carousel
A carousel ( French carrousel , Ringelstechen ), formerly also called Ringel riding , in southern Germany a riding school , in Austria Ringelspiel and in Switzerland (dialect) called Rösslispil, Rössliritti or Riitschuel , is a frame that can be rotated around a vertical axis through which people sit be rotated in a circle of various kinds. It can be found in many versions as a ride at fairs , Christmas markets , other folk festivals and in amusement parks.
Carousel types
Slow-moving carousels are usually provided with models of vehicles or animals arranged in a circle, on or in which the passengers take their seats. Because of the low speed and low height above the rotating platform, they have no safety bars . They are mostly intended for toddlers these days . Traditional carousel figures are wooden horses on which the passengers “ride”. In order to reinforce this idea, the horses move up and down on some carousels during their circular journey, on others they are at least movably attached so that the “rider” can swing them with them.
The Walzerbahn also goes up and down and faster , due to the undulating ground on which the gondolas rotate around themselves.
In the chain carousel , the individual seats are suspended from a slewing ring with chains. The faster it turns, the more the centrifugal force causes the seats to pivot radially to the side. When flying in waves , the turntable is also tilted.
Tagada is the name of a round turntable with a bench on the edge that extends through the entrance and exit gates. The passengers are pressed into the seat back by centrifugal force .
There are many different types of high-speed carousels. For some, the device is tilted or rotated while driving. There are also models in which the cabs roll over while driving. Fast-moving carousels always have safety bars and are subject to very strict safety checks by the TÜV to protect passengers, just like slow-moving carousels .
Carousels are also available as toys and on children's playgrounds , there as muscle-powered versions.
In September 2016, the “ 1st Wiener Ponny-Caroussel ”, operated by Reinprecht, ended its operation in Vienna's Prater as the oldest (since 1887) continuously operated attraction in the Wurstelprater. Visitors criticized that (real) ponies have to run in circles. The animal welfare association Vier Pfoten held discussions about this for months. The carousel consists of four wagons coupled at a distance, each with four wheels rolling around on an iron track. A total of four harnessed ponies run between the pair of rails and in front of each carriage, another four on a circle with a smaller radius. Only these have saddles for children to ride on. A mechanical organ with pipes up to about three meters long is located in the center of the polygonal hall with a conical roof and a central exhaust air lantern.
history
The earliest report on merry-go-rounds comes from the former Ottoman Empire : During his stay in Philippopolis (today Plovdiv , Bulgaria), the English traveler Peter Mundy describes this human-powered curiosity sketched by him in his diary in 1620 as follows:
“It consists of a large wagon wheel with small seats attached to the outside, on which the children take their places. Then the wheel is set in motion and they circle in a horizontal direction. "
In the Middle Ages, a kind of carousel was used to train knights. They took a seat on the outside of the carousel and had to try to pierce the rings around the carousel with their lance. Since most people are right-handed and therefore took the lance in their right hand, these carousels always rotated counterclockwise. In the 18th century it was customary in the baroque courts of Europe for men and women to perform light exercises on horses, for example with a lance trying to put on small rings (hence the German term ring riding ). Later, the real horses were replaced by human-powered forerunners of the carousel.
The first motor-driven carousel was put into operation on January 1, 1863 in Bolton, England at a pottery market. It was of Thomas Bradshaw been built and was supported by a steam engine driven, probably via a transmission from belt . This design spread from England across Europe and first came to America in 1870.
From 1880, for example, the carousel horses, based on an invention by the agricultural machinery factory Savage, received the characteristic up and down movement that intensifies the impression of riding. This ups and downs in connection with the incessant turning movement of Alfred Hitchcock in the final scene of the classic crime novel The Stranger on the Train was depicted in a particularly haunting and dramatic way .
Since the second half of the 19th century, a carousel has often been operated in conjunction with a fair organ , which automatically provides musical accompaniment. Depending on its size, it has its place either next to the carousel or is integrated into it. However, on newer carousels, which are kept in a nostalgic style, it is often just a backdrop, the music here is a recording played over loudspeakers.
Special traditions in the German-speaking area
The first carousel turned in Germany in 1780. The carousel started in November 1779 and completed in October 1780 is located in a round temple on an artificially raised hill in Wilhelmsbad , a former health resort in Hanau am Main. This unique structure seems to be the oldest still existing carousel in the world. The historic carousel was restored between 2007 and 2016 and can now be visited again and "experienced".
A special tradition exists with the so-called Pemperlprater in Passau . The carousel, originally created between 1826 and 1829 by the shoemaker and carver Engelbert Zirnkilton, was first operated in 1830 on the Passau Maidult . Over time, the carousel was rebuilt and modernized several times until it got its current appearance around 1910. The carousel found its permanent place outside of the Dult times on the Inn promenade. Until the mid-1990s, the Pemperlprater was still owned by the descendants of Zirnkilton and was part of the Passau cityscape. The subsequent owners only operated it temporarily at the traditional location until 2003. In 2002 it was flooded there for the last time by a flood . After several changes of ownership, the Pemperlprater was bought by the city of Passau in 2014 and will find its permanent place on the Veste Oberhaus in the summer months . As a special feature of the Pemperlprater, the ring piercing, which gave the carousel its name, has been preserved to this day: Whoever “stabs” the “golden ring” receives a free ride. It is therefore the world's oldest carousel with ring piercing.
The “El Dorado” carousel built by Hugo Haase in Leipzig in 1907 is world famous . It was sold to Coney Island in 1910 for $ 150,000 , came to the Osaka World's Fair in 1970 and is now in Tokyo’s Toshimaen Amusement Park . With the exception of short periods, it has been in operation for over 100 years.
Tradition in France and Wallonia
The horse carousel is still a noticeable tradition in the French-speaking regions of Europe. In France and Wallonia, the carousel is more permanent in the public urban space than in any other country. The fact that so many old carousels are still in operation there today goes back to the amusement and folk festivals that were established at the beginning of the 19th century. Both these festivals and their organizations were called goguettes . These clubs were initially men's choirs, but they soon placed more and more emphasis on "wine, women and song" and are more comparable to the carnival clubs throughout Europe, with the difference that these festivals were also heavily celebrated outside the "fifth season" just as many markets run a fair today. Countless goguettes in almost every city donated these carousels for the population in general, which have been preserved to this day.
Historic carousel (around 1900) in Nice as a tourist attraction
Historic carousel on Place François Rude in the center of Dijon
Playground equipment
Various carousel shapes are available for playgrounds, which are driven by the players. The turnstile is similar to classic rides: there is a central axis on which seats are arranged for the individual users. With the carousel with a rotating floor, not only do the individual seats turn, but the entire carousel with floor, handles and seats. It can often be set in rotation by a drive pulley mounted in the center. Rotary mushrooms and circular runs have a turntable that is offset upwards, on which the user can hold on and hang on. In the case of the rotatory mushroom, the holding device is rigid, in the case of the rotary assembly there are movably suspended handles. Track-guided carousels consist of a circular path and the muscle-powered user points moving on it. Finally, turntables consist of a simple, rotatably mounted disc. The axis can be inclined.
Related to turntables is the flat, driven devil's wheel , from which people are thrown away.
Accidents
| date | country | Place, event | designation | Construction year | Happening |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 14, 1981 12:50 AM | Germany | Hamburg, cathedral | Skylab looping carousel | Norbert Witte (then 25) wrongly believes that the carousel has already ceased operations and is deploying a crane arm to repair its neighboring roller coaster “Katapult”. The rotating and swiveling gondola circle of the carousel collides with the telescopic crane, several of the 15 two-seater gondolas are torn open, passengers fall to the ground, seven 18-21 year olds die. 15 injured. | |
| Apr. 2009 | Germany | Paderborn | carousel | 1 gondola loosens during travel and falls to the ground. 1 seriously injured (69). | |
| Apr 3, 2010 11:00 PM | Austria | Vienna, Prater | Overhead carousel, ecstasy | former gondolas that were replaced in 2015 or 2016 | A 34-year-old drunk man from a homeless shelter dies lying on the ground inside the carousel fence. Shortly after the accident, the carousel operator and treasurer Robert Pichler said that the accident victim climbed over the fence and then collided with the circling gondolas. The medical officer and the police believe him. The body is picked up in the morning and the carousel continues to operate in the morning. In 2018, Pichler, who operated the carousel for 18 years until 2015, reports different: The accident victim was one of 2 passengers and had fallen from the rotating carousel and then hit by a gondola. He mentions security deficiencies that have existed for years, such as the fact that sometimes a bracket does not close. This is confirmed by a user. A technician reported that a safety circuit was bypassed and the monitoring hard disk was removed after the accident. In 2015/2016 the system was handed over from mother to daughter, and the gondolas were replaced. |
| May 2010 | Germany | Ludenscheid | carousel | When starting, a gondola loosens and injures 9 people. | |
| Oct 2011 | Germany | Bremen , Freimarkt | Carousel octopus | 1 gondola comes loose and slides into waiting visitors. 9 injured. The cause was a defective weld. | |
| Apr. 2012 | Germany | Nuremberg , spring festival | carousel | 1 carousel gondola comes loose, 2 women are thrown away and slightly injured. | |
| Aug 15, 2014 | Germany | Hassloch , Holiday Park | Carousel spinning barrels | 11-year-old girl is dragged along and killed. | |
| June 6, 2015 9:30 PM | Germany | Oberhausen , Corpus Christi fair | Love Express | BJ | 4 seriously injured. Parts tore off and hurled at inmates, the fair continued with muffled music. |
| Nov 5, 2016 6:25 pm | Germany | Herborn, Martinimarkt | helicopter | 1957 | Swivel arm tore, gondolas crashed, 2 children (4, 8) injured, the operator wants to scrap the carousel. |
| July 21, 2018 00:00 | Germany | Remseck, Neckarremser street festival | Crazy Fruits carousel | A gondola comes loose, 3 children fall, another child (all 10-11) is injured by flying parts. | |
| Oct. 31, 2018 22:00 | Austria | Vienna, Prater | Overhead carousel, ecstasy | An 11-year-old girl, taller than the minimum height of 1.30 m, wears a rucksack despite the ban, slips under the safety bar, is thrown away, ends up on the inside of the perimeter fence and injured her ankle. The carousel goes back into operation the same evening, but the operator increases the minimum size from 1.40 to 1.50 m. | |
| June 8, 2019 2:00 am | Spain | San Jose de La Rinconada near Seville, church day / annual market La Jira , Mundopark fair | Carousel with round-bench, Super Gazuela (span. Casserole ) | 2001 | When turning quickly, half of the bank breaks away from the carousel. People fly away, some can cling to, debris injure bystanders, the broken carousel comes to a standstill after about 9 revolutions. 28 injured, including children (12-14). |
Special carousels
Children's carousel from the Katzschmann family from Mittweida from 1926.
An ice disc with a 15 cm wide joint sawed out from the frozen White Lake near Baltazera, Latvia on February 14, 2015 with a diameter of about 20 m was set in rotation with an outboard motor and is used for ice skating.
Related topics
- Centripetal force - physical force of circular motion
literature
- Florian Dering: Popular amusements. A richly visual cultural history of the ride, amusement and skill deals of the showmen from the 18th century to the present . Franz Greno, Nördlingen 1986, ISBN 3-89190-005-8 (also dissertation, University of Munich)
- Wolfgang Müller : How old is the carousel? In: Ernst Günther, Heinz P. Hofmann, Walter Rösler (eds.): Cassette. An almanac for the stage, podium and ring (= cassette ). No. 5 . Henschelverlag Art and Society, Berlin 1981, p. 16-22 .
- Margit Ramus: How it all began ... funfair, moving people and carousels . Self-published, Cologne 2004 (print: Komet, Pirmasens), ISBN 3-00-015714-X (also master's thesis, University of Bonn 2004)
- Sacha-Roger Szabo: Intoxication and hype. Attractions at fairs and amusement parks. A sociological cultural history . Transcript, Bielefeld 2006, ISBN 3-89942-566-9 (also dissertation, University of Freiburg i. Br. 2006)
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Oldest Prater attraction closes after 129 years orf.at, 7 July 2016; Retrieved July 7, 2016.
- ^ Wiener Pony-Caroussel James Stafford, youtube.com, video (0:12), August 27, 2015; Retrieved July 7, 2016.
- ↑ The sad life of the Prater pony: In the “1. Wiener Ponny Caroussel “the horses run in record heat in a circle news.at, July 27, 2014; Retrieved July 7, 2016.
- ^ Norman D. Anderson: Ferris Wheels. Popular Press, 1992, ISBN 978-0-87972-532-7 , p. 5 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).
- ↑ DIN EN 1176 playground equipment . Part 5 Additional special safety requirements and test methods for carousels . 1998, Beuth-Verlag
- ↑ Olaf Wunder: August 14, 1981: The day on which the cathedral became a death trap May 12, 2012; accessed June 9, 2019. - To date, the most serious carousel or roller coaster accident in Germany.
- ^ Chronicle: Accidents with rides 9 of 9; accessed June 9, 2019.
- ↑ Der Tote vom Prater addendum.org, May 1, 2018; accessed June 10, 2019.
- ^ Chronicle: Accidents with rides 7 out of 9; accessed June 9, 2019.
- ^ Chronicle: Accidents with rides 6 out of 9; accessed June 9, 2019.
- ↑ Gondola tears off the carousel Nine injured in an accident at the Bremer Volksfest tagesspiegel.de; accessed June 9, 2019.
- ^ Chronicle: Accidents with rides 5 out of 9; accessed June 9, 2019.
- ↑ Chronicle: Accidents with rides 2 of 9,
- ↑ Oberhausen: Four seriously injured after an accident at the fair rp-online.de, June 7, 2015; accessed June 9, 2019.
- ↑ Herborn: Brothers are injured in a carousel accident - today the parents speak at hr-fernsehen, youtube.com, November 7, 2016; accessed June 9, 2019. - Video (3:09)
- ↑ Large majority tips in the restaurant Aachener Zeitung, November 7, 2019, archive accessed June 9, 2019, partial view.
- ↑ After the carousel accident in Remseck: How safe are rides really? rtl.de, July 23, 2018; accessed June 9, 2019.
- ^ Accident in the Prater: girl (11) thrown out of the "Extasy" carousel krone.at , November 1, 2018; accessed June 10, 2019. - The carousel advertises with a maximum acceleration of 3 g . In 2010 a fatal accident happened on this carousel, the gondolas were replaced in 2016.
- ↑ 28 injured in carousel accident in Spain orf.at, June 9, 2019; accessed June 9, 2019.
- ↑ AT LEAST 28 people have been hurt after a spinning tea pot fairground ride in Spain “snapped in half” last night thesun.co.uk, June 9, 2019; accessed June 10, 2019. - 2nd clip in the video shows coasting in approx. 9 revolutions.
- ↑ Hartmut Kascha: Our GDR carousel is the Wiesn hit bild.de, September 28, 2015; accessed June 9, 2019.
- ↑ Casey Chan: Sploid: Crazy people chainsawed a frozen lake to make a spinning ice carousel gizmodo.com, 2015; accessed June 10, 2019. - With video (2:44)
- ^ Carousel on Ice - Baltezera Karuselis 2015. PKLK, youtube.com, February 15, 2015; accessed June 10, 2019. - Video (2:44)