The unquestioned highlight for most people of any visit to an amusement park is the roller coaster, affectionately dubbed the "Great American Scream Machine." But coasters are more than just mere entertainment. They are based on fundamental physics principles such as gravitation, centripetal force, and acceleration. As such, roller coasters have become one of the most popular mechanisms for teaching these basic concepts to students. Largely considered an American phenomenon, roller coasters actually have their roots in the ice slides that first appeared in the 17th century in Russia, near St. Petersburg. They were built out of lumber covered with a sheet of ice severaljjjlkkkkk inches thick, and featured drops of 50 to 80 feet. They were a big favorite among the Russian upper class—Catherine the Great is said to have been a fan, and even had a few built on her estate. Most historians credit the French with building the first wheeled coaster—by 1817 there were two coasters in France, both of which featured cars locked to the track—and with building the first looping coaster at Frascati Gardens in Paris. An early attempt to bring a similar ride to the US in 1848 failed because of an accident during the trial run. It would fall to an American inventor named LaMarcus Thompson to revolutionize the amusement industry in the US, earning him the title of the "father of the American roller coaster." Born in 1848 in Jersey, Ohio, Thompson was a natural at mechanics, designing and building a butter churn and an ox cart when he was 12. He attended Hillsdale College in Michigan and then worked briefly in the wagon and carriage business before making his fortune as a manufacturer of women' s seamless hosiery. After selling his stake in the hosiery business, he turned back to his first love: inventing. Several years earlier he had ridden on the Mauch Chuk Switchback Railway in Pennsylvania, a former mine track used to transport coal down a mountainside that had become a popular tourist attraction. He decided to build his own Gravity Pleasure Switchback Railway at Coney Island, completed in 1884. It was the first bona fide roller coaster to be built in the US, shaped like the early Russian ice slides (two hills parallel to each other), incorporating undulating hills and a flat steel track nailed onto several layers of wooden plank, connected to two 45 foot towers. The maximum speed was 6 mph, and the cars had to be manually towed to the top of the hills at the start of both tracks. Nevertheless, the ride was an instant success with the public. Within four years, Thompson had built approximately 50 more coasters across the nation and in Europe, and then began work on what became his most famous attraction, the Scenic Railway, designed with James A. Griffiths. It opened in 1887 in Atlantic City and featured artificial scenery illuminated by lights triggered by the approaching cars—a precursor to the elaborate theme park rides at Disneyland and other parks today. Thompson built numerous other scenic railways until his retirement in 1915. He died in 1919. Of course, Thompson was not the only early designer of roller coasters, either in the US or abroad, and improvements and innovations were quickly made. In 1884, Charles Alcoke designed a coaster with a continuous track, so that the ride ended where it began, and the following year Phillips Hinckle used a mechanical hoist to raise the cars to the top of the hill, rather than being towed manually. That same year saw the debut of the first experiment with loops with the Flip Flap, which rolled cars through a 25 foot diameter circular loop, but closed in 1903 because of the frequent neck and back injuries suffered by its passengers. By the end of the 19th century, all the basic elements of the modern roller coaster were in place, although they were slow. The early 1900s featured numerous innovations in roller coaster design, led by the rides at Coney Island, the success of which ultimately spawned the opening of amusement parks worldwide. The 1920s was the "Golden Age" of roller coaster design and innovation, with more than 1500 rides opening in North America, and another 1500 overseas. But the Great Depression caused the number of roller coasters to decrease and many amusement parks to be torn down. The technology languished until 1955, when the opening of Disneyland in southern California ushered in a new Golden Age for the roller coaster. Since then, further innovations have come fast and furious—new track elements, launch systems, seating, and elaborate ride themes—and today, roller coasters are more popular and pervasive than ever. Further Reading: Online Resources: History
The first rollercoaster in the world made its debut 200 years ago today. It was "The Promenades-Aériennes" or "The Aerial Walk" in Paris. Passengers walked up a set of stairs to ride a bench down the 600-foot track at 40 mph. Today, the tallest coaster is 456 feet tall.
ARI SHAPIRO, HOST: Two-hundred years ago, humans decided to make their already stressful and scary lives a little bit more terrifying. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: (Screaming). AUDIE CORNISH, HOST: We're talking about the dawn of the roller coaster. It was in Paris in 1817. The first was basically a cart on tracks at the top of a simple ramp. Gravity did the rest. SHAPIRO: The French roller coaster got its inspiration from Russia where thrill-seekers did the same thing with sleds on hills made of ice. Unfortunately, 2017 does not mark the 200th anniversary of roller coaster safety technology. JOEL BULLOCK: Roller coasters really used to be actually dangerous, not so much perceived danger. CORNISH: That's Joel Bullock. He writes coastercritic.com. BULLOCK: People would be beat up, but they would say, hey, that was a different kind of thrill, almost like a "Fight Club" thrill (laughter) back in those days. CORNISH: Over the years, it seemed like a good idea not to kill or injure your customers, so safer rides were built. At the same time, they only got higher, faster and more complex with twists and flips added. That's the way coaster critic Joel Bullock likes them - fast and scary. BULLOCK: I've got a 10-point rating scale that goes from horrible all the way up to excellent, even a transcendental for the really impressive rides. CORNISH: According to his rating scale, two coasters qualify as transcendental, both found at Six Flags amusement parks - one in Massachusetts called Superman the Ride. The other is El Toro in New Jersey. SHAPIRO: You know, from that first Parisian coaster that rolled down a gentle hill to the monsters we have today, you could say roller coasters have had a lot of ups and downs in the last 200 years. Sorry. (SOUNDBITE OF THE BACKTRACK PLAYERS SONG, "BROCCOLI") Copyright © 2017 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
Postcard showing a Thompson Switchback Railway in California in 1887.
The oldest roller coasters descended from the so-called “Russian Mountains,”. These were specially constructed hills of ice located especially around Saint Petersburg, Russia. Built in the 17th century, the slides became popular with the Russian upper class. Catherine II of Russia was such a fan of these attractions that she had a few of these slides built on her own property. There is some dispute as to when wheels were added to carts for year-round operation. Some historians say the first real roller coaster was built under the orders of James the 3rd. The roller coaster was built in the Gardens of Oreinbaum in St. Petersburg in the year 1784. Other historians believe that the first roller coaster was built by the French. Les Montagnes Russes à Belleville (The Russian Mountains of Belleville). This roller coaster was said to be constructed in Paris in 1812. The Promenades Aeriennes both featured wheeled cars securely locked to the track, guide rails to keep them on course, and higher speeds. Although, the groundwork for the invention of the roller coaster was laid in Europe, the ride as we know it today developed in the United States. La Marcus Thompson is often credited as the “father of the roller coaster” building a switchback railway at Coney Island in 1884. While there is no doubt that he built Coney’s Switchback Railway, it doesn’t mean that he invented, or built the first — rather, he was the best at promoting and improving it. Roller Coaster PatentsThere are a number of early roller coaster patents, both switchback and circular, dating as far back as 1872. It is not certain, however, if any were actually built by their inventors. John G. Taylor of Baltimore was issued one of the first patents, and although many historians were convinced his switchback railway was never built, there is a photograph of it — but it is not dated. There is, however, a newspaper article dated 1874 that mentions several attractions at West Haven’s Savin Rock, including Taylor’s patented elevated railway cars. So we do know that one coaster was constructed at least 10 years before LaMarcus Thompson built his famous Coney coaster. La Marcus ThompsonWe can credit La Marcus Thompson with making the roller coaster the feature attraction at amusement parks. Following the popularity of the Switchback Railway at Coney, others would build larger and faster rides. In order to stay competitive, Thompson continued to make improvements and build larger rides. From 1884 to 1887, Thompson was granted thirty patents. All of these patents lead to the advancement of the gravity ride. History Of The Roller Coaster Timeline |
How and why was the first roller coaster built
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