![Six Flags Great Adventure - Nitro lifthill](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fd/Six_Flags_Great_Adventure_-_Nitro_lifthill.jpg)
A lift hill, or chain hill, is an upward-sloping section of track on a
roller coaster on which the
roller coaster train
A roller coaster train is a vehicle made up of two or more cars connected by specialized joints which transports passengers around a roller coaster's circuit.
It is called a train because the cars follow one another around the track, the same r ...
is mechanically lifted to an elevated point or peak in the track. Upon reaching the peak, the train is then propelled from the peak by gravity and is usually allowed to coast throughout the rest of the roller coaster ride's circuit on its own momentum, including most or all of the remaining uphill sections. The initial upward-sloping section of a roller coaster track is usually a lift hill, as the train typically begins a ride with little speed, though some coasters have raised stations that permit an initial drop without a lift hill. Although uncommon, some tracks also contain multiple lift hills.
Lift hills usually propel the train to the top of the ride via one of two methods: a
chain lift involving a long, continuous chain which trains hook on to and are carried to the top; or a drive
tire
A tire (American English) or tyre (British English) is a ring-shaped component that surrounds a Rim (wheel), wheel's rim to transfer a vehicle's load from the axle through the wheel to the ground and to provide Traction (engineering), t ...
system in which multiple
motorized tires (known as friction wheels) push the train upwards. A typical chain lift consists of a heavy piece of metal called a chain dog, which is mounted onto the underside of one of the cars which make up the train. This is in place to line up with the chain on the lift hill.
The chain travels through a steel trough, and is normally powered by one or more motors which are positioned under the lift hill. Chain dogs underneath each train are engaged by the chain and the train is pulled up the lift. Anti-rollback dogs engage a rack (ratcheted track) alongside the chain to prevent the train from descending the lift hill. At the crest of the lift, the chain wraps around a gear wheel where it begins its return to the bottom of the lift; the train is continually pulled along until gravity takes over and it accelerates downhill. The spring-loaded chain and anti-rollback dogs will disengage themselves as this occurs.
Intamin cable lift
![Millennium Force Cable Tensioners](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/Millennium_Force_Cable_Tensioners.jpg)
The Intamin cable lift is a type of lift mechanism that was first used on
Millennium Force
Millennium Force is a steel roller coaster located at Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio. Manufactured by Intamin, it was the park's fourteenth roller coaster when it opened in 2000, dating back to the opening of Blue Streak in ...
at
Cedar Point
Cedar Point is a amusement park located on a Lake Erie peninsula in Sandusky, Ohio, United States. Opened in 1870, it is considered the second-oldest operating amusement park in the U.S. behind Lake Compounce. Cedar Point is owned and op ...
in
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 ...
. This type of lift has also been used for
Kings Dominion
Kings Dominion is an amusement park located in Doswell, Virginia, north of 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 att ...
's
Intimidator 305
Intimidator 305 is a steel roller coaster located at Kings Dominion in Doswell, Virginia, United States. Manufactured by Intamin, Intimidator 305 opened to the public on April 2, 2010, as the park's fourteenth roller coaster. It is located i ...
,
Holiday Park's
Expedition GeForce
Expedition GeForce is a steel roller coaster, steel roller coaster located at Holiday Park, Germany, Holiday Park in Haßloch, Germany. It is one of the largest roller coasters in Europe and has an 82 degree first drop. The trains travel up to ...
,
Walibi Holland
Walibi Holland (previously called Flevohof, Walibi Flevo, Six Flags Holland and Walibi World) is a theme park in Biddinghuizen, Netherlands.
History
The park was opened in 1971 as 'Flevohof'. It was an educational theme park themed after agricu ...
's
Goliath,
Djurs Sommerland
Djurs Sommerland ( en, Djurs Summer Land) is an amusement park located in Djursland, Denmark, just north of the village of Nimtofte, 23 kilometers west of Grenaa, and 36 kilometers east of Randers.
The park opened in 1981, and it has progressiv ...
's Piraten (Europe's only "Mega-Lite"-model coaster by Intamin),
Tokyo Dome City
, referred to as Big Egg City before January 1, 2000, is an entertainment complex in Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan.
It also includes the world's largest roofed baseball stadium, known as Tokyo Dome (AKA "Big Egg"); an amusement park known as Tokyo Dome ...
's
Thunder Dolphin,
Hersheypark
Hersheypark (known as Hershey Park until 1970) is a family theme park located in Hershey, Pennsylvania, about east of Harrisburg, and west of Philadelphia. The park was founded in 1906 by Milton S. Hershey as a leisure park for the employees of ...
's
Skyrush
Skyrush is an Intamin prototype Wing Coaster at Hersheypark in Hershey, Pennsylvania, United States. It opened to the general public on May 26, 2012. Skyrush is Hersheypark's 12th roller coaster, and its third coaster made by Intamin. Skyrush ...
,
Flying Aces
A flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft during aerial combat. The exact number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ace is varied, but is usually co ...
at
Ferrari World
Ferrari World Abu Dhabi ( ar, عالم فيراري أبوظبي) is a mostly indoors theme park located on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It is the world’s first Ferrari-themed park and features Formula Rossa
Formula Rossa ...
and Altair at
Cinecittà World
Cinecittà World is an amusement park located in Rome, Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and it ...
. Currently, there are only two
wooden roller coasters
A wooden roller coaster is a type of roller coaster classified by its wooden track, which consists of running rails made of flat steel strips mounted on laminated wood. The support structure is also typically made of wood, but may also b ...
that utilize a cable lift hill:
El Toro El Toro, Spanish for "the bull", may refer to:
Geography
* El Toro (Mallorca), a neighbourhood in the municipality of Calvià on the island of Mallorca
* El Toro, Castellón, a town in Castellón, Spain
* El Toro (Jujuy), a rural municipality and ...
at
Six Flags Great Adventure and
T Express
T Express is a wooden roller coaster at Everland in Yongin, South Korea. It is South Korea's first wooden coaster, Intamin's fourth wooden coaster with prefabricated track, the first ride of this type in Asia, and the first to utilize three ...
at
Everland
Everland () is South Korea's largest theme park. Located at the Everland Resort in Yongin, a city in Gyeonggi-do, it receives 5.85 million visitors annually and was ranked nineteenth in the world for amusement park attendance in 2018. As of 2 ...
.
The cable lift utilizes a
cable
Cable may refer to:
Mechanical
* Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof
* Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...
that is attached to a catch car that moves up and down the lift hill in a separate channel between the track rails. On several coasters the catch car rolls into the station and latches to the front cars of the train to carry it up the lift hill. This requires the lift hill to be positioned directly in front of the station. El Toro was the first coaster to incorporate a turn between the station and the cable lift hill and was the first (and so far only) of this type to engage the catch car while the train is moving. Once the train engages the catch car, the speed is increased and the train is quickly pulled to top of the lift. Because a cable is much lighter than a chain, cable lifts are much faster than chain lifts. A cable also requires far less maintenance than a chain. Another advantage to park guests is that a cable lift is very quiet, partly because the main drive winch is located directly beneath the top of the lift, a location which will normally be relatively far from guest-accessible areas.
Ferris wheel lift
The Ferris wheel lift is a type of lift based on the rotating circular design of a
ferris wheel
A Ferris wheel (also called a Giant Wheel or an observation wheel) is an amusement ride consisting of a rotating upright wheel with multiple passenger-carrying components (commonly referred to as passenger cars, cabins, tubs, gondolas, capsules ...
. Created by
Premier Rides
Premier Rides is an amusement ride manufacturer based in the United States. The company was the first to use Linear Induction Motors (LIMs) on their roller coasters. Jim Seay has been the sole owner and company president since 1996.
The first r ...
, it existed on 'Round About' (formerly Maximum RPM) which operated at
Freestyle Music Park
Freestyle Music Park, formerly called Hard Rock Park, was a short-lived, music-themed amusement park in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Built on , the park was located at the intersection of US 501 and the Intracoastal Waterway. It included part of ...
in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina prior to being dismantled and moved to a park in
Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
only to never operate and was later dismantled again. It uses a Ferris Wheel like motion to lift the cars to the top, as on a Ferris Wheel. The cars are then released onto the track.
Elevator lift
The elevator lift is typically used on a single car or a short, double-car train. The vehicle moves into position on a piece of track that is then lifted vertically, along with the vehicle, operating very similar to a passenger elevator. Several of these systems use a single shaft and a second piece of track in the opposite position serves as the counterweight. With the single shaft the rail may curve to the left or right as the two tracks pass each other at the halfway point. The first coaster to use an elevator system with a counterweight was Batflyer at
Lightwater Valley
Lightwater Valley Family Adventure Park is a theme park in North Stainley, North Yorkshire, England. The park was once home to Europe's longest roller coaster, The Ultimate.
Lightwater Valley was founded by Robert Staveley in 1969, and is now ...
. It is believed that those same designers then founded Caripro, which then constructed nine vertical lift suspended coasters between 1997 and 2001. The
Mack Rides-built Matterhorn Blitz at
Europa Park
Europa-Park is the largest theme park in Germany, and the second most popular theme park in Europe, after Disneyland Paris. Europa-Park is located in Rust, south-western Germany, between Freiburg im Breisgau and Strasbourg (in neighbouring Franc ...
was the first to use a two-track system with a single shaft.
Friction wheel lift
A friction wheel lift is a type of lift mechanism in which two wheels are placed in either a horizontal or a vertical position. These are commonly used for brake runs, lifts, storage and more. The train has a small vertical lip, where the two friction wheels meet at each side. The wheels pull the train up slowly, while making a jet-like noise. An anti-rollback system is not needed, as the wheels are tight against the lip.
Tilt lift/thrill lift section
A tilt lift is a new way to elevate coasters. The tilt lift is essentially an elevator lift, but the elevator lift rotates 90 degrees so that the train is now vertical, with the nose of the train facing the ground. This design has not been made yet; the only places where this occurs are in the video games ''
RollerCoaster Tycoon 3
''RollerCoaster Tycoon 3'' is a 2004 construction and management simulation video game. It is the third installment in the '' RollerCoaster Tycoon'' series. ''RollerCoaster Tycoon 3'' places players in charge of managing amusement parks; rides ...
'', ''
Thrillville Off the Rails
''Thrillville: Off the Rails'' is a theme park simulation video game developed by Frontier Developments and published by Lucasfilm Games, LucasArts. It is the sequel to the 2006 game ''Thrillville''. The game was released worldwide in October 200 ...
'' and ''Coaster Crazy''. However, there are coaster designs that use the tilting aspect of this lift already. The first operating tilt coaster in the world is Gravity Max at
Lihpao Land
Lihpao Resort () is a theme park located in Houli District, Taichung, Taiwan.
It currently has two roller coasters, including Gravity Max, the world's first coaster to feature a true 90-degree drop and the world's first tilt coaster. Besides G ...
in Taiwan. The coaster was built by
Vekoma
Vekoma Rides Manufacturing is a Dutch amusement ride manufacturer. Vekoma is syllabic abbreviation of Veld Koning Machinefabriek (Veld Koning Machine Factory) which was established in 1926 by Hendrik op het Veld.
History
The company originally m ...
. In this coaster, after going up a chain hill, the train is held on a horizontal section of track, which then tilts forwards, to become a vertical section, which then leads into a vertical drop accelerated by gravity. The Chinese company Golden Horse has made several unofficial recreations, each featuring a less than vertical drop and significantly different track elements.
Anti-rollback device
The familiar "click-clack" sound that occurs as a roller coaster train ascends the lift hill is not caused by the chain itself. The cause for this noise is actually a safety device used on lift hills—the anti-rollback device. The anti-rollback device is a standard safety feature, typically consisting of a continuous, saw-toothed, section of metal, forming a linear
ratchet
Ratchet may refer to:
Devices
* Ratchet (device), a mechanical device that allows movement in only one direction
* Ratchet, metonomic name for a socket wrench incorporating a ratcheting device
* Ratchet (instrument), a music instrument and a ...
.
Roller coaster trains are fitted with anti-rollback "dogs," essentially heavy-duty pieces of metal that fall and rest in each groove of the anti-rollback device on the track as the trains ascend the lift-hill. This makes the "clicking" sound and allows the train to go upwards only, effectively preventing the train from rolling back down the hill should it ever encounter a power failure or broken chain.
This feature was derived from the similar feature originally used on the
Mauch Chunk Switchback Railway
The Mauch Chunk and Summit Railroad was a coal-hauling railroad in the mountains of Pennsylvania that operated between 1828 and 1932. It was the first operational railway, in the United States, of any substantial length to carry paying passenger ...
in Pennsylvania, starting in 1846. The two uphill planes that cars were drawn up under the power of a stationary steam engine had two slightly different early forms of this anti-rollback device. The entire concept of the modern roller coaster was also initially inspired by this railroad.
References
{{roller coaster
Roller coaster elements
Roller coaster technology
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