Death wheel
The death wheel is an acrobatic device and was invented in the United States in 1930 . The American Clay Becket had it patented in the 1960s. It consists of a steel structure, the one to four - usually there are two - Rhönrad -large, by a supporting structure connected to each other treadmills can rotate about an axis in the support center.
The wheel of death is usually operated by at least two artists , often by even larger groups, and is part of the repertoire of numerous circuses . The modern Flic Flac circus, founded in 1989, became known with him as the main attraction. The famous artistic clown Bello Nock also uses the death wheel.
In 2009 the artists Alex Ramien, Pavel Chaska, Marko and Ilian Simeonow presented a death wheel with four cages for the first time at the premiere of Global Village Lake in Dubai.
Characteristic of the death wheel are the enormous centrifugal forces that occur during the rotation of the device with its more than 8 meters diameter and which are overcome by the artists during demonstrations or even used for stunts. As a basic exercise, the artists run inside the two treadmills in the opposite direction to the rotation of the overall construction, so that they always stay upright, similar to the flying carpet roll-over swing .
The attraction is when one or both artists climb on the outside of their treadmills during the rotation in order to continue running there or even perform tricks such as jumping rope , walking blind with a sack over their head or somersault mortale . If two artists move outside, two more can jump up to run inside, so that four people are at the device at the same time. Since there is no way of securing the death wheel during demonstrations, accidents are not uncommon.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ The artists in the order of their appearance. Overview of the 37th Monte Carlo International Circus Festival. (No longer available online.) June 26, 2013, archived from the original on July 7, 2013 ; Retrieved July 5, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ The prince and the clown: The hair stands on end. Image 3 of the photo series shows a circus performer on the wheel of death. In: Spiegel Online . January 26, 2011, accessed October 21, 2017 .
- ↑ Skywheel show thrills visitors at Global Village. February 1, 2009, accessed July 7, 2013 .
