Roller Coaster
An Amusement or Theme ride, the Roller coaster has come a long way from the Ice Slide that it once was. LaMarcus Adna Thompson was the one to patent the first roller coasters on January 20, 1885.
The Russian Ice Slides first, or the modern day Roller Coaster, made their first appearance during the 17th century throughout Russia, particularly in the region of what is now called St. Petersburg. These were structures built out of wood with an ice sheet, several inches thick, used to cover its surface. Riders were supposed to climb the stairs fixed to its backside, speed down the incline of about 50 degrees and ascend the stairs to the slide lying opposite and parallel to the first.
These slides especially caught the imagination of the rich upper-class of Russia and were made fit for the royalty by adorning them with paint and other decoration. Catherine the Great was known to be such a big fan of these thrilling slides that she had a few slides of her own built on her property. Slides of the height of seventy to eighty feet and lengths stretching to hundreds of feet were built during the winter carnival season. These could accommodate various large sleds at the same time. Although there is some dispute over the question as to who thought of adding wheels to the ‘sled’, most historians credit the French for coming up with the idea.
The origin of the term roller coaster is credited to an early American design of these, where the inclines or ramps were fitted with rollers over which the sled was supposed coast. When the design was replaced by the one with wheels fitted on the sled/ cart or car, the name has endured.
Essentially, a revised railroad system, a roller coaster consists of a track that rises and falls in designed wave-like patterns and a car that electrically runs on it. The track may sometimes have one or more inversions or vertical looping that is responsible for turning the riders upside down for brief periods of time. The tracks do not necessarily have to be in complete circuits, as in case of the Shuttle Roller Coasters. The rider or the passenger sits on the car and is restrained using properly devised security measures. There are some roller coasters like the Wild Mouse roller coasters which run with single cars. But in most roller coasters, two or more cars may be hooked together to form a running train.
Many safety systems have to be employed in roller coasters. The most important of these is the block system that prevents the collision of the trains in case of roller coasters that have the ability to run more than one train at a time. Also the designers of the Ride designers must be careful while ensuring that the accelerations (the various increases and decreases in the velocity experienced throughout the ride) do not subject the human body to more ‘thrills’ than it can handle. The human body requires time to be able to detect changes in the force applied to it, in order to control muscle tension. If the designer fails to take this into account, the rider may suffer from severe injuries such as whiplash.
- Nikita Sarin
Tags: Amusement Ride, Roller Coaster, Safety Measures In Roller Coasters, Shuttle Roller Coasters
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