Posted
on February 14, 2014
 |
| The original Ferris Wheel. |
George
Washington Gale Ferris, Jr., was the American engineer who created
the original Ferris Wheel for the 1893 Chicago World's Columbian
Exposition.
Before
the wheel that made his name famous, George Ferris worked in the
railroad industry and with bridge building. He started his own
company to inspect metals for railroads and bridges.
Ferris
went to Chicago when he heard news of the planned expo—and when he
heard about a contest for engineers. Several years before the Eiffel
Tower had been built for the 1889 World's Fair in Paris. The
directors of the World's Columbian Exposition challenged American
engineers to design a monument that would surpass the Eiffel Tower in
some way (in other words, to out-Eiffel Eiffel). When Ferris showed
them his idea for a giant wheel from which visitors could view the
entire expo, the directors dismissed the idea as unsafe.
Ferris
didn't take “no” for an answer. He got endorsements from trusted
engineers who had inspected his plans and deemed the wheel safe. And
he even convinced local investors to provide $400,000 toward
construction costs. His persistence paid off; the directors gave
Ferris the go-ahead to build his wheel.
 |
| View from a car. |
Once
the fair opened, it took about 11 minutes to load up all the riders.
Then the wheel turned continuously for a 9 minute ride! The riders of
course had to go through another lengthy load-up period to get off of
the ride; so riding the Ferris Wheel could conceivably take about
half an hour!
 |
| Here are two Ferris wheels I have tried: the mini-wheel in the little-kid section of Knott's Berry Farm, and the much larger wheel at Disney's California Adventure. They only fit from 40 to maybe 180 riders at a time. |
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