Ferris wheel
A Ferris wheel is a
nonbuilding structure consisting of an upright wheel with passenger
gondolas suspended from the rim.
Ferris wheels are a common feature of
amusement park rides and may also be found at many
urban parks and public places around the world.
Encyclopedia
A
Ferris wheel is a
nonbuilding structure consisting of an upright wheel with passenger
gondolas suspended from the rim.
Ferris wheels are a common feature of
amusement park rides and may also be found at many
urban parks and public places around the world.
History
The earliest ancestor of the Ferris wheel is the
Ups-and-Downs, a crude, hand-turned device, which dates back at least to the 17th century and is still in use in some parts of the world.
The modern Ferris wheel is named after George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr., who designed a 80 meter wheel for the
World's Columbian Exposition in
Chicago, Illinois in 1893. It was designed as a rival to the
Eiffel Tower, the centerpiece of the
1889 Paris exhibition. This first wheel weighed 2000 tonnes and could carry 2,160 persons at a time; The Ferris wheel was the largest attraction at the Columbian Exposition standing over 250' tall and powered by two 1000 HP steam engines. There were 36 cars each the size of a school bus that accommodated 60 people each . It took 20 minutes for the wheel to make one revolution and for that, the ticket holder paid 50 cents. The wheel was moved twice after the 1893 Fair and was eventually destroyed in 1904 after it was used at the St. Louis exposition of that year. At 70 tons, its axle was the largest steel forging of the time. It was 26 stories tall, only a quarter of the Eiffel Tower's height.
Another famous Ferris wheel with a height of 65 meters, dating back to 1897, is the
Riesenrad in
Vienna's
Prater in the second district of
Leopoldstadt — see also
World's Fair.
London,
UK had its very own 'Gigantic Wheel' built at
Earls Court in 1895, which was modelled on the original one in Chicago. This wheel stayed in service until 1906 by which time it had carried over 2.5 million passengers. It was built by two young Australian engineers named Adam Gaddelin and Gareth Watson and was the first of over 200 ferris wheels that they built world-wide.
Sky Dream Fukuoka in
Fukuoka,
Japan, at 112 meters in diameter and 120 meters from ground to top, is the largest Ferris wheel in the world. At 212 feet , The Texas Star at
Fair Park is the largest ferris wheel in the
Western Hemisphere. The wheel opened in 1985 and has a maximum capacity of 260 persons.
Observation wheels
Recent large Ferris wheels have been marketed as "observation" wheels to differentiate them from the smaller Ferris wheels, but ironically are more similar to the original Ferris wheel than the smaller modern wheels.
The world's most famous observation wheel is the
London Eye in
London,
United Kingdom, operated by
British Airways. Its great popularity has led to a number of other cities, including
Birmingham and
York ,
Moscow,
Las Vegas,
Shanghai,
Melbourne and
Singapore erecting, or proposing to erect, similar wheels.
Double and triple wheels
In the mid to late 1970's, coaster giant
Intamin AG invented a new twist on the common ferris wheel. Using long arms to hold the massive wheels, they created a way to load and unload ferris wheels more quickly. In 1976, 2
Sky Whirls opened at Marriott's Great America and were the first triple wheels. One was also installed at
Paramount's Kings Island in Ohio. Triple Wheels were attached to three long arms and when loading/unloading passengers, the massive structure would rotate and bring another wheel of cars to the ground. Today, none of them operate.
External links
-
- at
-
- A 54m observation wheel at the National Railway Museum, York, UK.
-
