The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1904-08-11
When Visiting the Worlds Fair, Ride
On the Ferris Wheel.

The great Expostions held during the last
fifteen years have produced two marvellous
examples Of eng neering and constructive
ability. One of these the Eiffel Tower, was
designed and built by Frenchman at Paris
for the Exposition of 1899; the other, the
Ferris Wheel was des gned and built by the
late Geo. W & Ferris for the WOrld's Column
bian Exposition at Chicago, in 1898.
Paris again held Il great Exposition i'll
1900 but failed to produce any feature to
take the place of the Eiffel Tower In Amer
lea, st. Louis, in 1904 planned and produced
the greatest Exposition the world has ever
seen. Scores of attempts We're made to ill.,
vent something more wonderful and more
attractive than the Ferris Wheel but as Paris
failed to Guido her own Eiffe Tower, so did
st. Louis fail to equal the far-famed Ferris
Wheel of the Worlds Columbian Exposition
of 1893. Arrangements We're accordingly
made to bring the Ferris Wheel to the Louisi-
ana Purchase Exposition and it was given Il
location near the geographical center of the
grounds
The problem of moving the Ferris Wheel
from Chicago to st. Louis was stupendOuS-
200 tons of material, including the lotion
| axle besides engines boilers and derricks and
falsewOrk, had to be transported. One hum
dred and seventy-tive freight
quired to move this material.
A brief resume of the dimensions and de-
scription of the Ferris Wheel may be interest
| ing. The Wheel is built upon the bicycle prin-
| cipe, with immense tension spokes. 1916
inches in diameter The Wheel is $50 feet in
| diameter and stands 264 feet high. In reality
| it is two wheels securely braced together.
| Between the outer rims of these wheels the
eleven ton cars are suspended on 612 inch
pins q feet long. These ears are / ) feet wide
| 20 feet long, 9 feet high and will carry 60
persons each There are 36 of them, so the
! total capacity of the wheel is 2 100 persons
| At several times in it's history the Wheel has
been filed to its capacity. The axle of the
| Wheel is "a solid steel forging. 30 inches in
| diameter and 10 feet long.
| The solid bronze bearings upon which it
rests each 6 feet long and contain nearly
| two tons of metal. The weight of the wheel
! is carried upon two fOur-post towers, feet
| square on top and 4OXoO feet at the base.
| These in turn rest upon solid concrete and
| steel beam pillars. which are carried down to
| solid rock 20 feet below the surface of the
| ground. The towers are anchored to the
| bottom OF this mass OF concrete by 2X6 inch
| eyebars. that the Wheel is perfectly safe,
| even i'll the most violent storms. The side
vibration of the Wheel in an so mile an hour
! wind is less than u inch. The Wheel is run
| by II double reversing engine with cylinders
30x4S inches, capable of developing 1000
| horse power. The power is applied through
| n series OF cogs to u sprOcket chain which
engages wide cogs on the outside of each
| rim.
| WO revolutions are given P1cn passenger
and the time required is from 20 to 30 min
utes. The view during this hall hour ride il
most interesting and instructive. Gradually
as the majestic and mighty wheel rolls one
up higher and higher, grand panorama UNI
folds itself to view 4 fifty million dollar
Exposition in all its grandeur is before you
The location of the Wheel in the center of the
Fair Grounds gives one an opportunity tC
thoroughly famliarize themselves with the
lay of the grounds and get better genera
idea of the Fair than they could by days o
tramping. The Cascades, the Plateau o
States, all the big buildings. the Pike, Festi
val Hall, the Art Building. Foreign Buildings
Philippine Reservation. the Air Ship En-
closure, in fact, every point of interest in tn,
grounds can be from the big wheel. Ii
| addition. one gets view of st. Louis. tn,
Mississippi River and the beautiful forests
hills and daes for fifty miles around Al
night. the view of the illumination of tn,
buildings and grounds is simply magnificent
Eye has not seen nor ear heard of a NOR,
striking spectacle than the night view of tn,
great Exposition from the top of the Ferris
| Wheel.
Hundreds OF thousands of ncandescen
lights bring the outlines o. all the building.
in bold relief. The Festival Hall and tn,
| Plateau of States are flooded in turn Will
white, red and green lights. making a start
ling and very beautiful effect The best poin
| to view this grand illumination is from tn,
| Ferris Wheel.
When You visit the Fair do not fail to rid,
upon it.