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History of the roller coaster

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Coney Island Cyclone in Brooklyn, New York, was built in 1927 and refurbished in 1975.

Roller coaster amusement rides have origins back to ice slides constructed in 18th-century Russia. Early technology featured sleds or wheeled carts that were sent down hills of snow reinforced by wooden supports. The technology evolved in the 19th century to feature railroad track using wheeled cars that were securely locked to the track. Newer innovations emerged in the early 20th century with side friction and underfriction technologies to allow for greater speeds and sharper turns. By the mid-to-late 20th century, these elements intensified with the introduction of steel roller coaster designs and the ability for them to invert riders.

History

Beginnings

The world's oldest roller coasters descended from the "Russian Mountains," which were specially constructed hills of snow [1] located in the gardens of palaces around the Russian capital, Saint Petersburg, in the 18th century. This attraction was called a Katalnaya Gorka or "sliding mountain" in Russian. The slides were built to a height of between 70 feet (21 m) and 80 feet (24 m), had a 50 degree drop, and were reinforced by wooden supports and had ice on top. Sometimes wheeled carts were used instead of sleds. These slides became popular with the Russian upper class, and with Catherine II of Russia herself, who had such mountains built in the gardens of the Oranienbaum Palace near St. Petersburg, with a pavilion next to it for drinking tea after the sliding. "Russian mountains" remains the term for roller coasters in many languages, such as Spanish (la montaña rusa), Italian (montagne russe), and French (les montagnes russes). Ironically, the Russian term for roller coaster, американские горки (amerikanskie gorki), translates literally as "American mountains."[2]

The Promenades-Aeriennes in Paris (1817).

Russian soldiers occupying Paris from 1815 through 1816, after the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo, may have introduced the Russian amusement of sledding down steep hills.[3] In July 1817, a French banker named Nicolas Beaujon opened the Parc Beaujon, an amusement park on the Champs Elysees. Its most famous feature was the Promenades Aériennes or "Aerial Strolls." [4] It featured wheeled cars securely locked to the track, guide rails to keep them on course, and higher speeds. [5] The three-wheel carts were towed to the top of a tower, and then released to descend two curving tracks on either side. King Louis XVIII of France came to see the park, but it is not recorded if he tried the ride. Before long there were seven similar rides in Paris: Les Montagnes françaises (The French Mountains), le Delta, les Montagnes de Belleville (The Mountains of Belleville), les Montagnes américaines (the American Mountains), Les Montages lilliputiennes, (The miniature mountains), Les Montagnes susses (The Swiss mountains) and Les Montagnes égyptiennes (The Egyptian mountains).[3]

In the beginning, these attractions were primarily for the upper classes. In 1845 a new amusement park opened in Copenhagen, Tivoli, which was designed for the middle class. These new parks featured roller coasters as permanent attractions. The first permanent loop track was probably also built in Paris from an English design in 1846, with a single-person wheeled sled running through a 13-foot (4 m) diameter vertical loop. These early single loop designs were called Centrifugal Railways. In 1887, a French entrepreneur, Joseph Oller, the owner of the Moulin Rouge music hall, built Les Montagnes Russes à Belleville (The Russian Mountains of Belleville) a permanent roller coaster with a length of two hundred meters in the form of a double-eight, later enlarged to four figure-eight-shaped loops.[3]

Mount Pisgah with the Mauch Chunk Switchback Railway.

Scenic railways

In the 1850s, a mining company in Summit Hill, Pennsylvania, constructed the Mauch Chunk gravity railroad, a brakeman-controlled, 8.7-mile (14 km) downhill track used to deliver coal to Mauch Chunk (now known as Jim Thorpe), Pennsylvania.[6] By 1872, the "Gravity Road" (as it became known) was selling rides to thrill seekers. Railway companies used similar tracks to provide amusement on days when ridership was low.

Thompson's Switchback Railway, 1884.

Using this idea as a basis, LaMarcus Adna Thompson began work on a gravity Switchback Railway that opened at Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York in 1884.[7] Passengers climbed to the top of a platform and rode a bench-like car down the 600 ft (180 m) track up to the top of another tower where the vehicle was switched to a return track and the passengers took the return trip.[8] This track design was soon replaced with an oval complete circuit.[9] In 1885, Phillip Hinkle introduced the first complete-circuit coaster with a lift hill, the Gravity Pleasure Road, which became the most popular attraction at Coney Island.[9] Not to be outdone, in 1886 LaMarcus Adna Thompson patented his design for a roller coaster that included dark tunnels with painted scenery. "Scenic Railways" were soon found in amusement parks across the county,[9] with Frederick Ingersoll's construction company building many of them in the first two decades of the 20th century.

See also: Roller Coaster (Great Yarmouth Pleasure Beach) and Scenic Railway (Dreamland)
Scenic Railway at Luna Park (Melbourne, Australia), the world's oldest continually-operating roller coaster, built in 1912.

Growing popularity and innovations

Loop the Loop, an early looping roller coaster at Coney Island, 1906

As it grew in popularity, experimentation in coaster dynamics took off. In the 1880s the concept of a vertical loop was again explored by Lina Beecher, and in 1895 the concept came into fruition with the Flip Flap Railway, located at Sea Lion Park in Brooklyn, and shortly afterward with Loop the Loop at Olentangy Park near Columbus, Ohio as well as similar coasters in Atlantic City and Coney Island. The rides were incredibly dangerous, and many passengers suffered whiplash. Both were soon dismantled, and looping coasters had to wait for over a half century before making a reappearance.

By 1919, the first underfriction roller coaster had been developed by John Miller.[10] Soon, roller coasters spread to amusement parks all around the world. Perhaps the best known historical roller coaster, The Cyclone, was opened at Coney Island in 1927. Like The Cyclone, all early roller coasters were made of wood. Many old wooden roller coasters are still operational, at parks such as Kennywood near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Pleasure Beach Blackpool, England. The oldest operating roller coaster is Leap-The-Dips at Lakemont Park in Pennsylvania, a side friction roller coaster built in 1902. The oldest wooden roller coaster in the United Kingdom is the Scenic Railway at Dreamland Amusement Park in Margate, Kent and features a system where the brakeman rides the car with wheels. It was severely damaged by fire on April 7, 2008, but was subsequently restored and reopened to the public in 2015.[11] Scenic Railway at Melbourne's Luna Park built in 1912, is the world's oldest continually-operating roller coaster, and it also still features a system where the brakeman rides the car with wheels. One of only 13 remaining examples of John Miller's work worldwide is the wooden roller coaster at Lagoon in Utah. The coaster opened in 1921 and is the 6th oldest coaster in the world.[12]

The Great Depression marked the end of the golden age of roller coasters, as amusement parks generally went into a decline that resulted in less demand for new coasters. This lasted until 1972, when The Racer opened at Kings Island amusement park located in what was then a part of Deerfield Township in Warren County, Ohio. Designed by John C. Allen, the instant success of The Racer helped to ignite a renaissance for roller coasters, reviving worldwide interest throughout the industry.

The rise of steel

Matterhorn Bobsleds, the world's first tubular steel roller coaster.

In 1959, the Disneyland theme park introduced a new design breakthrough in roller coasters with the Matterhorn Bobsleds. This was the first roller coaster to use a tubular steel track. Unlike conventional wooden rails, which are generally formed using steel strips mounted on laminated wood, tubular steel can be bent in any direction, which allows designers to incorporate loops, corkscrews, and many other maneuvers into their designs. Most modern roller coasters are made of steel, although wooden roller coasters are still being built along with hybrids of steel and wood.

In 1975 the first modern-day roller coaster to perform an inverting element opened: Corkscrew, located at Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, California. In 1976 the vertical loop made a permanent comeback with the Great American Revolution at Magic Mountain in Valencia, California.

Timeline of notable roller coasters

The roller coasters mentioned here are significant for their role in the amusement industry. They were notable for specific reasons, including:

  • First roller coaster of a specific kind, style, manufacturing material or unique technology; ground-breaking
  • First time a particular record-breaking threshold was crossed
  • Historical significance

1800 to 1899

1817
  • First roller coaster featuring cars that locked onto track: Les Montagnes Russes à Belleville (Russian Mountains of Belleville), Paris, France.
  • First roller coaster to feature two cars racing each other: Les Montagnes Russes à Belleville.
  • First complete-circuit roller coaster: Promenades Aériennes (The Aerial Walk), Paris.
1827
1846
1885

1900 to 1969

1902
1907
1909
1912
1913
1920
  • First roller coaster to utilize up-stop wheels: Jack Rabbit, Kennywood, West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, United States.
1925
  • First roller coaster to reach 100 feet: Cyclone, Revere Beach, Revere, Massachusetts, United States.
1928
1929
1952
1959
1966

1970 to 1979

1972
1975
1976
Corkscrew at Cedar Point, the first roller coaster with three inversions.
1977
1978
1979
  • The Beast: opened as the tallest, fastest and longest wooden roller coaster. Today it is still the longest wooden roller coaster in the world.

1980 to 1989

1980
1981
1982
Racer at Kings Island, the first roller coaster to operate vehicles in reverse.
  • First roller coaster to operate vehicles in reverse: Racer, Kings Island.
  • First roller coaster to run stand-up trains: Dangai, Thrill Valley, Gotemba, Shizuoka, Japan.
1983
1984
1985
1987
  • First roller coaster with six inversions: Vortex, Kings Island.[13]
1988
1989

1990 to 1999

1990
1992
Dragon Khan at PortAventura Park, the first roller coaster with eight inversions
1995
1996
1997
1998
Oblivion at Alton Towers, the first Diving Machine roller coaster.
1999

2000 to 2009

2000
Millennium Force at Cedar Point, the first roller coaster to exceed 300 feet (91 m) in height and the first to use an elevator cable lift.
Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom Steel Force and Thunderhawk roller coasters, just outside Allentown, Pennsylvania. Steel Force opened in 1997 as the tallest and fastest roller coaster on the East Coast of the United States, with a first drop of 205 feet (62 m) and a top speed of 75 miles per hour (121 km/h).[17]
2001
2002
2003
  • First complete-circuit roller coaster to exceed 400 feet (120 m) in height: Top Thrill Dragster, Cedar Point.
  • First roller coaster with a more than 90° vertical drop (97°): Vild-Svinet, BonBon-Land, Zealand, Denmark.
  • First roller coaster to utilize a vertical lift (not considered an elevator lift): Vild-Svinet, BonBon-Land.
2004
2005
  • Kingda Ka opens as the tallest roller coaster in the world.
2006
2007
2008
2009

2010 to 2018

2010
2011
2013
2014
2015
2016
2018

See also

References

  1. ^ Coker, Robert (2002). Roller Coasters: A Thrill Seeker's Guide to the Ultimate Scream Machines, Metrobooks, New York. ISBN 1586631721. pg 14
  2. ^ Rambler New English-Russian Dictionary: "American"
  3. ^ a b c Valérie RANSON-ENGUIALE, « Promenades aériennes », Histoire par l'image [en ligne], consulté le 28 Mai 2017. URL : http://www.histoire-image.org/etudes/promenades-aeriennes
  4. ^ Fierro, Alfred, Histoire et Dictionnaire de Paris, (1996). Robert Laffont, page 1051.
  5. ^ David Bennett (1998). Roller Coaster: Wooden and Steel Coasters, Twisters and Corkscrews. Edison, New Jersey: Chartwell Books. 9. ISBN 0-7865-0885-X.
  6. ^ Roller Coaster History: Early Years In America. Retrieved 26 July 2007
  7. ^ Sheedy, Chris (7 January 2007). "Icons — In the Beginning... Roller-Coaster". Sunday Life (weekly supplemental magazine included in The Sun-Herald). John Fairfax Publications Pty Ltd. p. 10.
  8. ^ Rutherford, Scott (2000) The American Roller Coaster, MBI Publishing Company, Wisconsin, ISBN 0760306893.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h Steven J. Urbanowicz (2002). The Roller Coaster Lover's Companion. Kensington, New York: Citadel Press. 4. ISBN 0-8065-2309-3.
  10. ^ "Patent Images". patimg2.uspto.gov.
  11. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/7335519.stm Retrieved on 8 April 2008
  12. ^ http://www.aceonline.org/CoasterAwards/details.aspx?id=46
  13. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Kay, James (2007). "The History of the Inversion". CoasterGlobe. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 23 August 2007.
  14. ^ Cartmell, Robert (1987). The Incredible Scream Machine: A History of the Roller Coaster. Fairview Park, OH and Bowling Green, OH: Amusement Park Books, Inc. and Bowling Green State University Popular Press. ISBN 0879723416.
  15. ^ http://rcdb.com/926.htm
  16. ^ Kay, James. "The History of the Pipeline Coaster". CoasterGlobe. Archived from the original on 26 October 2007. Retrieved 7 February 2008.
  17. ^ "Rollercoaster Database: Steel Force (Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom)". Retrieved 10 July 2008.
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