Ferris wheel

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A Ferris wheel on the boardwalk in Ocean City, New Jersey, USA.

A Ferris wheel (also known as an observation wheel or big wheel) is a nonbuilding structure consisting of an upright wheel with passenger gondolas suspended from the rim.

Ferris wheels are an amusement park ride and may also be found at urban parks and public places. Ferris wheels usually hold about 50-100 people.

[edit] History

Drawing of a 17th-century precursor to the Ferris wheel.

Original Ferris wheel

The Ferris wheel is named after George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr. He graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and he was a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania bridge-builder. He began his career in the railroad industry and then pursued an interest in bridge building. Ferris understood the growing need for structural steel and founded G.W.G. Ferris & Co. in Pittsburgh, a firm that tested and inspected metals for railroads and bridge builders.

Ferris designed and built the first 264 foot (80 meter) wheel for the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois in 1893. The wheel was intended as a rival to the Eiffel Tower, the centerpiece of the 1889 Paris exhibition. This first wheel could carry 2,160 persons. 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 accommodating 60 people each (40 seated, 20 standing). It took 20 minutes for the wheel to make two revolutions—the first to make six stops to allow passengers to exit and enter; the 2nd a single non-stop revolution—and for that, the ticket holder paid 50 cents. The wheel was moved twice after the 1893 Fair and was eventually destroyed (by controlled demolition) in 1906 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.^[1]

Sections of this Ferris wheel were used to construct a bridge across the Kankakee River, about 45 miles south of Chicago just north of Tefft, Indiana. ^[2]

The Travels of Peter Mundy, 1608–1667 describes and illustrates "Several sorts of Swinginge used in their Publique rejoyceings att their feast of Biram" in the Ottoman Balkans. Among means "lesse dangerous and troublesome" only for children was a Ferris wheel "like a Craine wheele att Customhowse Key" where the passengers swing on short swings, sometimes sitting, sometimes hanging trapeze fashion. The illustration here is of a different Turkish design, apparently for adults.

A portable Ferris wheel in England

Another Ferris wheel with a height of 65 meters (213 feet), dating back to 1897, is the Riesenrad in Vienna's Prater in the second district of Leopoldstadt. It was designed by Hubert Cecil Booth. 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.

For the 1900 Paris Exposition a 'Grande Roue', of similar size and design to Ferris', was constructed. It was demolished in 1937. The wheel had 40 cars (as opposed to Chicago's 36), and is clearly visible in photos of the 1900 exhibition.^[3]

[edit] Double and triple wheels

This illustration, from U.S. patent 1,354,436, depicts a variant of the Ferris wheel with sliding gondolas. It was built at Coney Island in the 1920s, and still operates at Deno's Wonder Wheel Park. A replica of this Ferris wheel can be found in Disney's California Adventure theme park.

In the mid to late 1970s, coaster company Intamin AG invented a twist on the Ferris wheel. Using long arms to hold the wheels, they created a way to load and unload Ferris wheels more quickly. In 1976, 2 Sky Whirls opened at Marriott's Great America (IL, CA) and were the first triple wheels. Triple wheels were attached to three long arms mounted equal distance in a circle on a central tower. When loading/unloading passengers, the 3 arms would rotate until one arm was at the loading area and hydraulics would bring that arm/wheel to the ground.

A two-arm version titled "Zodiac" was also installed at Kings Island in Ohio as well as Hersheypark in PA titled "Giant Wheel." The double wheels were attached to a long, straight arm. The arm was mounted in the center on a central tower. When the hydraulics lowered one side, the other raised. The Kings Island Zodiac was relocated to Australia's Wonderland but closed in 2004.

All models featured 8-10 passenger cages. The cages were attached to the wheels by chains. When the wheel was in the loading position, it was horizontal and all cages could be loaded at once. As the arm raised or rotated, the wheel moved to a vertical position and provided a typical Ferris-wheel ride, only much higher from the ground.

Another version of this ride existed at Magic Mountain in California titled "Galaxy." This ride was similar to the Zodiac, except the arms did not raise as far off the ground. The arms on this ride were shaped more in a "V", than a straight line, and the central tower was shorter. On each wheel were 4 smaller wheels that also rotated, providing a double vertical rotating movement.

A fourth version of the ride was installed and removed at Astroworld in Texas titled "Morowheel." It was also similar to the Zodiac model, but had the shorter tower/"V" arm configuration of the Galaxy.

[edit] Observation wheels

The London Eye

Some operators prefer the term observation wheel to Ferris wheel, and large Ferris wheels are sometimes marketed as observation wheels to differentiate them from smaller Ferris wheels, however the two are actually the same, and any distinction between the two names is at the discretion of the wheel operator. Indeed, many of the wheels whose owners reject the term Ferris wheel actually have more in common with the original Chicago Ferris wheel of 1893, particularly in terms of being an iconic landmark for a city or event.

The world's tallest wheel, the Singapore Flyer, is described as an observation wheel by its operators.^[4]

The London Eye (world's tallest, 1999-2006) is also described as an observation wheel by its operators.^[5]

The Star of Nanchang (world's tallest, 2006-2008) is usually referred to as a Ferris wheel, and less commonly as an observation wheel.

[edit] World's tallest Ferris wheel installations

The 165 m Singapore Flyer, world's tallest Ferris wheel

The world's tallest Ferris wheel is the Singapore Flyer, in Singapore. It is 165 metres (541 ft) high. It started rotating on February 11, 2008, and officially opened to the public on March 1, 2008.

The Star of Nanchang, in Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, China, previously held the record. It is 160 metres (520 ft) high and opened for business in May 2006.

The preceding record holder was the London Eye, in London, UK. It is 135 metres (440 ft) high, and is still the largest in the Western Hemisphere.^[6] It was officially opened (by Tony Blair) on December 31, 1999, but did not open to the public until March 2000 because of technical problems.

The great popularity of the London Eye led to a number of other cities (including Belfast, Birmingham, Kuala Lumpur, Las Vegas, Manchester, Melbourne, Moscow, Nanchang, Shanghai, Singapore, and York) installing, or proposing to install, very tall (50 m or higher) wheels. The proposed Birmingham wheel would perhaps be the most unusual, as it would be fixed in place while the pods would move around the circumference along a rail track.

The Shanghai Star, initially planned as a 200 metres (660 ft) tall wheel to be built by 2005, was revised to 170 metres (560 ft) with a completion date set in 2007, but then cancelled in 2006 due to "political incorrectness"^[7]. Plans to build a 183 metres (600 ft) wheel at the Rio All Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas were cancelled in May 2004. An approximately 150 metres (490 ft) wheel was proposed for the redevelopment of the New Frontier Hotel and Casino (also in Las Vegas) but the site has since been sold to another developer.

[edit] More Ferris wheels and manufacturers

• The Great Wheel Corporation
  • Proposed wheel in Qingdao, China
  • Proposed wheel in Orlando
• The Allan Herschell Company
  • Seattle Wheel - has 15 cars with up to two people per car.
• Eli Bridge [3]
  • Eagle Wheel - 16 cars with up to three people per car.
  • Hy #5 Big Eli Wheel - some are cable driven, others are rim driven. Has 12 cars with up to three people per car.
  • Little Wheel - much smaller in dimensions, but it still has 12 cars with up to two people per car.
• Ronald Bussink Professional Rides (formerly Nauta Bussink) [4]
  • R60 - 60 meter wheel with 42 enclosed capsules with air conditioning. The largest transportable Ferris wheel in the world. Seen in Germany (Dresden), Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), Spain (Seville), UK (Belfast, Birmingham, London, Manchester, York) and elsewhere. It requires at least twenty 40ft containers to transport it and is ballasted with water.
• Chance Morgan
  • Astro Wheel - 16 cars (8 facing one way, 8 facing the other way) with up to two people per car.
  • Century Wheel - 15 cars with up to four people per car.
  • Giant Wheel - 20 cars with up to six people per car. This is one of the biggest production Ferris wheels, and requires at least two 18-wheelers to transport it.
  • Sky Wheel - a double wheel. There is a wheel on top, and bottom of the ride. There are eight cars per each wheel with up to two people for each car.
• Intamin AG
  • Coaster Wheel - this type of Ferris wheel is a little different. Some of the 16 cars move on a track in the middle of the wheel. There are also 8 cars on the outside of the ride that do not move much, and do not have a track. One of these is located at Disney's California Adventure, and another is located at Coney Island. Each car can hold up to six people.
• Roger Wadkins (formerly Bob Childress - Expo Wheels LLC)
  • Expo Wheel - 16 cars with up to two people per car. The seating on this wheel is much like the Eli Bridge Hy #5, or Chance's Astro Wheel.

[edit] Ferris wheels in popular culture

• The hero of Robert Lawson's children's book The Great Wheel is part of the construction crew for the original ferris wheel.
• The TV show Carnivàle deals with a circus in 1930's, which has its Ferris wheel as an important symbol, which plays an important role in the series finale.
• The main character from Stargate: Atlantis, John Sheppard, likes Ferris wheels.
• The Ferris wheel Riesenrad (in Vienna, Austria) is the stage for a key scene in the 1949 film noir The Third Man. It is also featured in the 1987 James Bond film, The Living Daylights, and appears in the 1995 Richard Linklater film Before Sunrise.

[edit] References

1. ^ Erik Larson. (2003) The Devil in the White City, page 258.
2. ^ Joe McKennon (1972) A Pictorial History of the American Carnival, page 39.
3. ^ http://www.hydeparkhistory.org/ferrisfollowup.html
4. ^ [1] "We don't use the F-word"
5. ^ [2] "Is it a Ferris wheel?"
6. ^ LeRoy Ashby, "Review of Ferris Whels: An Illustrated History," The Historian 69.3 (Fall, 2007): 603–604.
7. ^ http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China_Business/IF13Cb02.html
8. ^ http://www.senyo.co.jp/produ/cosmo21.htm
9. ^ "Great Wheel, Earls Court CC97/01620".
10. ^ http://navypier.com/things2do/rides_attract/pier_park.html

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Ferris wheel

• Bellevue Ferris wheel at Luxembourg Schueberfouer
• Big-Money Race for World's Tallest Ferris Wheels Heats Up
• Ferris wheel patents