Something of interest from the past

[AB Hammer]

 The Scenic Spiral Wheel (The Top) (1917 - 1921)

Type - Tilting Spiral Scenic Railroad - Steel
Location - Luna Park

Imagine a spiral roller coaster built into a child's gigantic top with one edge resting on the ground. As the coaster car made its way down, its weight shifted the top's resting point so that the whole contraption tilted as you spiraled around and round towards the ground.

1.17 minutes into the video. The first video I could find.

http://youtu.be/eOESYhVZpEY

The rest of the video is interesting as well.


I found the best versions of the ride and other rides filmed 1920. Here is the link and there are 2 videos of the top. (much clearer) :-)

http://footage.framepool.com/en/bin/102645,luna+park,coney+island,usa,1920-1929/

I found the patents that pertain to the top.

Roundabout. US 1186966 A

http://www.google.com/patents/US1186966

Also

Roundabout. US 1150246 A

http://www.google.com/patents/US1150246

Another part of info is on this page that I found the patent numbers on.

http://newsgroups.derkeiler.com/Archive/Rec/rec.roller-coaster/2008-04/msg00133.html

Quoted from the page. -Riverview Park Top at 0:32. RCDB.com shows the dates of this ride as
1907-1916. A very similar ride was advertised as the Scenic Spiral
Wheel at Luna Park, Coney Island, for the 1917 season (ad in Cartmell's
Incredible Scream Machine).

__________________________________

Also  here is a design I did awhile back that fits the approach of the coaster.


Alan

[AB Hammer]

I am surprised that no one has posted to have seen what I have seen in this top.  A couple members of Bessler Wheel has over there, but no one Here?


Alan

[DreamThinkBuild]

Hi Alan,

Thanks for the links, that is really neat, its almost like two spiral counter rotating Archimedes screws. With water it would create an interesting water falls in the center.

Here is some more information from this site:

http://www.westland.net/coneyisland/articles/lunapark.htm

"A few seasons passed with little innovation before general Manager, Oscar C. Jurney, in 1917 added an unusual attraction called the Scenic Spiral Wheel, better known as The Top. It was a 45 ton, 70 foot diameter steel wheel that was tipped towards its heavier side where it rested on its bottom edge. Roller coaster track spiraled around its outer rim from its top to its bottom. As the four car train circled the rim of the wheel, its weight changed the wheel's tilt so that the entire rig gyrated around like a top running low on spin. The train slowly spiraled down and covered 3200 feet of track in two and one half minutes. A second train with a separate admission climbed up to the top of the wheel, then descended through a long tunnel. The wheel was more interesting to watch than to ride, and consequently only lasted through the 1921 season."

The drive mechanism reminds me of this patent application:

2013/0047754 Mechanical Advantage Machine

https://www.google.com/patents/US20130047754

[AB Hammer]

Greetings DreamThinkBuild

Nice find. Yes the rim has the same approach as the top. It is an interesting part to consider for the rim always rides the same path and in other wheel designs you would have a swinging effect from the center axle.

Alan

[DreamThinkBuild]

Hi Alan,

Here is an idea combining the different patents from above. If the driven weight/prime mover can create a gyration in the central axis it will allow the heavy weight on the lever arm to displace/tilt towards the direction of the prime mover.

Much like moving the carts in patent US1150246 but along a linear path. It wouldn't have to move very far to create a displacement. The heavy weight on the arm could also be slightly offset in the direction of the prime mover to aid the forward displacement once moving.

Doing some basic sim work what happens is the heavy mass of the arm creates a moving fulcrum at the edge of the plate touching the ground. As the prime mover moves farther away from the fulcrum it creates a leverage/tilt in central axis which impulses the heavy arm to rotate around the axle. It's constantly creating a moving fulcrum. In this case the prime mover leads while the arm lags.

If the arm is lighter than the prime movers mass the moving fulcrum is created by the prime mover. This causes the lighter arm to slingshot forward. So in this case the arm leads the prime mover lags.

If both prime mover and arms are the same weight they lock step in phase with each other. Both are at the fulcrum and need only a very slight displacement to cause movement of the arm. Think of it like a ball in the middle of balance beam it takes very little to roll off the beam once the center axis is tipped.

These are only sim results so take with grain of salt.

This looks really interesting though and need to do some more studies and see if creating weight imbalances can make a much heavier arm be in phase with a lighter prime mover (less power needed).

The other way is to balance the heavy weight on the arm to be slightly more than the prime mover to create quick forward impulses in the arm.