National Amusement Devices in

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Day ...

was an American construction company founded in 1919 as the Dayton Fun House by

Aurel Vaszin Aurel “Dutch” Vaszin (1885–1979) was a carpenter, engineer and roller coaster designer, best known for heading the National Amusement Device company and designing some of the largest roller coasters of his day. Life and work Vaszin was born ...

. Based on research, they built a 2-foot gauge miniature train that could be either gasoline or electric powered. This resembled a typical standard-gauge center cab electric train as early as 1922. Vaszin was an early environmental idealist and really pushed the idea of electric powered trains, as safer and less polluting. A young mechanical engineer by the name of Frank Williams joined the Dayton Fun House in the mid-1920s, and later so did his dad and his son. They greatly improved on the concepts that had been previously developed. After World War II the Fun House began attracting worldwide recognition, and supplying amusement parks elsewhere. They changed their name to "National Amusement Device Co." (or NAD) and operated under that name for three decades. They designed some of the popular early

miniature train A ridable miniature railway (US: riding railroad or grand scale railroad) is a large scale, usually ground-level railway that hauls passengers using locomotives that are often models of full-sized railway locomotives (powered by diesel or petrol ...

s used in amusement parks around the country. Their most popular and recognizable model was the " Century Flyer", supplied to various amusement parks and for children's rides. From the 1940s to the 1960s, NAD also built some full-size rollercoasters, many designed by John Miller. These were mostly wooden, and as of 2022, only 3 still exist and operate today.

Famous rides

In addition to building trains and components for amusement parks, NAD also built entire rides, including some unique roller coasters. As of 1959, they claimed to have built more than 400 full roller coasters. Some of their famous rides include: * A mile-long roller coaster (name currently unknown) in Guatemala City,

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

. Operated from 1953 – 1960. It was a ravine coaster, built from cypress and pine cut by hand from the nearby jungle, reported by Billboard Magazine to be 2400 feet long, and it has been said "workers had to dig 38 feet out of the side of a mountain to get the right grade." Unfortunately, it lasted only a few years before a new government used it for firewood. * The "Big Dipper" at ''

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 S ...

'', in

Huntington, West Virginia Huntington is a city in Cabell and Wayne counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia. It is the county seat of Cabell County, and the largest city in the Huntington–Ashland metropolitan area, sometimes referred to as the Tri-State Area. A h ...

, was built in 1958. The Big Dipper features original Century Flyer cars with working headlights, and a classic figure-eight track design. The ride's name refers to a big dip measuring almost the full height of the roller coaster after the first turn. A second, shallower dip leads into an unlit tunnel, from which the cars emerge shortly before returning to the pavilion to let off passengers. The "Big Dipper" and "Little Dipper" (also built by NAD and located at Camden Park) are both still in operation, as of 2015, running with no seat belts and manual brakes. Although

John A. Miller John A. Miller (born August John Mueller; 1872 – June 24, 1941) was an American roller coaster designer and builder, inventor, and businessman. Miller patented over 100 key roller coaster components, and is widely considered the "father of th ...

is often credited with designing the "Big Dipper" at Camden Park, he, in fact, did not. The confusion lies with the common name of the coaster, in that he designed three other coasters also named "Big Dipper", located in Aurora, OH (1925), Blackpool, England (1923), and Chicago, IL (1920). The Camden Park coaster was actually designed with the help of

, the founder and owner of NAD. * The "Roller Coaster", 110' high and 5000' long. It was billed as the world's largest roller coaster in 1964. Vaszin designed and developed this for

La Feria Chapultepec Mágico (), simply branded as , was an amusement park in Mexico City, Mexico. Located in the middle of Chapultepec Park near the Constituyentes Metro station, it opened in 1964 as () and was originally operated by the Mexican government. In 1992 Gr ...

in Mexico City, Mexico. Nowadays, this roller coaster was standing but not operating after an accident at the park in 2019. In April 2022, works began to demolish the structure as La Feria de Chapultepec is spected to reopen with new attractions with Mexico City as theme, and will be known as "Parque Aztlán". * The "Fairyland Wildcat" coaster in

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...

. Vaszin designed this and was on board during its maiden voyage on June 10, 1968.

Sale and change to International Amusement Devices

NAD was sold to

Bill Roose Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Pla ...

, son of

George Roose George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presiden ...

of Cedar Point, in April 1973. The name was changed at that time to International Amusement Devices Inc, based out of

Sandusky, Ohio Sandusky ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Erie County, Ohio, Erie County, Ohio, United States. Situated along the shores of Lake Erie in the northern part of the state, Sandusky is located roughly midway between Toledo, Ohio, Toledo ( wes ...

. From this point on they specialized in park design and brokering rides. Vaszin stayed on as a consultant until his death in 1979. IAD was later run by Eugene K. Feerer.

References

{{Reflist

External links

National Amusement Device Company
at the roller coaster database.

produced by NAD and IAD (from the 1960s on, in the US, and still in operation)

Roller coaster designers Companies based in Dayton, Ohio Manufacturing companies established in 1919 1919 establishments in Ohio