Ferris wheel

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

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

History
The Ferris wheel is named after Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute graduate and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania bridge-builder, George Ferris. 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 each the size of a school bus that accommodated 60 people each (20 seated, 40 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 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

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.

Another famous 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 world-wide.

For the 1900 Paris Exposition a 'Grande Roue', of similar size and design to Ferris', was constructed and kept in operation until its demolition in 1937. The French wheel operated 40 cars (as opposed to Chicago's 36), and is clearly visible in photos of the 1900 exhibition. [1]

The London Eye, in London, England, measuring 135 meters high, had until very recently been the world's largest, but has since been eclipsed by the The Star of Nanchang [2]. Located in the Chinese city of Nanchang , Jiangxi Province , this new Ferris wheel measures 162 meters high. The London Eye remains the largest in the Western Hemisphere.

Observation wheels
Main article: Observation wheel
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 London Eye is in London, England. Its great popularity has led to a number of other cities, including Manchester, Birmingham and York (The Yorkshire Wheel), Moscow,Belfast, Nanchang, Las Vegas, Shanghai, Melbourne, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore erecting, or proposing to erect, similar wheels

.

Double and triple wheels
In the mid to late 1970s, coaster company Intamin AG invented a new twist on the common 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.