A Topple Tower is an
amusement ride
Amusement rides, sometimes called carnival rides, are mechanical devices or structures that move people especially kids to create fun and enjoyment.
Rides are often perceived by many as being scary or more dangerous than they actually are. This ...
designed in 2001 by van Orsouw Amusement Rides Design Service of
Berghem
Berghem (older spelling: ''Berchem'') is a town in the Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a communi ...
,
Netherlands
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vanorsouwridesdesign The first design was rejected due to its difficult and heavy construction. After a re-design in 2002, a license agreement was closed, and the ride was produced in 2005 by Huss Maschinenfabrik GmbH, now
HUSS Park Attractions
HUSS Park Attractions (legal name: Huss Park Attractions GmbH) is a company that specializes in developing and manufacturing amusement rides at a factory in Budapest, Hungary.
History of the original Huss Company
HUSS Maschinenfabrik was a Ge ...
. The first Topple Tower, El Volador, was placed in 2005 at Bellewaerde Park in Belgium.
Design and operation
The Topple Tower consists of a single 40-person circular gondola, centred on an 18-metre tower. Passengers sit in the gondola, facing outward. When the ride cycle is started, the gondola is raised towards the top of the tower, and begins to rotate at between 9 and 11
rpm
Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines.
Standards
ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...
. When the rotating gondola reaches the top of the tower, the tower itself begins to rock back and forth.
After the bankruptcy of the Huss Maschinenfabrik GmbH in July 2006, a lawsuit against the new Huss company, (Huss Park Attractions) was held in November 2008 at Düsseldorf court, in which the Design Company, van Orsouw Amusement Ride Design Service (van Orsouw ARDS) claimed all the rights of the design of the Topple Tower. There were rumours that van Orsouw ARDS was, in fact, a blind-trust company of another, until today unknown, Amusement Ride manufacturer. Following the conclusion of the trial, no noteworthy design activities of van Orsouw ARDS have been observed, though legally the company still exists. Future buyers of the Topple Tower, therefore, run the risk of the blind trust company becoming active again and resuming litigation.
Installations
Incidents
On June 16, 2007, the Topple Tower installation (known as Timber Tower) at
Dollywood
Dollywood is a theme park jointly owned by entertainer Dolly Parton and Herschend Family Entertainment. It is located in the Knoxville metropolitan area in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, near the gateway to The Great Smoky Mountains. Hosting nearly ...
became stuck after a faulty safety sensor engaged. The tower was in an upright position with the gondola at the top. The safety system would not let operators override the sensor, leaving 40 passengers stranded on the ride, some for as many as 6 hours. As of the 2012 season, Dollywood has removed Timber Tower from the park, with a lawsuit between Huss and Dollywood resolved behind closed doors. In 2017, Dollywood opened a new ride in place of Timber Tower called Drop Line.
References
External links
HUSS Park Attractions page
{{Amusement rides
Pendulum rides
Amusement rides
Amusement rides introduced in 2001