roller coaster

1. A steep, sharply curving elevated railway with small open passenger cars that is operated at high speeds as a ride, especially in an amusement park.
2. An action, event, or experience marked by abrupt, extreme changes in circumstance, quality, or behavior: “the demographic roller coaster caused by the baby boom” (American Demographics).

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Background

A roller coaster is an amusement park ride where passengers sit in a series of wheeled cars that are linked together. The cars move along a pair of rails supported by a wood or steel structure. In operation, the cars are carried up a steep incline by a linked chain. When the cars reach the top of the incline, they roll free of the chain and are propelled downward by gravity through a series of drops, rises, and turns. Finally the cars are braked to a stop at the starting point, where the passengers get out and new passengers get on. Roller coasters are considered by many to be the most exciting ride in any amusement park.

History

The origins of the roller coaster probably date back to Russia in the 1400s, where ice sledding was a popular winter activity. It became so popular that people in relatively flat areas constructed their own hills out of snow and ice. The tops of these artificial hills were reached by way of elevated wood towers with stairways from the ground. For a small charge, people could climb the stairway and take a quick, exciting ride down the hill on a sled.

By the 1700s, many owners of ice hills found a way to extend the profit potential of the ride beyond the winter months. They mounted wheels under small sleds and replaced the ice hills with ones constructed of wood. Brightly colored lanterns were hung along the slope to allow night operation.

Visitors from France saw these rides, which they called the Russian Mountains, and took the idea back with them. The first wheeled coaster opened in Paris in 1804, and the coaster craze quickly spread throughout France. As the popularity of the rides grew, operators vied for the public's patronage by building faster and more exciting coasters. Unfortunately, safety devices did not keep pace with the speed, and accidents were common. By the mid-1800s, the increasing number of injuries and a general loss of public interest took their toll. One-by-one the Russian Mountain coasters were dismantled.

The development of the roller coaster might have stopped there had it not been for a defunct coal-hauling railroad in the United States. The Mauch Chunk inclined railroad was built in Pennsylvania in the early 1800s to haul coal from a mine atop a mountain to barges in a canal below. Mules hauled the empty cars up the hill, and gravity brought the loaded cars, along with the mules, back down. In 1874 mining operations changed, and the railroad began hauling sightseers instead of coal. The one-and-a-half hour round trip cost one dollar and was an immediate success. The railroad continued to carry passengers until it closed in 1938.

The success of the Mauch Chunk inclined railroad as a tourist attraction provided the inspiration for several similar amusement park rides on a smaller scale. In the United States, LaMarcus Thompson built his Gravity Pleasure Switchback Railway ride at the beach on Coney Island, New York, in 1884. For a nickel, riders rode cars that coasted from one elevated station to another over a series of gentle hills supported on a wooden trestle. At the opposite end, the cars were switched onto a parallel track for the return trip.

The second roller coaster on Coney Island was built in late 1884 when Charles Alcoke opened his Serpentine Railway. Alcoke's coaster was the first to use an oval-track design. Riders sat sideways on open benches as they were whisked along at what was then considered to be a break-neck speed of 12 mph (19 kph). A third coaster was built on Coney Island in 1885 by Phillip Hinkle. Hinkle's coaster incorporated a chain lift to carry the cars up the first hill, thus allowing the passengers to board at ground level and saving them a climb.

Roller coaster development hit its peak in the 1920s when there were more than 1,500 wooden coasters in operation in the United States. The economic hardships of the 1930s and the wartime material shortages of the 1940s put an end to that era. Amusement parks closed by the hundreds, and their wooden roller coasters either fell into disrepair or were tom down. It wasn't until Walt Disney opened the Matterhom Bobsled ride at Disneyland in 1959 that the era of modern steel roller coaster design began. Ironically, it took the construction of a new wooden coaster—the massive Racer at Kings Island near Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1972—before the coaster craze really caught on again.

By the late 1990s it was estimated there were over 200 major roller coasters in operation in the United States, with more being added every year. In May of 2000, the Millenium Force opened at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio. At 310 ft (94 m) tall and going 92 mph (148 kmp), it is the tallest and fastest roller coaster in the world.

Raw Materials

Roller coasters are generally classified as either wooden coasters or steel coasters depending on the materials used for the support structure.

Wooden coasters use massive wooden trestle-style structures to support the track above the ground. The wood is generally a construction grade such as Douglas fir or southern yellow pine and is painted or otherwise treated to prevent deterioration. The wooden components are supported on concrete foundations and are joined with bolts and nails. Steel plates are used to reinforce critical joints. As an example of the immense number of parts required to build a wooden coaster, the American Eagle built for Six Flags Great America in Gumee, Illinois, used 2,000 concrete foundations; 1.6 million ft (487,680 m) of wood; 60,720 bolts; and 30,600 lb (13,910 kg) of nails. It was coated with 9,000 gal (34,065 L) of paint.

Steel coasters may use thin, trestle-style structures to support the track, or they may use thick tubular supports. The track is usually formed in sections from a pair of welded round steel tubes held in position by steel stanchions attached to rectangular box girder or thick round tubular track supports. All exposed steel surfaces are painted. Steel coasters can be just as complex as wooden ones. For example, the Pepsi Max Big One coaster at Blackpool Pleasure Beach in Blackpool, England, used 1,270 piles driven into the sandy soil for the foundation; 2,215 tons (2,010 metric tons) of steel, and 60,000 bolts. There were 42,000 sq. yd (35,087 sq. m) of painted surfaces.

The track and lift chain on both wooden and steel coasters are made of steel, and the cars usually have steel axles and substructures. The car bodies may be formed from aluminum or fiberglass, and the car wheels may be cast from urethane or some other long-wearing, quiet-running material.

Design

The design of a roller coaster ride is the first and most important part of the manufacturing process. Because each roller coaster is unique, every detail must be designed literally from the ground up.

To begin, roller coaster designers must consider what kind of riders will use the coaster. If the coaster is designed for small children, the hills and curves will be gentle, and the cars' speed will be relatively slow. Families usually want a somewhat faster ride with plenty of turns and moderate forces. Ultimate thrill seekers want extreme heights and speeds.

Designers must then consider the space available for the coaster. Roller coasters not only take a lot of ground space, but also a lot of air space. Designers look at the general terrain, other surrounding rides, power lines, access roads, lakes, trees, and other obstacles. Some amusement parks have added so many rides that a new roller coaster has to be designed to thread its way through existing rides and walkways.

The next objective for the designers is to achieve a unique "feel" for the coaster. Designers can draw on a number of techniques to provide a memorable ride. The initial incline can be made steeper or the speed of the lift chain can be made slower to heighten the apprehension of the passengers. Once up the incline, the first drop is usually designed to be the steepest, and therefore the fastest and scariest. Other drops can be designed with a brief flattened section in the middle, and are called double dips. Drops with very abrupt transitions to a flat or upturned section are called slammers because they slam the passengers down into their seats. Letting the cars run close to the ground, in what is called a gully coaster, gives the illusion of increased speed.

The advent of steel construction for coasters has allowed a number of variations on the basic roller coaster ride. In some modern coasters, the passengers sit suspended below the tracks rather than riding on top of them. In others, the passengers ride standing up rather than sitting down. Some coasters, known as bobsleds, have no track at all, and the cars roll free in a trough, like a bobsled run.

Most of the actual design and layout of a roller coaster is done on a computer. The height of the first incline must be calculated to give the cars enough energy to propel them all the way through the ride and back to the station. The horizontal and vertical forces that the loaded cars exert on the track must be calculated at every point to ensure that the support structure is adequate. Likewise, the forces exerted on the passengers must be calculated at every point. These forces are usually expressed as "g's," which are multiples of the force that gravity exerts on our bodies. For example, if a person weighs 100 lb (45.5 kg), then a 2 g force would exert 200 lb (91 kg) of force on that person. Coasters in the United States generally exert no more than about 3.5 g's, which is the limit that most people find tolerable. Three coasters outside the United States exert more than 6.5 g's and are considered ultra-extreme. Jet fighter pilots black out at about 10 g's.

Because each coaster usually incorporates one or more new and untried features, a working prototype of the new features may be built for testing and evaluation. The prototype is erected at the manufacturer's facility, and weighted test cars outfitted with instrumentation are propelled through the test section at the desired speed. Based on these tests, the designers may alter their original design before building the final product.

When the calculations, design, and testing are complete, a computer-aided drafting (CAD) program is used to prepare detailed drawings for each of the thousands of parts that will be used to build the new coaster.

The Manufacturing Process

The actual physical construction of a roller coaster may take place in a factory or on the amusement park site depending on the type and size of the coaster. Most steel coasters are built in sections in a factory, then trucked to the site and erected. Most wooden coasters are built piece-by-piece on the site. Here is the typical sequence of operations for manufacturing both modern steel coasters and classic wooden coasters.

Preparing the site

• Before the roller coaster can be installed, the area where it is to be located needs to be cleared and prepared. This is usually done in the off season when the amusement park is closed. If it must be done while the park is still open, the area is fenced off to prevent the public from wandering onto the construction site.
• If there are existing structures, vegetation, or utilities that need to be moved or demolished, this work is done first. If any of the surrounding terrain needs to be filled or excavated, that work is also done at this time.
• Holes for the support structure foundations are surveyed and drilled or dug. Sturdy wooden forms are constructed to hold the concrete for each foundation point. In some areas where the soil is very sandy, large wooden piles may be driven into the ground as foundations rather than using poured concrete. If concrete is used, it is brought to the site in mixer trucks and pumped into place by a concrete pump with a long, articulating arm that can reach each foundation form. Connector plates are imbedded into the concrete on top of each foundation to allow attachment of the supports.

Erecting the main support structure

• When the foundation is in place, work begins on the main support structure. The supports for steel coasters—in fact, almost all the parts for steel coasters—are made in a factory and shipped to the job site in sections on trucks. In the factory, the pieces for each support are cut and welded into the required shape using fixtures to hold them in the proper orientation to each other. If a complex three-dimensional bend is required, this may be done in a hydraulic tube bender that is controlled by information from the computer. On wooden coasters, the material for the supports is usually shipped to the site as unfinished lumber and the individual pieces are cut and assembled on site. In either case, the lower portions of the main supports are lifted by a crane and are attached to the connector plates protruding from the foundation points.
• Once the lower supports are in place, they may be temporarily braced while the upper sections are lifted into place and connected. This work continues until the main support structure is complete.

Installing the track

• With the main support structure in place, the track is installed. On steel coasters, sections of track are fabricated in the factory with the stanchions and tubular tracks welded to the track supports. After the sections are brought to the site, they are lifted into place, and the track ends are slid together. The sections are then bolted to the main support structure and to each other. On wooden coasters, wood tie beams are installed across the top of the main support structure along the entire length of the ride. Six to eight layers of flat wood boards are installed lengthways on top of the tie beams in two rows to form a laminated base for the rails. The rails themselves are formed from long, flat strips of steel screwed into the wood base.
• On steel coasters, walkways and handrails are welded in place along the outside of the track to allow maintenance access and emergency evacuation of passengers. On wooden coasters, the portions of the tie beams outside of the track are used as walkways, and handrails are installed.
• The lift chain and anti-rollback mechanisms are installed on the lift hill, and the braking device is installed on the final approach to the station.

Fabricating the cars

• The individual cars for the coaster are fabricated in the factory. The subframe pieces are cut and welded. The bodies are stamped from aluminum or molded in fiberglass, then fastened to the subframe. Seat cushions may be cut from foam, mounted on a base, and covered with an upholstery. Running wheels and guide wheels are bolted in place with locking fasteners. Brake fins, anti-rollback dogs, and other safety components are installed.

Finishing the ride

• When the main construction is completed, electrical wiring is installed for the lighting, and the entire ride may be painted. The boarding station is constructed, signs are installed, and the landscaping is put in place.

Quality Control

The design and construction of roller coasters are covered by numerous governmental safety regulations. The materials used must meet certain strength requirements, and the actual construction is subject to periodic inspection. Every day, the coaster must be thoroughly inspected before it goes into operation.

Before the ride is open to the public, the cars are filled with weighted sandbags and sent through several circuits to ensure everything is operating properly. Government safety inspectors check make a final review before they give approval to operate.

The Future

The current trend to higher, longer, and faster coasters will probably continue for the near future. This is especially true now that roller coasters have become popular in Europe, Asia, and many other foreign countries. In the meantime, coaster designers will be looking for new ways to give riders a physical and visual thrill.

Where to Learn More

Books

Bennett, David. Roller Coaster: Wooden and Steel Coasters, Twisters, and Corkscrews. Edison, NJ: Chartwell Books, 1998.

Cook, Nick. Roller Coasters, or, I Had So Much Fun, I Almost Puked. Minneapolis, MN: Carolrhoda Books, Inc., 1998.

Periodicals

Lindsay, D. "Terror Bound." American Heritage (September 1998): 76-89.

Ruben, P. L. "Scream Machines." Popular Mechanics (August 1998): 80-83.

Other

World of Coasters. http://www.rollercoaster.com (November 29, 1999).

[Article by: Chris Cavette]

The track of a typical roller coaster. This track scheme is loosely based on the Crystal Beach Cyclone.

The roller coaster (the term jet coaster is sometimes used for roller coasters in Japan) is a popular amusement ride developed for amusement parks and modern theme parks. LaMarcus Adna Thompson patented the first roller coaster on January 20 1885. In essence a specialised railroad system, a roller coaster consists of a track that rises in designed patterns, sometimes with one or more inversions (such as loops) that turn the rider briefly upside down. The track does not necessarily have to be a complete circuit, as shuttle roller coasters exhibit. Most roller coasters have multiple cars in which passengers sit and are restrained into. An entire set of cars hooked together is called a train. Some roller coasters, notably Wild Mouse roller coasters, run with single cars.

In what may be the first practical application of the roller coaster, NASA has announced that it will build one to help astronauts escape the Ares I launch pad in an emergency. ^[1]

History

The Scenic Railway at Luna Park (Melbourne, Australia), the world's oldest continually-operating rollercoaster, built in 1912.

The earliest roller coasters descended from Russian winter sled rides held on specially constructed hills of ice^[2], especially around St Petersburg. Built in the 17th century, the slides were built to a height of between 70 and  feet ( m), consisted of a 50 degree drop, and were reinforced by wooden supports. By the late 18th century, their popularity was such that entrepreneurs elsewhere began copying the idea in places that did not have such supplies of ice, using ramps and slides with various vehicles.

Innovations were being made with each new ride built. In France, the Les Montagnes Russes à Belleville constructed in Paris in 1812 and the Promenades Aeriennes both featured wheeled cars securely locked to the track, guide rails to keep them on course and higher speeds.^[3] The first loop track was probably also built in Paris from an English design in 1846, with a single-person wheeled sled running through a  foot ( m) diameter loop. None of these tracks were complete circuits. To this day, a number of languages (Danish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish) use the equivalent of Russian mountains to refer to roller coasters.

Etymology

There are several explanations of the name roller coaster. It is said to have originated from an early French design where slides or ramps were fitted with rollers over which a sled would coast.^[3] This design was abandoned in favor of fitting the wheels to the sled or other vehicles, but the name endured.

Another explanation is that it originated from a ride located in a roller skating rink in Haverhill, Massachusetts in 1887. A toboggan-like sled was raised to the top of a track which consisted of hundred of rollers. This Roller Toboggan then took off down gently rolling hills to the floor. The inventors of this ride, Stephen E. Jackman and Byron B. Floyd, claim that they were the first to use the term "roller coaster."^[4]

Thompson's Switchback Railway, 1884.

First scenic gravity railroads

In 1827, a mining company in Summit Hill, Pennsylvania constructed the Mauch Chunk gravity railroad, a 14-kilometre downhill track used to deliver coal (and a miner to operate the mine train's brake) to Mauch Chunk, PA (town now known as Jim Thorpe, PA).^[5] By the 1850s, the "Gravity Road" (as it became known) was providing rides to thrill-seekers for 50 cents a ride. Railway companies used similar tracks to provide amusement on days when ridership was low.

Using this idea as a basis, LaMarcus Adna Thompson began work on a gravity switchback railway that opened at Coney Island in 1884. ^[6]. Passengers had to climb to the top of a platform and rode a bench-like car down the 600 ft track up to the top of another tower where the vehicle was switched to a return track and the passengers took the return trip.^[4] This track design was soon replaced with an oval closed-circuit.^[3] In 1885, Phillip Hinkle introduced the first full-circuit coaster with a lift hill, the Gravity Pleasure Road, which was soon the most popular attraction at Coney Island.^[3] Not to be outdone, in 1886 LaMarcus Adna Thompson patented his design of roller coaster that included dark tunnels with painted scenery. "Scenic Railways" were to be found in amusement parks across the county.^[3]

Innovations

As roller coasters grew in popularity, experimentation in coaster dynamics took off. As early as the 1880s, the concept of a vertical loop was explored, and in 1895 the concept came into fruition with The Flip Flap, located at Sea Lion Park in Brooklyn, and shortly afterward with Loop-the-Loop at Olentangy Park near Columbus, Ohio. The rides were incredibly dangerous, and many passengers suffered whiplash. Both were soon dismantled, and looping coasters had to wait for over a half century before making a reappearance.

Kingda Ka, the world's tallest and fastest roller coaster, located at Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey. (see Notable Roller Coasters)

By 1912, the first underfriction roller coaster was developed by John Miller. Soon, roller coasters spread to amusement parks all around the world. Perhaps the best known historical roller coaster, The Cyclone, was opened at Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York in 1927. Like The Cyclone, all early roller coasters were made of wood. Many old wooden roller coasters are still operational, at parks such as Kennywood near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Blackpool Pleasure Beach, England. The oldest operating roller coaster is Leap the Dips at Lakemont Park in Pennsylvania, a side friction roller coaster built in 1902.

The Great Depression marked the end of the first Golden Age of roller coasters. Theme parks in general went into a decline that lasted until 1972, when The Racer was built at Kings Island in Mason, Ohio (near Cincinnati). Designed by John Allen, the instant success of the Racer began a second golden age, which has continued to this day.

Steel roller coasters

In 1959, the Disneyland theme park introduced a new design breakthrough in roller coasters with the Matterhorn Bobsleds. This was the first roller coaster to use a tubular steel track. Unlike conventional wooden rails, tubular steel can be bent in any direction, which allows designers to incorporate loops, corkscrews, and many other maneuvers into their designs. Most modern roller coasters are made of steel but wooden roller coasters are still being built.

The first modern-day roller coaster to perform a 360-degree inverting element was the Corkscrew located at Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, California, which opened in 1975 and was designed by Arrow Dynamics of Utah.

New roller coaster designs and state of the art technology push the physical limits on what type of experiences can be had on the newest coasters. For example, coasters like the Incredible Hulk Coaster feature launched lift hills to create a unique experience.

Riding Expedition GeForce.

Mechanics

The cars on a typical roller coaster are not self-powered. Instead, a standard full circuit roller coaster is pulled up with a chain or cable along the lift hill to the first peak of the coaster track. The potential energy accumulated by the rise in height is transferred to kinetic energy as the cars race down the first downward slope. Kinetic energy is then converted back into potential energy as the train moves up again to the second peak. This hill is necessarily lower, as some mechanical energy is lost to friction.

This all-wooden roller coaster, built in 1951, dominates the Linnanmäki amusement park in Helsinki, Finland.

Not all roller coasters feature a lift hill, however. The train may be set into motion by a launch mechanism such as a flywheel launch, linear induction motors, linear synchronous motors, hydraulic launch, compressed air launch or drive tire. Such launched roller coasters are capable of reaching higher speeds in a shorter length of track than those featuring a conventional lift hill. Some roller coasters move back and forth along the same section of track; these are known as shuttles and usually run the circuit once with riders moving forwards and then backwards through the same course.

A properly designed roller coaster under good conditions will have enough kinetic, or moving, energy to complete the entire course, at the end of which brakes bring the train to a complete stop and it is pushed into the station. A brake run at the end of the circuit is the most common method of bringing the roller coaster ride to a stop. One notable exception is a powered roller coaster. These rides, instead of being powered by gravity, use one or more motors in the cars to propel the trains along the course.

If a continuous-circuit roller coaster does not have enough kinetic energy to completely travel the course after descending from its highest point (as can happen with high winds or increased friction), the train can valley: that is, roll backwards and forwards along the track, until all kinetic energy has been released. The train will then come to a complete stop in the middle of the track. This, however, works somewhat differently on a launched roller coaster. When a train launcher does not have enough potential energy to launch the train to the top of an incline, the train is said to "roll back." On some modern roller coasters, such as Top Thrill Dragster at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio, this is an occurrence highly sought after by many coaster enthusiasts.

The Road Runner roller coaster at Movie World, Australia.

Blocking

Most large roller coasters have the ability to run two or more trains at once. These rides use a block system, which prevents the trains from colliding. In a block system, the track is divided into several sections, or blocks. Only one train at a time is permitted in each block. At the end of each block, there is a section of track where a train can be stopped if necessary (either by preventing dispatch from the station, closing brakes, or stopping a lift). Sensors at the end of each block detect when a train passes so that the computer running the ride is aware of which blocks are occupied. When the computer detects a train about to travel into an already occupied block, it uses whatever method is available to keep it from entering.

The above can cause a cascade effect when multiple trains become stopped at the end of each block. In order to prevent this problem, ride operators follow set procedures regarding when to release a newly-loaded train from the station. One common pattern, used on rides with two trains, is to do the following: hold train #1 (which has just finished the ride) right outside the station, release train #2 (which has loaded while #1 was running), and then allow #1 into the station to unload safely.

Safety

Because roller coasters are intended to feel risky, accidents such as the September 5, 2003 fatality at the Disneyland Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, attract public attention.

Statistically, roller coasters are very safe. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates that 134 park guests required hospitalization in 2001 and that fatalities related to amusement rides average two per year. According to a study commissioned by Six Flags, 319 million people visited parks in 2001. The study concluded that a visitor has a one in one-and-a-half billion chance of being fatally injured, and that the injury rates for children's wagons, golf, and folding lawn chairs are higher than for amusement rides.^[7] In fact, driving to the amusement park has a higher risk of injury than riding the rides at the amusement park. It is not unusual for park management to pay higher insurance premiums for carousels than they do for roller coasters.

Many safety systems are implemented within roller coaster systems. The key to the mechanical fail safes is the control of the roller coaster's operating computers: programmable logic controllers (often called PLCs). Most roller coasters run with three separate PLCs; however, only one PLC is required to detect a fault for the ride's fail-safes to be activated. This is often the reason that the ride trains may stop on the lift or the brake runs, yet after a short time the ride starts again without any obvious maintenance by staff. It is likely in such a case that one of the PLCs detected a fault by mistake, and the ride operator only needed to restart the ride.

Nevertheless, accidents do occur.^[8] Regulations vary from one authority to another. Thus in the USA, California requires amusement parks to report any ride-related accident that requires an emergency room visit, while Florida exempts parks whose parent companies employ more than 1000 people from having to report any accidents at all. Rep. Ed Markey of Massachusetts has introduced legislation that would give oversight of rides to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).

Ride accidents can be caused by riders or ride operators not following safety directions properly, but in extremely rare cases riders can be injured by mechanical failures. One such example was the 2006 de-railing of one car on the Wild Thing roller coaster at Valleyfair!.

In recent years, controversy has arisen about the safety of the increasingly extreme rides. There have been suggestions that these may be subjecting passengers to translational and rotational accelerations that may be capable of causing brain injuries. In 2003 the Brain Injury Association of America concluded in a report that "There is evidence that roller coaster rides pose a health risk to some people some of the time. Equally evident is that the overwhelming majority of riders will suffer no ill effects." ^[9]

A similar report in 2005 linked roller coasters and other thrill rides with potentially triggering abnormal heart conditions that could lead to death.^[10] Autopsies have shown that recent deaths at various Disney parks, Anheuser-Busch parks, and Six Flags parks were due to previously undetected heart ailments.

Physics

Roller coaster design is a science, as well as an art: the designer must use knowledge of kinematics to avoid overstressing the human body and building an uncomfortable or dangerous ride. The acceleration is a significant design parameter, as is the rate of change of acceleration, jerk. Jerk is often used in engineering as some precision or fragile objects—such as passengers need time to sense stress changes and adjust their muscle tension to avoid injuries such as whiplash.

Types of roller coaster

Montu. A popular inverted roller coaster at Busch Gardens Africa.

"Lethal Weapon - The Ride" at Warner Bros. Movie World is among the first steel inverted roller coasters in Australia

Today, there are two main types of roller coaster:

• Steel roller coasters
• Wooden roller coasters (also known amongst enthusiasts as 'Woodies')^[11]

Steel coasters are known for their smooth ride and often convoluted shapes that frequently turn riders upside-down via inversions. Wooden coasters are typically renowned by enthusiasts for their rougher ride and "air time" produced by negative G-forces when the train reaches the top of hills along the ride.

Modern roller coasters take on many different forms. Some designs take their cue from how the rider is positioned to experience the ride. Traditionally, riders sit facing forward in the coaster car, while newer coaster designs have ignored this tradition in the quest for building more exciting, unique ride experiences. Variations such as the stand-up roller coaster and the flying roller coaster position the rider in different ways to provide different experiences. involves cars that have the riders in a standing position (though still heavily strapped in). In addition to changing rider viewpoint, some roller coaster designs also focus on track styles to make the ride fresh and different from other coasters.

Experience Riders 4th Dimension roller coaster Flying roller coaster Floorless roller coaster Inverted roller coaster Pipeline roller coaster Stand-up roller coaster Suspended roller coaster Steeplechase roller coaster Powered roller coaster

Track design Bobsled roller coaster Boomerang roller coaster Corkscrew roller coaster Dueling roller coaster Figure 8 roller coaster Inverted roller coaster Mine Train roller coaster Moebius Loop roller coaster Out and Back roller coaster Racing roller coaster Shuttle roller coaster Side friction roller coaster Spinning roller coaster Twister roller coaster Wild Mouse roller coaster Wooden roller coaster Steel roller coaster

Mechanics Chain-lift/cable lift Electromagnetic Hydraulic Pneumatic Catapult Buzz bars Powered Coaster Weight drop launch Flywheel launch

Height specific

Some names have been used by parks for marketing their roller coasters. While oftentimes used among coaster fans they are not necesarily industry accepted terms.

• Stratacoaster - When Cedar Point announced Top Thrill Dragster in 2003 the park used the term Stratacoaster in their press materials to describe a roller coaster that was  feet ( m) tall.
• Gigacoaster - Used by Cedar Point and manufacturer Intamin AG to market and describe the Millennium Force roller coaster. Cedar Point claimed the term referred to a roller coaster that broke the  foot ( m) mark. The term is actually used as a production designation on the Intamin AG website.
• Hypercoaster is a term coined by amusement industry writer Allen Ambrosini. One definition of a hypercoaster is a coaster that is built for speed and airtime, while a second definition is of a coaster with an initial drop of between 200 and  feet ( m) tall. Some manufacturers, such as Bollinger & Mabillard and Chance Morgan use this term for production models both over and under 200 feet tall.
• Junior roller coaster. A roller coaster specifically designed for families and children not able to ride the larger rides.

Major roller coaster manufacturers

• Arrow Dynamics (now S&S-Arrow since S&S Power bought Arrow Dynamics)
• Bolliger & Mabillard
• Bradley and Kaye
• Chance Morgan
• Fabbri Group
• Gerstlauer
• Giovanola
• Great Coasters International
• Intamin AG
• MACK Rides
• Maurer Söhne
• Pinfari (defunct)
• Premier Rides
• S&S Power
• Schwarzkopf (defunct)
• TOGO (defunct)
• The Gravity Group
• Vekoma
• Zamperla
• Zierer

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Roller coaster

• List of notable roller coasters
• List of amusement parks

References

1. ^ Chris Bergin (November 3, 2006). NASA will build Rollercoaster for Ares I escape. NASA Spaceflight.com. Archived from the original on 2007-01-01. Retrieved on 2007-01-08.
2. ^ Coker, Robert (2002). Roller Coasters: A Thrill Seeker's Guide to the Ultimate Scream Machines, Metrobooks, New York. ISBN #1586631721. pg 14
3. ^ ^{a b c d e}
4. ^ ^{a b} Rutherford, Scott (2000) The American Roller Coaster, MBI Publishing Company, Wisconsin, ISBN#0760306893.
5. ^ Roller Coaster History: Early Years In America. Retrieved 26 July 2007
6. ^ Sheedy, Chris. "Icons - In the Beginning... Roller-Coaster", Sunday Life (weekly supplemental magazine included in The Sun-Herald), John Fairfax Publications Pty Ltd., January 7, 2007, p. 10. 
7. ^ Levine, Arthur. "White Knuckles Are the Worst of It", themeparks.about.com. Retrieved on 2007-01-08. 
8. ^ Verified Injury Accidents at Theme and Amusement Parks.
9. ^ Blue Ribbon Panel (February 25, 2003). "Blue Ribbon Panel Review of the Correlation between Brain Injury and Roller Coaster Rides - Final Report". Retrieved on 2007-01-08. 
10. ^ Laino, Charlene, Louise Chang, MD. "Roller Coasters: Safe for the Heart?", WebMD.com, November 16, 2005. Retrieved on 2007-01-08. 
11. ^ Coker, Robert (2002). Roller Coasters: A Thrill Seeker's Guide to the Ultimate Scream Machines. New York: Metrobooks. ISBN 1586631721. 

External links

• Roller Coaster Database - Information, statistics and photos for over 1900 roller coasters throughout the world
• Internet Best Roller Coaster Poll - Sophisticated poll that has ranked the world's best coasters since 1994
• Roller Coaster History - History of the roller coaster
• Roller Coaster Patents - With links to the U.S. Patent office
• Roller Coaster Physics - Classic physics explained in terms of roller coasters
• How Roller Coasters Work
• Amusement Safety Organization - Roller Coaster Safety

Roller coasters
List of notable roller coasters · Roller coaster inversion · Roller coaster elements
Brake run · Drive tire · Launch track · Lift hill · Buzz bars · On-ride camera · Train

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
n. - rutsjebane
v. intr. - køre i rutsjebane
adj. - rutsjebane-

Français (French)
n. - montagnes russes
v. intr. - monter et descendre
adj. - qui monte et qui descend rapidement

Deutsch (German)
n. - Achterbahn
v. - Achterbahn fahren
adj. - auf und ab, plötzlich umschlagend

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (καταδυόμενο) τρενάκι του λούνα παρκ
v. - αυξομειώνομαι απότομα και συνεχώς
adj. - που αυξομειώνεται απότομα και συνεχώς

Italiano (Italian)
montagne russe, andare su e giù

Português (Portuguese)
n. - montanha-russa (f)
v. - agitar
adj. - difícil

Русский (Russian)
американские горки, жизнь то удачная то нет

Español (Spanish)
n. - montaña rusa
v. intr. - subir y bajar repentina y repetidamente
adj. - relativo o perteneciente a la montaña rusa

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - berg- och dalbana
v. - åka berg- och dalbana
adj. - berg- och dalbaneliknande

中文（简体） (Chinese (Simplified))
云霄飞车, 乘云霄飞车, 云霄飞车的

中文（繁體） (Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 雲霄飛車
v. intr. - 乘雲霄飛車
adj. - 雲霄飛車的

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 롤러 코스트, 갑자기 변하는 사건
v. intr. - 갑자기 변하다
adj. - 돌변하는

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - ジェットコースター, 急激な変化

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮רכבת הרים (בגן-שעשועים)‬
v. intr. - ‮עלה וירד‬
adj. - ‮עולה ויורד‬

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