Thunderbolt Express
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Thunderbolt Express
The Thunderbolt Express was a looping shuttle roller coaster located at Camden Park. Originally named Screamin' Demon (and later just Demon) when it operated at Kings Island from 1977 to 1987, the roller coaster was built and designed by Arrow Dynamics. It was sold to Camden Park following the 1987 season, and reopened at its new location in 1988. Following an electrical issue in 1999, the ride was closed indefinitely for a period of time. An announcement surfaced that the ride would reopen in 2002, but the roller coaster was dismantled following the 2004 season and replaced by a miniature golf course. History Anton Schwarzkopf and Intamin co-developed the first shuttle loop design, which opened as King Kobra at Kings Dominion in 1977. A total of six shuttle loop roller coasters opened that same year throughout the United States, including Screamin' Demon at Kings Island Kings Island is a amusement park located northeast of Cincinnati in Mason, Ohio, United States. Owned ...
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Shuttle Roller Coaster
A shuttle roller coaster is any roller coaster that ultimately does not make a complete circuit, but rather reverses at some point throughout its course and traverses the same track backwards. These are sometimes referred to as boomerang roller coasters, due to the ubiquity of Vekoma's Boomerang coaster model. Early history The first shuttle coasters were in fact the first roller coasters ever built. Inspired by the so-called "Russian Mountains," these wheeled cars built on tracks found popularity in the early 19th century in Paris. In 1884, Switchback Railway opened at Coney Island, and consisted of a car that traveled on two tracks between two towers. It was the first roller coaster designed as an amusement ride in America. The next shuttle roller coaster to be built was Backety-Back Scenic Railway, built in 1909. First launched shuttle coasters The first two launched shuttle coaster designs were introduced in 1977 by competitors Arrow Development and Anton Schwarzkop ...
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Camden Park (amusement Park)
Camden Park is a twenty-six acre amusement park located near Huntington, West Virginia. Established in 1903 as a picnic spot by the Camden Interstate Railway Company, it is one of only thirteen trolley parks that remain open in the United States. Whereas most trolley parks were located at the end of trolley lines, Camden Park is unusual in that it was built where riders traveling between Huntington and nearby cities would stop to change lines. Not long after opening, the park soon gained a carousel and other roadside attractions. Camden Park is West Virginia's only amusement park. The park is home to more than thirty rides and attractions, including a full-size traditional wooden roller coaster, the ''Big Dipper'', and several other vintage rides. Over the years, Camden Park has featured a swimming pool, a roller rink, and even a small zoo. Today, the park hosts a variety of events throughout the year, including live musical performances as part of the "Hot Summer Nights" ...
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Kings Island
Kings Island is a amusement park located northeast of Cincinnati in Mason, Ohio, United States. Owned and operated by Cedar Fair, the park first opened in 1972 by the Taft Broadcasting Company. It was part of a larger effort to move and expand Coney Island, a popular resort destination along the banks of the Ohio River that was prone to frequent flooding. After more than $300 million in capital investments, the park features over 100 attractions including fourteen roller coasters and a water park. Early in its history, Kings Island appeared in popular sitcoms and received widespread recognition for its record-breaking attractions and events. One of the park's most well-known attractions, The Racer, is often credited with reviving worldwide interest in roller coasters during the 1970s. The Beast and Banshee are among other attractions that have set world records, some of which are still held today. Kings Island's largest single investment is Orion, a giga coaster that ope ...
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Arrow Dynamics
Arrow Dynamics was an American manufacturing and engineering company that specialized in designing and building amusement park rides, especially roller coasters. Based in Clearfield, Utah, the company was the successor to Arrow Development (1946–1981) and Arrow Huss (1981–1986), which were responsible for several influential advancements in the amusement and theme park industries. Among the most significant was tubular steel track, which provided a smoother ride than the railroad style rails commonly used prior to the 1960s on wooden roller coasters. The Matterhorn Bobsleds at Disneyland, built in 1959, was Arrow's first roller coaster project. In 1975, Arrow Development introduced the first corkscrew style track Corkscrew, at Knott's Berry Farm that sent riders through a series of corkscrews. Arrow created several other "firsts" over the years, introducing the first suspended roller coaster in almost a century, The Bat, in 1981, and the world's first "hypercoaster", Magnu ...
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Miniature Golf
Miniature golf, also known as minigolf, mini-putt, crazy golf, or putt-putt, is an offshoot of the sport of golf focusing solely on the putting aspect of its parent game. The aim of the game is to score the lowest number of points. It is played on courses consisting of a series of holes (usually a multiple of 9) similar to its parent, but characterized by their short length (usually within 10 yards from tee to cup). The game uses artificial putting surfaces (such as carpet, artificial turf, or concrete), a geometric layout often requiring non-traditional putting lines such as bank shots, and artificial obstacles such as tunnels, tubes, ramps, moving obstacles such as windmills, and walls of concrete, metal, or fiberglass. When miniature golf retains many of these characteristics but without the use of any props or obstacles, it is purely a mini version of its parent game. Nomenclature While the international sports organization World Minigolf Sport Federation (WMF) prefers to ...
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Anton Schwarzkopf
Anton Schwarzkopf (8 July 1924 – 30 July 2001) was a German engineer who founded Schwarzkopf Industries GmbH, a German manufacturer of roller coasters and other amusement rides that were sold to amusement parks and travelling funfairs around the world. Early years Anton Schwarzkopf, born in Bahlingen, Germany, began as an apprentice in his father's business, which focused on the design of specialised trailers used to transport circus equipment. By 1954, his father's company had transitioned into creating amusement rides. Career In 1957, Schwarzkopf built his first attraction, the Düsenspirale, which was a roller coaster that traveled around Germany with funfair showman Löffelhardt. He took over his father's company in 1960 and created his first full-scale steel roller coaster, The Wildcat, in 1964. In 1970, the first Jet Star II model was built for German showman Rick. The model became popular for its electric spiral lift hill, and many of this type were built. ...
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Intamin
Intamin Amusement Rides is a design and manufacturing company in Schaan, Liechtenstein. It is best known for creating thrill rides and roller coasters worldwide. The Intamin brand name is a syllabic abbreviation for "international amusement installations". The company has offices throughout the world, including three in Europe, three in Asia, and two in the United States. Intamin supplies numerous styles of roller coasters, vertical rides, water rides, immersive rides, swing rides, and observation attractions to amusement parks. The company has installed scores of roller coasters in several countries. Intamin designed and built the first river rapids ride, known as Thunder River, and marketed the first freefall ride (developed by Giovanola) and drop tower. Products and technologies Intamin's product range spans two broad categories: rides and transportation. Amusement rides Roller coasters Intamin created the first hydraulic launch system (known as the Accelerator Coaste ...
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Kings Dominion
Kings Dominion is an amusement park located in Doswell, Virginia, north of Richmond, Virginia, Richmond and south of Washington, D.C. Owned and operated by Cedar Fair, the park opened to the public on May 3, 1975, and features more than 60 rides, shows and attractions including 13 roller coasters and a water park. Its name is derived from the name of its sister park, Kings Island, and the nickname for the state of Virginia, "Old Dominion." History Early history as Kings Dominion (1972–83) Following the success of Kings Island in Mason, Ohio, Family Leisure Centers (a partnership formed between Taft Broadcasting Company and Top Value Enterprises) decided to expand into a new region of the country by opening a second park. A site was chosen in Doswell, Virginia, with construction beginning on October 1, 1972. The new park was designed with similar themes, rides, and activities as sister park Kings Island. Following a limited preview of the park's Lion Country Safari, a dr ...
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G-force
The gravitational force equivalent, or, more commonly, g-force, is a measurement of the type of force per unit mass – typically acceleration – that causes a perception of weight, with a g-force of 1 g (not gram in mass measurement) equal to the conventional value of gravitational acceleration on Earth, ''g'', of about . Since g-forces indirectly produce weight, any g-force can be described as a "weight per unit mass" (see the synonym specific weight). When the g-force is produced by the surface of one object being pushed by the surface of another object, the reaction force to this push produces an equal and opposite weight for every unit of each object's mass. The types of forces involved are transmitted through objects by interior mechanical stresses. Gravitational acceleration (except certain electromagnetic force influences) is the cause of an object's acceleration in relation to free fall. The g-force experienced by an object is due to the vector sum of all ...
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Former Roller Coasters In West Virginia
A former is an object, such as a template, gauge or cutting die, which is used to form something such as a boat's hull. Typically, a former gives shape to a structure that may have complex curvature. A former may become an integral part of the finished structure, as in an aircraft fuselage, or it may be removable, being using in the construction process and then discarded or re-used. Aircraft formers Formers are used in the construction of aircraft fuselage, of which a typical fuselage has a series from the nose to the empennage, typically perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the aircraft. The primary purpose of formers is to establish the shape of the fuselage and reduce the column length of stringers to prevent instability. Formers are typically attached to longerons, which support the skin of the aircraft. The "former-and-longeron" technique (also called stations and stringers) was adopted from boat construction, and was typical of light aircraft built until the ...
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