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Earliest roller coaster - Russian Ice Slides
- specially constructed hills of ice - St. Petersburg, Russia
- enjoyed by Catherine the Great and the nobility
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Russia - The First Roller coaster?
- Wheels added to carts
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France: First wheeled roller coaster?
- evidence of wheeled cars locked to track with guide rails
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Steel manufacturing
- steel manufacturing process developed during mid-19th century allows for smoothly curving tracks -tubular steel tracks can be pre-fabricated in large, curved segments
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U.S.A.: Taylor's elevated railway cars
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U.S.A.: Haverhil, Massachusetts
- two inventors, Stephen Jackson and Byron Floyd, pilot wheeled railway cars
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Coney Island, New York: birth of the modern roller coaster
- preacher Marcus Thompson builds the "switchback railway"
- wheeled cars rise 15 feet high, travel 4 mph.
- built to divert people's attention from the beer gardens -charged a nickel per ride and paid for the cost in three weeks
- became a fun pastime for the middle class to enjoy; roller coasters no longer the purvey of the upper classes or solitary inventors
- sparked the development of other roller coasters and inspired other entrepreneurs
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Europe and U.S.A.
- 15 roller coasters built by Marcus Thompson
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Hundreds of roller coasters: U.S.A. and Europe
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Disneyland, 1955: Matterhorn
- Roller coasters undeveloped until 1950s
- no money for materials and entertainment during World Wars and the Great Depression
- Disneyland's Matterhorn is the world's first tubular steel roller coaster
- enjoyed by middle classes; attract entire families
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"Coaster boom" - 1970s
- popular entertainment for entire families
- fuels bulding boom throughout 1970s
- increased risks of injury as rides become higher, faster, and more complex in looping
- safety features added over time: lap bars, undertrack wheels and no-standing signs
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Modern-day roller coasters - Fast and frightening!
video: The "Aftershock" roller coaster- "one example of how much roller coaster have evolved with engineering and design
- the Aftershock at Silverwood Theme Park, Idaho -- a "hanging roller coaster"
ake & Model: Vekoma/Giant Inverted Boomerang
Height: 191 Feet
Longest Drop: 177 Feet
Top Speed: 65.6 MPH
Inversions: 3
Max. Vertical Angle: 90 Degrees
Max G-Forces: 4.5
Duration: 1:32
Opened: 2008
