German engineer Ernst Walter Hoffmeister designed and patented an amusement park attraction in 1948 that would earn him fame … and a modest amount of fortune.
The Rotor is a large, upright barrel, rotated to create an inward acting centripetal force supplied by the wall's support's force. Once at full speed, the floor gets retracted (eek!) … leaving the riders stuck to the wall of the drum. It may look precarious, but they won’t fall down. At the end of the ride cycle, the drum slows down and gravity takes over. The riders slide down the wall slowly.
After its premiere at the Munich Oktoberfest in 1949, the Rotor ushered in a new era of German carousel construction and quickly became a worldwide sensation.
Although Hoffmeister was the designer, most Rotors were constructed under licence. In the United States, two main companies were responsible for production; the Velare Brothers and the Anglo Rotor Corporation.
And, in Australia, the Rotors were built by Ted Hopkins for Luna Park in Sydney.
That’s where we first encountered the Rotor phenomenon, and where, more recently, the editor’s wife exited one ride taken with her children crawling on her hands and knees, and vowing never again to assume that her body was the same as the one that relished the experience back in the 1970s.
Story Idea: Remo Giuffré
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Postscript
The 2006 Australian film Candy's opening scene features actors Abbie Cornish and Heath Ledger riding the Rotor in Sydney's Luna Park, while actor Geoffrey Rush watches them from above. Watch it HERE.
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References
wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotor_(ride)
wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravitron
amusementparkives.com/2018/12/09/a-brief-history-of-the-rotor
Images
1. The Rotor at Luna Park in Sydney
2. Ernst Walter Hoffmeister in 1951
3 & 4. The Rotor
5. The Coney Island Rotor in New York. Credit: rarehistoricalphotos.com
6. Riding the Rotor at Kennywood Park near Pittsburgh in 1955
7. A unique feature included with Rotor rides was a viewing area for non-riders.
8. Video clip: Candy's opening scene set in the Rotor at Sydney's Luyna Park
Historical photo credits: Library of Congress / New York State Museum
