1996 Olympic Torch Engineers Torch for Salt Lake Olympics

ATLANTA - For many people, the Olympic Torch is a dazzling vessel that represents the spirit of the Games. But for the engineer who designs it, the torch is a labor of love that embodies months, if not years, of unique engineering challenges.

The Winter Games mark the second time that Sam Shelton, a professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology, has stepped up to the challenge of building an Olympic Torch. In addition to the 2002 Winter Olympic Torch for Salt Lake City, he built the 1996 Summer Olympic Torch for Atlanta.

"I have had many diverse experiences in my life as an engineer and as a human being, and this is certainly one that has brought many of those elements together," said Shelton, a professor of mechanical engineering at Georgia Tech in Atlanta. "I feel sometimes more akin to an artist than an engineer."

For 65 days beginning Dec. 4, more than 11,500 people will carry the Olympic Torch on a 13,500-mile journey through the United States to Salt Lake City, where it will light the Olympic Cauldron on Feb. 8 and open the 2002 Winter Olympic Games.

As it covers that expansive territory, the durability of the Torch will be put to the test. It must be engineered so that the Olympic flame cannot be easily extinguished under widely varying weather conditions - including wind, rain, heat and extreme cold.

The artistic concept of the torch was created by Axium, a Los Angeles design firm, to look like a fiery icicle. Based on Shelton's experiences in 1996, the Salt Lake Organizing Committee chose him to transform the design concept into a well-functioning instrument.

"The Salt Lake Torch is a freeform type of icon that simulates ice and fire coming out of ice," Shelton said.

The body of the torch is tapered with an antique silver finish and dark-shaded grooves that run from top to bottom. The Salt Lake City Logo, Olympic rings and the text, "Light the fire within," are etched into the front.

The outer shell is made from aluminum and plating to produce a polished chrome finish. For the first time in the history of the Olympics, the Torch is topped with a glass crown from which the Olympic flame emerges from a copper cauldron. The flame is visible from within the crown.

In particular, Shelton noted the unique engineering challenge of the glass crown. The torch was not designed to have the flame burn from the top of the torch, rather the flame emerges from within the torch, through a glass crown, echoing the theme of the Games: "Light the Fire Within."

The design called for a glass crown with an asymmetrical shape and icy texture, which would not easily break if dropped during the relay, but also could stand up to both the heat of the flame and below freezing temperatures at the same time.

Shelton's next challenge was to produce a valve-and-burner system for inside the torch that would prevent the flame from being extinguished under extreme conditions - such as temperatures as low as -40°F and as high as 80°F, gusting winds, heavy rain and high altitudes. The flame also had to remain highly visible in all weather conditions.

"Those are difficult conditions to maintain a lit flame," Shelton said. "Of course it is of utmost importance to keep this sacred flame lit."

The same flame that is lit in Greece must be the same flame that lights the Olympic Cauldron in Salt Lake City. Several safety lanterns are lit during the ceremony in Greece, in case the flame is extinguished along the torch relay.

Another challenge, Shelton said, was to build a torch that could easily be mass produced, but still look artistically hand-crafted. Roughly 12,000 torches were manufactured for the thousands of torchbearers that will participate in the Torch Relay. Each torchbearer has the opportunity to buy the torch after completing their leg of the journey.

Some torchbearers carry the torch for as long as 20 minutes, so weight also was an important consideration. The torch weighs three pounds, which is about the weight of the Atlanta Olympic Torch.

Shelton had considered the chance to build the 1996 Summer Games Torch a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity - until officials from Salt Lake called him in early 2000. Hesitant to commit to the toils and pressure of building an Olympic Torch, Shelton wasn't sure he was up for a repeat performance.

"I had to give it a lot of consideration," he said. "I did not immediately say yes." In 1996, Shelton said he had nearly two years to complete the job. This time around, he had only about eight months. "I never would have agreed to do it if I hadn't been down this path before," he said.

Shelton said the arduous process of building the 1996 Torch culminated in thrilling emotions when he participated as a torchbearer in the Summer Olympics relay and carried the torch down Peachtree Street in Atlanta. He describes the emotion he and others felt as "the magic of the flame."

"I saw the tears that came down people's cheeks when they carried the torch, as well as the people standing on the street side who were watching them go by," he said. "For some mystical reason the emotion that typically comes is one that causes tears to come down your cheek."

In addition to covering an expansive distance, the Salt Lake City Torch will travel in a variety of modes: It will be carried by foot, automobile, airplane, train, boat, dog sled, horse-drawn sleigh and snowmobile.

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