Who invinted the roller coaster?

Answer 1

That depends on how one defines invented. A few viewpoints to consider. . .

Historians agree that the ride's origins were the Russian Ice Slides. These slides first appeared during the 17th century throughout Russia, with a particular concentration in the area of in what would become St. Petersburg. The structures were built out of lumber with a sheet of ice several inches thick covering the surface. Riders climbed the stairs attached to the back of the slide, sped down the 50 degree drop and ascend the stairs of the slide that laid parallel (and opposite) to the first one. During the winter festival season slides were built between seventy and eighty feet high, stretched for hundreds of feet and accommodated many large sleds at once. Elaborate constructions often stretched several city blocks and were said to reach speeds of 50 mph.

The first "real" roller coaster, ( one built with wheels on a dry track), was constructed on orders of Catherine the Great. The roller coaster was built in the Gardens of Oreinbaum in St. Petersburg in an amusement center called Katalnaya Gorka in the year 1784. Soon after the first coaster was built, the Napoleonic Wars began. Many French soldiers grew fond of the ice slides while in Russia and brought the idea of the roller coaster back with them to France. . .

The first two Roller Coasters that operated on a continuous circuit were built in the early 1800s in France. One was named Les Montages Russes (The Russian Mountain) was built in Belleville, while the other named Promandes Aeriennes was built at Beajon Gardens in Paris. These two coasters were the first ever recorded to have wooden cars with wheels connected to a metal track. These first coasters were locked on to the track by a wheel axis projecting into grooves on the track. There was only one drop on these coasters, but they flew down the hill at an excess of 30 mph, after the coaster reached the bottom of the hill attendants had to push the car up the opposite side.

Mining company entrepreneur Josiah White built his "Gravity Road" in 1827 to expeditiously haul coal from the mines at Summit Hill to the Lehigh River landing at Mauch Chunk, PA (now the town of Jim Thorpe)--a nine-mile, downhill journey. Trains of up to 14 cars, loaded with 50,000 pounds of anthracite coal, sped down the mountain under the command of a single courageous "runner" who operated a brake lever. Mules had the unpleasant task of dragging the cars back up the mountain. But they enjoyed the rapid ride back down. And they weren't the only ones.

Quickly the thrilling Gravity Road became a public attraction. Coal was hauled in the morning, but the afternoon runs were filled with passengers paying 50 cents per ride. By the mid-19th century, the demand for coal was increasing, so White added a backtrack with two 120-horsepower steam engines at the top of nearby Mount Pisgah, which pulled the trains up the incline of 664 vertical feet, assisted by "barney," or "safety," cars. The ingenious addition of a ratchet rail running between the dual two-rail tracks, when engaged by a ratchet on the barney, prevented the cars from rolling backward. This safety device, later perfected, gave rise to the clanking sound that would characterize the latter-day coasters.

In 1872 a tunnel was completed that became a more efficient coal route than the Gravity Road, but it was not the end of the Mauch Chunk Switchback by any means. By 1873, 35,000 tourists were taking an 80-minute, 18-mile spectacularly scenic ride up and down Mount Pisgah and the other peak, Mount Jefferson. The price? A steep $1.

The first person to patent (not invent) a roller coaster was LaMarcus Adna Thompson on 20 January 1885. In essence a specialised railroad system, a coaster consists of a track that rises and falls in specially designed patterns, sometimes with one or more inversions (the most common being loops) that turns the rider briefly upside down. The track does not necessarily have to be a complete circuit (the antonym of complete circuit is "shuttle"), though some purists insist that it must to be a true coaster. (Note that not all thrill rides that run on a track are roller coasters). Most coasters have cars for two, four, or six passengers each, in which the passengers sit to travel around the circuit. An entire set of cars hooked together is referred to as a train.