How Long Does It Take To Build A Roller Coaster

Roller Coaster

Background

A roller coaster is an amusement park ride where passengers sit in a series of wheeled cars that are linked together. The cars motion along a pair of rails supported by a woods or steel structure. In operation, the cars are carried up a steep incline past a linked chain. When the cars reach the top of the incline, they whorl gratuitous of the chain and are propelled downwards past gravity through a series of drops, rises, and turns. Finally the cars are braked to a stop at the starting bespeak, where the passengers become out and new passengers get on. Roller coasters are considered by many to exist the about exciting ride in any amusement park.

History

The origins of the roller coaster probably date back to Russian federation in the 1400s, where ice sledding was a pop winter activity. It became so popular that people in relatively flat areas constructed their own hills out of snow and ice. The tops of these artificial hills were reached by way of elevated forest towers with stairways from the ground. For a small charge, people could climb the stairway and take a quick, exciting ride down the hill on a sled.

By the 1700s, many owners of ice hills constitute a fashion to extend the profit potential of the ride across the wintertime months. They mounted wheels nether modest sleds and replaced the ice hills with ones constructed of forest. Brightly colored lanterns were hung along the slope to allow night operation.

Visitors from French republic saw these rides, which they chosen the Russian Mountains, and took the thought back with them. The first wheeled coaster opened in Paris in 1804, and the coaster craze chop-chop spread throughout France. As the popularity of the rides grew, operators vied for the public's patronage by building faster and more exciting coasters. Unfortunately, safety devices did not continue footstep with the speed, and accidents were mutual. Past the mid-1800s, the increasing number of injuries and a full general loss of public interest took their cost. One-by-i the Russian Mountain coasters were dismantled.

The development of the roller coaster might have stopped at that place had it not been for a defunct coal-hauling railroad in the United States. The Mauch Chunk inclined railroad was built in Pennsylvania in the early 1800s to haul coal from a mine atop a mountain to barges in a canal below. Mules hauled the empty cars up the loma, and gravity brought the loaded cars, along with the mules, back down. In 1874 mining operations changed, and the railroad began hauling sightseers instead of coal. The 1-and-a-one-half hour circular trip cost one dollar and was an firsthand success. The railroad continued to carry passengers until information technology closed in 1938.

The success of the Mauch Clamper inclined railroad as a tourist attraction provided the inspiration for several like entertainment park rides on a smaller scale. In the U.s., LaMarcus Thompson built his Gravity Pleasure Switchback Railway ride at the beach on Coney Isle, New York, in 1884. For a nickel, riders rode cars that coasted from one elevated station to another over a series of gentle hills supported on a wooden trestle. At the opposite end, the cars were switched onto a parallel track for the return trip.

The second roller coaster on Coney Isle was built in belatedly 1884 when Charles Alcoke opened his Serpentine Railway. Alcoke's coaster was the beginning to use an oval-track design. Riders saturday sideways on open up benches as they were whisked along at what was and so considered to be a break-neck speed of 12 mph (xix kph). A 3rd coaster was built on Coney Isle in 1885 past Phillip Hinkle. Hinkle's coaster incorporated a chain lift to carry the cars up the first hill, thus allowing the passengers to board at ground level and saving them a climb.

Roller coaster evolution hitting its meridian in the 1920s when at that place were more than 1,500 wooden coasters in operation in the U.s.a.. The economic hardships of the 1930s and the wartime fabric shortages of the 1940s put an finish to that era. Entertainment parks closed by the hundreds, and their wooden roller coasters either vicious into disrepair or were tom down. It wasn't until Walt Disney opened the Matterhom Bobsled ride at Disneyland in 1959 that the era of mod steel roller coaster design began. Ironically, information technology took the structure of a new wooden coaster—the massive Racer at Kings Island near Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1972—before the coaster craze really caught on once more.

Past the late 1990s it was estimated there were over 200 major roller coasters in operation in the United States, with more being added every year. In May of 2000, the Millenium Force opened at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio. At 310 ft (94 m) tall and going 92 mph (148 kmp), it is the tallest and fastest roller coaster in the globe.

Raw Materials

Roller coasters are mostly classified as either wooden coasters or steel coasters depending on the materials used for the support structure.

Wooden coasters use massive wooden trestle-mode structures to support the runway above the ground. The wood is more often than not a construction grade such as Douglas fir or southern yellow pine and is painted or otherwise treated to prevent deterioration. The wooden components are supported on concrete foundations and are joined with bolts and nails. Steel plates are used to reinforce critical joints. As an example of the immense number of parts required to build a wooden coaster, the American Hawkeye built for Six Flags Great America in Gumee, Illinois, used 2,000 concrete foundations; 1.6 million ft (487,680 thousand) of wood; sixty,720 bolts; and 30,600 lb (13,910 kg) of nails. It was coated with nine,000 gal (34,065 L) of pigment.

Steel coasters may use thin, trestle-style structures to support the track, or they may use thick tubular supports. The track is usually formed in sections from a pair of welded round steel tubes held in position by steel stanchions fastened to rectangular box girder or thick round tubular track supports. All exposed steel surfaces are painted. Steel coasters can be just as complex as wooden ones. For example, the Pepsi Max Big 1 coaster at Blackpool Pleasance Embankment in Blackpool, England, used 1,270 piles driven into the sandy soil for the foundation; ii,215 tons (2,010 metric tons) of steel, and 60,000 bolts. At that place were 42,000 sq. yd (35,087 sq. m) of painted surfaces.

The runway and lift chain on both wooden and steel coasters are made of steel, and the cars usually have steel axles and substructures. The car bodies may be formed from aluminum or fiberglass, and the machine wheels may be cast from urethane or some other long-wearing, quiet-running cloth.

Design

The design of a roller coaster ride is the commencement and most important function of the manufacturing process. Because each roller coaster is unique, every detail must exist designed literally from the ground up.

To begin, roller coaster designers must consider what kind of riders will utilize the coaster. If the coaster is designed for small children, the hills and curves will be gentle, and the cars' speed will be relatively boring. Families usually desire a somewhat faster ride with plenty of turns and moderate forces. Ultimate thrill seekers want extreme heights and speeds.

Designers must then consider the space available for the coaster. Roller coasters not just accept a lot of ground space, but likewise a lot of air space. Designers look at the full general terrain, other surrounding rides, power lines, access roads, lakes, trees, and other obstacles. Some amusement parks have added so many rides that a new roller coaster has to be designed to thread its way through existing rides and walkways.

The next objective for the designers is to attain a unique "feel" for the coaster. Designers can draw on a number of techniques to provide a memorable ride. The initial incline can exist made steeper or the speed of the lift chain tin can be made slower to heighten the apprehension of the passengers. Once upwards the incline, the start driblet is usually designed to be the steepest, and therefore the fastest and scariest. Other drops can be designed with a cursory flattened section in the eye, and are called double dips. Drops with very abrupt transitions to a apartment or upturned section are called slammers because they slam the passengers downward into their seats. Letting the cars run close to the ground, in what is chosen a gully coaster, gives the illusion of increased speed.

The advent of steel structure for coasters has allowed a number of variations on the bones roller coaster ride. In some mod coasters, the passengers sit suspended below the tracks rather than riding on top of them. In others, the passengers ride standing upward rather than sitting downwards. Some coasters, known as bobsleds, take no track at all, and the cars scroll free in a trough, like a bobsled run.

Nearly of the bodily pattern and layout of a roller coaster is done on a computer. The height of the first incline must be calculated to give the cars enough energy to propel them all the way through the ride and back to the station. The horizontal and vertical forces that the loaded cars exert on the track must be calculated at every point to ensure that the back up structure is adequate. Too, the forces exerted on the passengers must exist calculated at every point. These forces are ordinarily expressed as "g'due south," which are multiples of the forcefulness that gravity exerts on our bodies. For example, if a person weighs 100 lb (45.5 kg), then a 2 grand force would exert 200 lb (91 kg) of force on that person. Coasters in the United States generally exert no more about 3.5 g'due south, which is the limit that most people find tolerable. Three coasters outside the Usa exert more than than 6.5 g's and are considered ultra-extreme. Jet fighter pilots black out at nigh 10 g's.

Because each coaster usually incorporates 1 or more new and untried features, a working prototype of the new features may be built for testing and evaluation. The image is erected at the manufacturer's facility, and weighted examination cars outfitted with instrumentation are propelled through the exam section at the desired speed. Based on these tests, the designers may alter their original design before building the final product.

When the calculations, pattern, and testing are consummate, a figurer-aided drafting (CAD) program is used to ready detailed drawings for each of the thousands of parts that will be used to build the new coaster.

The Manufacturing Process

The actual physical structure of a roller coaster may take place in a factory or on the amusement park site depending on the type and size of the coaster. Most steel coasters are congenital in sections in a factory, then trucked to the site and erected. Well-nigh wooden coasters are built slice-past-slice on the site. Here is the typical sequence of operations for manufacturing both modern steel coasters and classic wooden coasters.

Preparing the site

1 Earlier the roller coaster can exist installed, the area where it is to exist located needs to be cleared and prepared. This is usually done in the off season when the amusement park is closed. If information technology must be done while the park is still open, the area is fenced off to preclude the public from wandering onto the construction site.
2 If there are existing structures, vegetation, or utilities that demand to be moved or demolished, this piece of work is done beginning. If whatever of the surrounding terrain needs to be filled or excavated, that work is also done at this time.
three Holes for the back up structure foundations are surveyed and drilled or dug. Sturdy wooden forms are synthetic to hold the concrete for each foundation betoken. In some areas where the soil is very sandy, large wooden piles may be driven into the ground as foundations rather than using poured concrete. If physical is used, it is brought to the site in mixer trucks and pumped into identify by a physical pump with a long, articulating arm

An instance of a forest-constructed roller coaster.

that can attain each foundation grade. Connector plates are imbedded into the concrete on acme of each foundation to allow attachment of the supports.

Erecting the principal support construction

4 When the foundation is in place, work begins on the master back up structure. The supports for steel coasters—in fact, near all the parts for steel coasters—are made in a factory and shipped to the job site in sections on trucks. In the factory, the pieces for each support are cutting and welded into the required shape using fixtures to hold them in the proper orientation to each other. If a circuitous iii-dimensional bend is required, this may be done in a hydraulic tube bough that is controlled by information from the estimator. On wooden coasters, the material for the supports is usually shipped to the site as unfinished lumber and the private pieces are cut and assembled on site. In either instance, the lower portions of the main supports are lifted by a crane and are attached to the connector plates protruding from the foundation points.
5 Once the lower supports are in place, they may be temporarily braced while the upper sections are lifted into place and connected. This work continues until the primary back up structure is complete.

Installing the track

6 With the main support structure in identify, the rail is installed. On steel coasters,

An example of a steel-constructed roller coaster and car.

sections of track are made in the manufactory with the stanchions and tubular tracks welded to the track supports. Afterwards the sections are brought to the site, they are lifted into place, and the track ends are slid together. The sections are so bolted to the main support construction and to each other. On wooden coasters, wood necktie beams are installed across the top of the chief back up structure along the entire length of the ride. Vi to viii layers of flat woods boards are installed lengthways on peak of the necktie beams in two rows to grade a laminated base for the rails. The rail themselves are formed from long, flat strips of steel screwed into the wood base.
7 On steel coasters, walkways and handrails are welded in place along the outside of the rails to allow maintenance access and emergency evacuation of passengers. On wooden coasters, the portions of the tie beams outside of the track are used equally walkways, and handrails are installed.
8 The lift chain and anti-rollback mechanisms are installed on the lift hill, and the braking device is installed on the final approach to the station.

Fabricating the cars

9 The individual cars for the coaster are fabricated in the mill. The subframe pieces are cut and welded. The bodies are stamped from aluminum or molded in fiberglass, then fastened to the subframe. Seat cushions may be cut from foam, mounted on a base, and covered with an upholstery. Running wheels and guide wheels are bolted in place with locking fasteners. Brake fins, anti-rollback dogs, and other safety components are installed.

Finishing the ride

10 When the chief structure is completed, electrical wiring is installed for the lighting, and the entire ride may be painted. The boarding station is constructed, signs are installed, and the landscaping is put in place.

Quality Command

The design and construction of roller coasters are covered by numerous governmental condom regulations. The materials used must run across certain strength requirements, and the actual construction is subject to periodic inspection. Every solar day, the coaster must exist thoroughly inspected before it goes into functioning.

Before the ride is open up to the public, the cars are filled with weighted sandbags and sent through several circuits to ensure everything is operating properly. Government safety inspectors check make a terminal review before they give approval to operate.

The Future

The current trend to college, longer, and faster coasters will probably continue for the nigh time to come. This is peculiarly truthful now that roller coasters have become popular in Europe, Asia, and many other foreign countries. In the concurrently, coaster designers will be looking for new ways to requite riders a physical and visual thrill.

Where to Learn More

Books

Bennett, David. Roller Coaster: Wooden and Steel Coasters, Twisters, and Corkscrews. Edison, NJ: Chartwell Books, 1998.

Cook, Nick. Roller Coasters, or, I Had So Much Fun, I Nigh Puked. Minneapolis, MN: Carolrhoda Books, Inc., 1998.

Periodicals

Lindsay, D. "Terror Leap." American Heritage (September 1998): 76-89.

Ruben, P. L. "Scream Machines." Pop Mechanics (August 1998): eighty-83.

Other

World of Coasters. http://www.rollercoaster.com (November 29, 1999).

— Chris Cavette

Source: http://www.madehow.com/Volume-6/Roller-Coaster.html