Roller coaster (in English-speaking countries, the name Roller-coaster is used , in some European countries, Russian roller coaster is used. Montaña rusa , fr. Montagnes russes , ital. Montagne russe ) is the Russian name of one of the most popular attractions in amusement parks.
They represent the railway system of a special design, designed so that the composition of trolleys with passengers passing through it drastically changes the direction and speed of movement. Since the trolleys do not have their own source of energy, the conversion of the potential energy of the composition into kinetic energy and vice versa is used to accelerate.
Content
History
The term “roller coaster” is used in Russia because, in a form close to modern, they were first constructed in the United States and received very wide distribution there. The roller coasters were developed and patented by the inventor John Taylor (John G. Taylor) under the name Inclined Railway (Inclined Railway) and first opened in Coney Island in 1884 [1] . However, the name of LaMarcus Edna Thompson (LaMarcus Adna Thompson), who patented more than 30 rollercoaster innovations and built several dozen slides in the United States, is more well known.
The oldest mention of the roller coaster is considered to be the hobby of sledding in winter in Russia in the 17th century. The ice slides, built by the decree of Peter I near St. Petersburg, had a height of about 25 m and a slope angle of about 50 °. Catherine II was so keen on ice slides that she ordered them to be built for personal use in the royal residence. There are several opinions about who first proposed to equip the sled wheels. Some historians believe that for the first time such slides appeared under Catherine II in the gardens of Oranienbaum in 1784 [2] . Many other historians claim that this happened in France. In Paris in 1812, Les Montagnes Russes à Belleville was opened, which translates as “Russian hills in Belleville”. The trolleys of these slides were equipped with wheels, which were fixed in the rail and ensured safety at high speeds. Theophile Gautier, in describing the Russian roller coaster in St. Petersburg, wrote about this: “ At the beginning of the Restoration, the Russian roller coaster created a great sensation in Paris. They were staged in Belleville and other public parks. But the difference in climate required a different design. Wagons on wheels rolled down the grooves on steep descents and, carried by inertia, took off to a platform arranged at a lower height than the point of their departure. There were frequent accidents, as the wheels of carts no-no and they jumped out of the grooves. This forced to abandon the dangerous entertainment " [3] . The first closed track was created, most likely, according to the English draft in 1846. A single trolley moved along a circular circular path with a diameter of 4 m.
In 1827, the mining company Summit Hill in Pennsylvania constructed a 14-kilometer railway that uses gravity to move coal from its production site to the place of shipment. By the 1850s, the so-called “gravitational road” (Gravity Road) provided an opportunity for extreme-sensation seekers to “ride with the wind” for 50 cents per trip. Using this idea, La Marcus Edna Thompson designed the slide, which opened in 1884 in Coney Island. Passengers had to climb independently to the top of the platform, from where they slid down in trolleys similar to benches. Having passed about 180 m, the train went up to the second platform, after which it was rearranged on the way back, and the passengers moved back. Such a structure was soon replaced by a closed oval-shaped road. In 1885, Phillip Hinki presented to the public a closed trajectory road in which an automatic lift was used. In 1994, the development of diving slides began , and later - dummy trolleys.
Highest in the world
- Kingda Ka - the highest attraction to date. Located in Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey . Able to raise thrill lovers to a height of 140 meters. It was first launched in 2005 and until 2009 was the fastest in the world. At the attraction track length of 950 meters.
- Top Thrill Dragster is the 130 meter high attraction in Cedar Point Park in Ohio . For aviation safety on the roller coaster, four strobe lamps were used. At the time of the opening of the Top Thrill Dragster in 2003, the attraction set 4 world records: the slides were the highest, the fastest, with a plot with a dip angle of 90 ° and a twisted stretch of 120 meters in length.
- Superman: Escape from Krypton - located in Six Flags Magic Mountain in California . The height of this design is 125 meters. It was expected to open in the summer of 2012, after reconstruction.
- Tower of Terror II - Dreamworld Park, Queensland , Australia . In 1997, these slides were the first, the speed of which reached 161km / h. The length of the fall is 100 meters, and the height of the structure is 115 meters. The Tower of Horrors was reconstructed, some details of the attraction were changed and re-launched as Tower of Terror II in 2010.
- Steel Dragon 2000 - located in Nagashima Spa Land, Japan . The longest slides to date (track length 2478.99 meters and a height of 97 meters). The construction of the attraction cost its customers $ 52,000,000: such an impressive amount was formed as a result of the high cost of protection against earthquakes.
Illustrations
Kingda Ka , the highest and second highest rollercoaster in New Jersey
Expedition GeForce , Holiday Park, Hassloch (Rhineland-Palatinate)
Six Flags Park over Texas
Wilde Maus (wild mouse), for VVC
See also
- Alpine hills
- Diving slide
Links
Notes
- ↑ Vyacheslav Likso. How everything is arranged . - Liters, 2017-09-05. - 162 s. - ISBN 9785040409600 .
- ↑ T.Skorenko. Invented in Russia: The History of Russian Inventive Thought from Peter I to Nicholas II . - Alpina Publisher, 2017-09-06. - 439 s. - ISBN 9785961449303 .
- ↑ Theophile Gautier. Travel to Russia . - Myslʹ, 1988. - 396 p. - ISBN 9785244001877 .