A fourth-dimension roller coaster is a type of

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistan ...

roller coaster A roller coaster, or rollercoaster, is a type of amusement ride that employs a form of elevated railroad track designed with tight turns, steep slopes, and sometimes inversions. Passengers ride along the track in open cars, and the rides are ...

whereby riders are rotated independently of the orientation of the track, generally about a horizontal axis that is perpendicular to the track. The cars do not necessarily need to be fixed to an angle.

History

John F. Mares, a corporate attorney, invented a fourth-dimension roller coaster concept in 1995 and holds six US patents related to the technology of their spinning seat systems: , , , , & . In this concept, riders control the spinning action themselves. The first fourth dimension roller coaster to be built, '' X²'', which opened at Six Flags Magic Mountain in 2002, was designed and patented by

Alan Schilke Alan Schilke is an engineer and roller coaster designer based in Hayden, Idaho, United States. He first made his mark on the industry by designing the 4th Dimension roller coaster, X2 (roller coaster), X2, while working with Arrow Dynamics. Schi ...

. In 2007, Intamin launched a variation of the 4th Dimension roller coaster under the name ZacSpin.

Design

Arrow Dynamics and S&S Worldwide

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 (194 ...

was the first company to produce a fourth dimension roller coaster, lending its name to the ride style. The

train In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and transport people or freight. Trains are typically pulled or pushed by locomotives (often ...

s feature seats capable of rotating forward or backward, 360 degrees in a controlled spin. This is achieved by having four rails on the track; two acting as per normal, and two to control the spin of the seats. The two rails that control the spin of the seats, known as "X Rails", vary in height relative to the track, and spin the train using a

rack and pinion A rack and pinion is a type of linear actuator that comprises a circular gear (the '' pinion'') engaging a linear gear (the ''rack''). Together, they convert rotational motion into linear motion. Rotating the pinion causes the rack to be driven ...

gear mechanism. The first installation, X², was a prototype and cost Arrow Dynamics and

Six Flags Six Flags Entertainment Corporation is an American amusement park corporation, headquartered in Arlington, Texas. It has properties in Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Six Flags owns the most theme parks and waterparks combined of any a ...

itself a lot of money due to technical difficulties and design flaws. In 2002, the park sued Arrow Dynamics, which went into bankruptcy. Since then, Arrow was bought out by

S&S Worldwide S&S may refer to: *'' Sense and Sensibility'', a novel by Jane Austen *''Salt and Sanctuary'', a video game * Sword and sorcery, a subgenre of fantasy and historical fantasy *Simon & Schuster, a publisher *S&S Cycle, a manufacturer of aftermarket en ...

and became the company's steel coaster division, S&S Arrow. In 2006, a second installation opened at Fuji-Q Highland in

Fujiyoshida is a city located in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 48,782 in 19,806 households and a population density of 400 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Fujiyoshida lies at the northern ...

, Yamanashi Japan under the name Eejanaika. A third installation opened in 2012 at China Dinosaurs Park in China under the name Dinoconda.

Intamin ZacSpin first generation

The

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 ins ...

''ZacSpin'' was developed in response to the Arrow Dynamics fourth-dimension roller coaster. Some of the main differences between the Intamin and Arrow Dynamics/S&S Worldwide versions are the uncontrolled rotation of the seats, which produces a different ride each time, no need for an additional rail, and single cars with two riders back-to-back. Since these single cars don't rotate around the riders but around a common point quite far back behind their backs, this gave rise to complaints of rider discomfort. Another notable difference is the absence of any lateral movements, causing some enthusiasts to not consider the rides to be fourth-dimension roller coasters due to the fact that all movement is restricted to a two-dimensional plane. '' Kirnu'' at

Linnanmäki Linnanmäki ( sv, Borgbacken, colloquially ''Lintsi'', ) is an amusement park in Helsinki, Finland. It was opened on 27 May 1950 and is owned by the non-profit Children's Day Foundation (, ), which operates the park in order to raise funds for ...

in Helsinki, Finland, opened for the 2007 season and was the first of its kind. Later that year ''Inferno'' opened at Terra Mitica in Spain with an identical compact layout. In 2009, ''Insane'' opened at

Gröna Lund Gröna Lund (; "Green Grove"), or colloquially ''Grönan'' (), is an amusement park in Stockholm, Sweden. Located on the seaward side of Djurgården Island, it is relatively small compared to other amusement parks, mainly because of its central l ...

with a different track layout. In 2011, the first ''ZacSpin'' in the United States opened at Six Flags Magic Mountain as '' Green Lantern: First Flight'', and was themed to the

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. ( doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with the ...

superhero of the same name. It features the same layout as ''Insane''.

S&S Free Spin

In late 2012, S&S Worldwide unveiled a new concept called Free Spin which features a similar ride to Intamin ZacSpin. Each vehicle features two seating rows, and each row rotates independently. Because the axis of rotation is at the

center of mass In physics, the center of mass of a distribution of mass in space (sometimes referred to as the balance point) is the unique point where the weighted relative position of the distributed mass sums to zero. This is the point to which a force may ...

of each guest, rider comfort is significantly improved. Like with ZacSpin, Seats spin freely, but during several track sections a system of magnets forces a controlled inversion. The first installation of a 4D Free Spin was Batman: The Ride at Six Flags Fiesta Texas in 2015.

Intamin ZacSpin second generation

In 2016, Intamin announced an updated version that like Free Spin also features a vehicle with two seating rows rotating independently, and an axis of rotation at the center of mass of each guest to improve rider comfort.

Inversion ambiguity

There is considerable debate within the roller coaster community as to whether or not the spinning of these coasters qualifies as an

inversion Inversion or inversions may refer to: Arts * , a French gay magazine (1924/1925) * ''Inversion'' (artwork), a 2005 temporary sculpture in Houston, Texas * Inversion (music), a term with various meanings in music theory and musical set theory * ...

for the purpose of records.

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

gave '' Eejanaika'' the record with 14 inversions. However, other more coaster-specific record bodies such as the Roller Coaster Database do not recognize this claim and instead count only ''track'' inversions, which gives the record of 14 to The Smiler.

Installations

References

External links

A list of fourth-dimension roller coasters
at the Roller Coaster DataBase {{DEFAULTSORT:Fourth Dimension Roller Coaster Types of roller coaster S&S – Sansei Technologies