It's just this little chromium switch, here... (derspatchel) wrote,
It's just this little chromium switch, here...
derspatchel

25% electricity to 75% gravity, and gravity's free

This here is a Modern Mechanix article from 1931 about the Thrill Makers of Coney Island. You get a crash course on amusement safety and learn some fundamental roller coaster design while you're at it. While some of the specifics are rare nowadays (newer roller coasters feature fin-and-caliper brakes instead of the older friction skids) the fundamentals stay the same. Upstop wheels are still what keep your train from flying off the track (thanks, John Miller!) and coasters still rely on diminishing returns to help slow themselves down. (Well of course they would; you really can't argue with the laws of thermodynamics.)

The article also gets points for a monstrous description of a Ferris Wheel (something tells me the author hated 'em), for the observation that in modern, jaded 1931 the merry-go-round was seen as boring and trite, and for offhandedly pointing out that midway games of chance are really games of averages.
Subscribe

  • Housemoving

    Along with many others, I am in the process of switching journalthings over to Dreamwidth due to the new ToS here at ЛЖ. I won't be deleting the…

  • if you want to end Trump and stuff you gotta sing loud

    This song is called Alice's Restaurant It's about Alice And the restaurant But Alice's Restaurant is not the name of the restaurant, that's just the…

  • o this is an existing place

    It's been a year since I posted anything and over a year since I wrote of anything substantive, but: Hello

  • Post a new comment

    Error

    Anonymous comments are disabled in this journal

    switch
    default userpic

    Your reply will be screened

    Your IP address will be recorded 

    Help
  • 2 comments