destructive weather. I live in Tulsa, and the storms have occurred about 90 miles to the south west. It is really just amazing. This tornado seems to have gone right through an area it covered in 1999.

 

[scotpens]

There's some amusing info on the original Jefferies Tube on this page (scroll down to "The Jefferies Tube on the Original Series Enterprise".

The steps or footrests appear to be simple wedge-shaped constructions of plywood or fiberboard.

 

[Mytran]

Unfortunately I didn't have the measurements I though I did, sorry! That link above is useful though - the top of the tube (in charlie X) is about 6' off the ground and the bottom is about 2' - leading to an approximate diameter for the tube of 4', not 3' (as the Season 2 setplan shows). I always took the setplans as correct, but the screencaps do not lie! (see also http://tos.trekcore.com/hd/albums/2x10hd/journeytobabelhd0472.jpg for a shot from Season 2)

The steps appear to be about 1' wide. The initial block is about 1' high and 6" deep.

 

[GSchnitzer]

...leading to an approximate diameter for the tube of 4', not 3' (as the Season 2 setplan shows). I always took the setplans as correct, but the screencaps do not lie!

You're just teasing us, right?

You can get the "diameter" of the opening all the way up to five feet or six feet or any amount of feet you want simply by making the tube even steeper. The actual diameter of the tube is measured perpendicularly to the walls.

Take an empty paper towel roll cardboard core and cut it. But don't just cut it perpendicularly; cut it diagonally, at a really extreme angle--like from almost one end to almost the other end. Then measure from the top of the opening to the bottom of the opening. Abracadabra! You now have a cardboard tube that has become, like, eight inches in "diameter" instead of just an inch and a half!

 

[Maurice]

...leading to an approximate diameter for the tube of 4', not 3' (as the Season 2 setplan shows). I always took the setplans as correct, but the screencaps do not lie!

You're just teasing us, right?

You can get the "diameter" of the opening all the way up to five feet or six feet or any amount of feet you want simply by making the tube even steeper. The actual diameter of the tube is measured perpendicularly to the walls.

Take an empty paper towel roll cardboard core and cut it. But don't just cut it perpendicularly; cut it diagonally, at a really extreme angle--like from almost one end to almost the other end. Then measure from the top of the opening to the bottom of the opening. Abracadabra! You now have a cardboard tube that has become, like, eight inches in "diameter" instead of just an inch and a half!

Well, so long as you're talking about the major axis, sure. The diagonal cut will not effect the minor axis, which will remain the width of the tube no matter how you slice it.

 

[GSchnitzer]

...leading to an approximate diameter for the tube of 4', not 3' (as the Season 2 setplan shows). I always took the setplans as correct, but the screencaps do not lie!

You're just teasing us, right?

You can get the "diameter" of the opening all the way up to five feet or six feet or any amount of feet you want simply by making the tube even steeper. The actual diameter of the tube is measured perpendicularly to the walls.

Take an empty paper towel roll cardboard core and cut it. But don't just cut it perpendicularly; cut it diagonally, at a really extreme angle--like from almost one end to almost the other end. Then measure from the top of the opening to the bottom of the opening. Abracadabra! You now have a cardboard tube that has become, like, eight inches in "diameter" instead of just an inch and a half!

Well, so long as you're talking about the major axis, sure. The diagonal cut will not effect the minor axis, which will remain the width of the tube no matter how you slice it.

Right. I think Mytran is looking at screen grabs of the major axis and thinking that is the minor axis as well, instead of relying on the actual blueprint measurements of the minor axis.

 

[Mytran]

D'oh, you're absolutely right! That will teach me to rush my calculations before heading off to work!

Sorry, back to a 3' tube it is. With a 45 degree cut across the base, simple maths show that the lower opening is indeed 4'3", which matches the screencaps perfectly. I can't believe I fell for that!

All other measurements stand...for now.

 

[Mytran]

Incidentally, if we go by the S2 setplans as an overhead view then the original tube would have been a massive 12' long before it was chopped and mounted. This would put the top of the tube at more or less the same overall height as the 10' flats the set was built from.
However, they would have had to crank the camera up considerably higher to film Scotty down from that angle.

Thoughts anyone - would this have been feasible?

 

[Albertese]

Sure. There's a number of shots on the show where they musta took the camera into the rafters. I can't recall which episodes off the top of my head, But I can think of some shots looking down on the bridge set where you get a good look at most of it's width from above, which would have required both a pretty high camera rig and some clever use of lenses...

--Alex

 

[aridas sofia]

Right. I think Mytran is looking at screen grabs of the major axis and thinking that is the minor axis as well, instead of relying on the actual blueprint measurements of the minor axis.

Greg, have you ever come across any indication that the Jefferies Tube was designed to portray an access between the secondary hull and the nacelle? That 45 degree angle has always made me think that might be the case.

 

[BK613]

^^
well the Jefferies tube in The Ultimate Computer is labeled

Engineering
Circuit Bay 121

Screenie

 

[GSchnitzer]

^^
well the Jefferies tube in The Ultimate Computer is labeled

Engineering
Circuit Bay 121

It's actually

ENGINEERING
CIRCUIT BAY G-121

Yes, they repurposed the signage that had been used in two different places during the first season.

The other place it appears is on the wall of the corridor opposite the door of Engineering when Kirk runs in to fight Khan at the end of "Space Seed." (I really do need to grab a shot and get it posted.) But you can see it at Trekcore:

http://tos.trekcore.com/hd/albums/1x22hd/spaceseedhd738.jpg

For our Phase II sets, the different signage looks something like these samples:

I never heard where the Jefferies tube was supposed to be running until Franz Joseph made them climb up to the nacelles. I think I read somewhere that Jefferies had "intended" it to run up the spine of the connecting dorsal. I don't remember where I saw that or if I'm even remembering it correctly.

 

[Maurice]

I never heard where the Jefferies tube was supposed to be running until Franz Joseph made them climb up to the nacelles. I think I read somewhere that Jefferies had "intended" it to run up the spine of the connecting dorsal. I don't remember where I saw that or if I'm even remembering it correctly.

Andy Probert intended the D's Jefferies tubes to go up the center spine of the dorsal. I never heard any suggestion like that previous to that.

 

[Mytran]

Shane Johnson suggested that exact location in his "Mr Scotts Guide to the Enterprise"

 

[GSchnitzer]

Shane Johnson suggested that exact location in his "Mr Scotts Guide to the Enterprise"

Maybe that's what I'm remembering. Still, Memory Alpha makes reference to "Jefferies' original schematics." So maybe there actually is something out there.