From: cheri@decoy.cc.bellcore.com
Subject: Re: Coasters with LESS restrictions???
Organization: Bellcore
Distribution: usa
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 92 19:15:30 GMT

In article <1992Oct2.115152.16143@ccd.harris.com> wjf@controls.ccd.harris.com
(Bill Figie) writes:
>    Also as far as being scared of law suits, I don't think the
>operators of parks in Europe worry about them as much as we do in the
>US.  We went to a German Fair and rode rides unlike those in the US. 
>And even some of those that are in the US are run very differently over
>there.  On a Ranger ride, they must of held us upside down for about 5
>minutes.  I thought I was going to black out.  Usually in the US a ride
>like this, they only hold you upside down for mear seconds.  On another
>ride, I don't remember the name but I doubt anyone would be able to
>relate to it, they tried to throw you out of your seat.  Let me describe
>it.  It was like a circular washtub that was probably about 50 feet
>across.  You sat around the rim of this thing.  It was probably as big
>as a round-up and at first started off like it.  It started spinning
>fast enough to hold you in you seat and it then started to tilt a little
>(at a perhaps 45 degree angle).  That part was OK because centrifugal
>force was holding you down and in your seat.  But then they started to
>slow the ride down.  You had to hang on to some rail or something
>behind you.  Well when you slowed down and you are at an angle you start
>to slide off you seat so if you let go, you would slide across the floor
>of this thing to the lower side.  As if this wasn't dangerous enough
>near the end of the ride, they actually tried to flip you out of your
>seat.  What this did was cause you to leave your seat body hanging down
>toward the lower side holding on for dear life.  The mechanism would be
>spining slightly but would every several seconds, pop up (go from near
>flat to the 45 degree angle).  I know this is hard to understand.  It is
>even harder to try and put it on paper, but it was really what looked to
>be a dangerous ride.  I guess the worst that could happen is a bruise or
>maybe a broken ankle, but could you imagine a park in the US installing
>something like this.  If anyone else out there has seen or ridden this
>and can describe it better then I have, have at it.  You almost have to
>see it to believe it.
>
>	Bill "I be doing some video swaping tonight with a friend" Figie 
>

Bill,

I think I've actually seen this ride in Wildwood, NJ, at one of the amusement
piers (BTW, I thought your description was very well done!).  The only
difference from your description is that the ride in Wildwood had seat belts,
so that people never actually fell out of their seats.  But when the pop-ups
occurred, people ended up hanging from the seat belt, with limbs sprawling in
all directions (to be more accurate, *legs* were flailing about, because most
people were hanging on to the railing behind them for dear life!).  This was
not a very comfortable position to be in!  It certainly didn't rank on my list
of favorite spinning rides. (FWIW, there's a teacup ride in Wildwood that *is*
high on my list.  It's *extremely* well greased, so that it doesn't take much
effort to get it really spinning!  I love it!!)

-- Cheri

Note:  I haven't been to Wildwood this year, but these rides were there during
the summer of '91.
Newsgroups: rec.roller-coaster