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.

History

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

Original Ferris wheel

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 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.

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.

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. [1]

The London Eye, in London, England, measuring 135 meters high, was 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 wheel is 162 meters high. The London Eye remains the largest in the Western Hemisphere.

Observation wheels

The London Eye

Main article: Observation wheel

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's 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

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.

More Ferris wheels and manufacturers

• Allan Herschell
  • Seattle Wheel--The Seattle Wheel has 15 cars with up to two people per car.
• Ronald Bussink Professional Rides
  • R60 - 60 meter wheel with 42 enclosed capsules with air conditioning. The largest transportable Ferris wheel in the world. Seen in Birmingham, Manchester, York, Seville, Dresden, Malaysia, Niagara Falls and elsewhere. It requires at least twenty 40ft containers to transport it and is ballasted with water.
• Chance Morgan
  • Astro Wheel--There are 16 cars with up to two people per car. Half of the cars face one way, and the other half the other way.
  • Century Wheel--This wheel has 15 cars with up to four people per car.
  • Giant Wheel--This ride has 20 cars with up to six people per each car. This is one of the biggest production Ferris wheels, and requires at least two 18-wheelers to transport it.
  • Sky Wheel--This is 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.
• Childress
  • Expo Wheel There are 16 cars with up to two people each per car. The seating on this wheel is much like the Eli Bridge Hy #5, or Chance's Astro Wheel.
• Eli Bridge [3]
  • Eagle Wheel--This ride has 16 cars with up to three people per car.
  • Hy #5 Big Eli Wheel--Some of these rides are cable driven while others are rim driven. This ride has 12 cars with up to three people per car.
  • Little Wheel--This ride is much smaller in dimensions, but it still has 12 cars with up to two people per car.
• Intamin
  • 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 of these cars can hold up to six people.

List of world's largest Ferris and observation wheels

Ferris wheel in popular culture

• 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.

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. LeRoy Ashby, "Review of Ferris Whels: An Illustrated History," The Historian 69.3 (Fall, 2007): 603-604.

northern ireland

External links

• Eye On Malaysia
• Singapore Flyer
• Ferris wheel patents
• Bellevue Ferris wheel at Luxembourg Schueberfouer
• Information about a triple wheel, Sky Whirl
• The Yorkshire Wheel A 54m observation wheel at the National Railway Museum, York, England.
• London Eye homepage
• Niagara SkyWheel homepage
• Manchester City Council Wheel of Manchester page
• World's tallest Ferris wheel - The Star of Nanchang
• A video of Eli bridge Erecting a Ferris wheel in 1949
• Big-Money Race for World's Tallest Ferris Wheels Heats Up

Ride Manufacturer Sites

• Chance Morgan
• Eli Bridge
• Intamin

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia; from the article "Ferris wheel". Image Credit.

bookmark   email   print   tweet   facebook