The Zipper is an entertainment vehicle created by Joseph Brown under Chance Rides in 1968. Popular in carnivals and amusement parks in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, it has the power of a vertical G-forces strong, lots of spinning, and unpredictability. Chance Rides has produced more than 200 units since its debut.
Most Zipper models follow the same basic format: Boom is long, rotating, oval with wires around the edges that pull 12 cars around the vehicle. Except during peak hours, most operators will only fill half of the car at once with the rider. Like most carnival equipment, the rides are designed to be portable; it can be dismantled into the truck and transported from site to site.
Despite the principal amusement parks and carnivals, the original model of the Zipper garnered a reputation for being unsafe due to their rough nature, and a series of deaths on the rides in the late 1970s after unrivaled cabin doors led to a series of revisions, particularly restructuring the door lock system. No less, these rides have accumulated a cult after decades of operation, and are named by Popular Mechanics as one of the world's strangest amusement park rides.
Video Zipper (ride)
History
Zipper was created by Joseph Brown under Chance Rides in 1968 in Wichita, Kansas, and registered under a patent of 3,596,905 in 1971. The basic design of this journey was based on a previous ride named The Swooper, which was discovered in 1928, which also featured a series of cars pulled along the cable around the longitude frame. The main difference between The Swooper and the Zipper is the ability of the zipper frame to spin when the cars run along the wire.
Maps Zipper (ride)
Description
The zipper has a long, tapering (boom) rotating frame like a Ferris wheel, with cars reversed freely on the off-center axis that travels around the boom side through the pulley system. Each passenger capsule is basically a seats fit for two people, built inside a contoured metal mesh compartment to protect the rider's entire body. The peculiarly apostrophe-shaped capsule, which is positioned evenly along the perimeter of the boom, looks very much like a row of interlocking teeth on the zipper, a characteristic for the name of the ride.
The passenger capsule runs around the perimeter of the boom at 4 turns per minute (rpm), not too fast, but the "flip" around the end of the oblique frame causes a sudden burst of velocity and sends the compartment flipping the tip to the end. The boom itself rotates at 7.5 rpm in the same direction as the pulley system. This offset rotation combination provides each capsule with a unique and unexpected experience. Zippers rotate both clockwise and counterclockwise, and most run with multiple rotations in each direction which is "one trip".
If the rider shifts enough weight in one direction, they may be able to flip the car even when the boom and the attached cable are not moving. Each car allows unlimited space for riders. The curb system for riders is a lap bar and a bar to survive. Not holding on to this bar when a sudden lift ride can cause a rider's head to hit the door in front of them. Riders also have the ability to try to change their weight to try to reverse their cars as much as possible during the trip, even with little extra space available in the car.
Security issues and revisions
The first fourteen Zippers produced spun at much higher speeds than modern models. Boom is rotated at 11 rpm and cabling system at 7 rpm. This first generation vehicle keeps the passenger compartment rotating in their ax constantly, creating an unsafe g-force and causing injuries associated with impacts such as whiplash, bruising and back injuries. The safety hazards are quickly discovered and the mechanical rpm is lowered permanently to the current speed.
On September 7, 1977, the US Consumer Products Safety Commission issued a public warning, which urged carnival visitors not to ride Zippers after four deaths occurred because the compartment door was opened while driving. Security attached to the door itself, the rider is left uncontrollable whenever the door is open. All four victims died after falling from their compartment. The failure was traced to the original spring hook on the door which was worn out and not replaced. The currently operated zipper compartment is secured using the original latch, the redlisted Latch approved by the CPSC, and the large R-Key pin as the second backup.
Despite this new safety feature, the same scenario was repeated in July 2006 in Hinckley, Minnesota when two teenage girls were removed from their compartment when the door opened. Their door was not closed properly by the operator claiming to local law enforcement that he had not inserted a R-Key before starting the journey. Both victims, Erica Matrious and Breanna Larsen, survived the incident despite facing some serious injuries. On November 2, 2006, the girls were interviewed.
Many newer Zipper models have solved this problem by completely restructuring the door lock system, also eliminating the need for R-keys. These new models also increase the weight of the compartment, reducing spinning, which lowers the pressure on the door latch.
Zipper operators are encouraged to implement a "none of the riders" policies. Manufacturers' concerns are that a person riding alone may turn sideways in a chair and let go of their feet from under the lap bar, risking serious injury when the capsule is spinning. The manufacturer sent the bulletin to the zipper owner in 1995 by pointing out the risks.
Ride logistics
- Duration
- Drive duration (recommended): 2 minutes
- Drive duration (maximum): 2.5 minutes
- Dimensions
- Maximum height: 56 feet (17.1 m)
- Total weight: 43,000 pounds (19,500 kg)
- Passenger details
- Number of passenger compartments: Any place from 4 to 16 seats
- Passenger per seat: 2 adults or 3 children
- Maximum passenger weight per seat: 500 pounds (227Ã, kg)
- Number of passengers: Maximum 24 adults or 36 children (12-seat zippers)
- Total maximum passenger weight: 4,080 lbs (1,851 kg) (12-seat zipper)
- Elevation requirements: 48 Inches (122 cm)
- Mechanical speed
- Boom: 7.5 RPM (formerly 11 RPM, see above)
- Cable: 4.0 RPM (formerly 7 RPM, see above)
- Direction of travel
- Boom: run clockwise or counterclockwise
- Cable: run clockwise or counterclockwise
- Power requirements
- Boom drive: Electro-hydraulic
- Cable Drive: Electro-hydraulic
- Power rating: 54 horsepower (40 kW)
- Suspension type: Air ride
In popular culture
Ã, Â · In 2012, a documentary titled ZIPPER: Last Wild Ride Coney Island was created, handling the eventual move on Coney Island and the economical reason behind it.
Legendary recording artist Michael Jackson operates Zipper at Neverland Ranch. After Jackson's death in 2009, the journey - among several others - was auctioned off with his land, and began traveling with carnivals across the country, advertised as part of history.
In Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days, Greg Heffley drove a Zipper version called "Cranium Shaker". This trip also appeared in the film version, but the journey is different from his book counterpart, as this is Booster.
See also
- Skydiver (biking)
- Swing up
- Rock-O-Plane
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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