Harry Traver

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Harry Guy Traver (25 November 1877, Gardner, Illinois – 27 September 1961, New Rochelle, New York) was an American engineer and early Roller Coaster designer.

In 1919 he founded the Traver Engineering Company in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, which created amusement rides, including the Tumble Bug, The Caterpillar, Laff in the dark, Auto Ride, and the Circle Swing, a ride similar in concept to the earlier Captive Flying Machines ride popularised in the UK by American born inventor Sir Hiram Maxim.

However, his "Giant Cyclone Safety Coasters" were what made Traver the most famous (or notorious) of all coaster designers. His most famous coasters were the "terrible trio", all built in 1927. They were:

"The Cyclone" - Built in Crystal Beach, Ontario.
"Lightning" - Revere Beach, Massachusetts.
"Cyclone" - Fort Lee, New Jersey.

All three shared the same twisted layout. The Prior and Church Century Flyer trains (the Great Coasters International Millennium Flyers are patterned after this rolling stock) left the station, turned 180 degrees, and ascended the lift hill. Coming off the lift, the trains dove down to the right, climbing to a sharp jog to the left. A drop and hill followed, and then a severely pitched double helix. Coming out of the helix, the train entered a figure 8 banked at 89 degrees. After the figure 8, a spiral hill led under the lift, where a jarring series of bunny-hops were placed, After those, the train turned 180 degrees into the "Jazz track", which consisted of the track pitching one way then the other fast and repeatedly. The "Jazz track" was an element of all Traver coasters. After the "Jazz track", a final spiral drop led to the brakerun. The entire ride lasted 40 seconds from the top of the lift, but was more wild than almost everything nowadays.^{[citation needed]}

The Cyclone at Crystal Beach survived the longest of the three, lasting until 1949. An urban legend holds that on the "Lightning", a passenger plunged to their death on the 2nd night of the coaster's opening.^{[citation needed]}

One of his coasters was known as the Jazz Railway. The Jazz Railway was the forerunner of the modern Wild Mouse Coasters that are built to this day.

Traver actually believed that steel would be a more durable material for the structures of roller coasters. He thought that one day, steel would be used to create roller coasters.^{[citation needed]}

In 2001, Disney's California Adventure opened, featuring Golden Zephyr, a modern day replica of the Traver Circle Swing.