Werner Stengel (born 22 August 1936, in

Bochum Bochum ( , also , ; wep, Baukem) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia. With a population of 364,920 (2016), is the sixth largest city (after Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen and Duisburg) of the most populous German federal state of N ...

) is a German

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 ...

designer and

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considerin ...

. Stengel is the founder of Stengel Engineering, also known as Ingenieurbüro Stengel GmbH (or Ingenieurbuero Stengel GmbH). Stengel first worked on

amusement park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central ...

rides in collaboration with

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 ar ...

in 1963. He established his own company, Stengel Engineering, in 1965. His collaboration with Schwarzkopf was responsible for many innovations in roller coaster design, including in 1976 the first modern "vertical" looping coaster, ''Revolution'', at Six Flags Magic Mountain. ( Arrow Dynamics had debuted the first modern inversion, the corkscrew, a year earlier at Knott's Berry Farm). His

clothoid An Euler spiral is a curve whose curvature changes linearly with its curve length (the curvature of a circular curve is equal to the reciprocal of the radius). Euler spirals are also commonly referred to as spiros, clothoids, or Cornu spirals. Eu ...

loop is now standard on many roller coasters, as it produces less intense forces on the human body than a circular vertical loop. In 1976 Stengel and Schwarzkopf established the first horizontal launch "

Shuttle Loop Shuttle Loop is a type of steel launched shuttle roller coaster designed by Reinhold Spieldiener of Intamin and manufactured by Anton Schwarzkopf. A total of 12 installations were produced between 1977 and 1982. These 12 installations have been ...

". He was a pioneer in heartlining, the principle of having the track twist and rotate around the rider's heart line, rather than the track rotating around its own center. Since Schwarzkopf's retirement, Stengel has worked on most of the world's record-breaking roller coasters, including

Son of Beast Son of Beast was a record-breaking wooden roller coaster at Kings Island in Mason, Ohio, United States. Built and designed by the now-defunct Roller Coaster Corporation of America (RCCA), it opened to the public on April 28, 2000, as the talle ...

, Millennium Force,

Superman The Ride Superman The Ride (formerly known as Bizarro and Superman – Ride of Steel) is a steel roller coaster at Six Flags New England in Agawam, Massachusetts. Built by Swiss manufacturer Intamin, the hypercoaster opened to the public as Superman ...

, Top Thrill Dragster, Kingda Ka, Dollywood's

Mystery Mine Mystery Mine is a steel roller coaster located at Dollywood amusement park in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Manufactured by Gerstlauer, the Euro-Fighter model is heavily themed as a haunted mining operation from the 19th century. The roller coaster ...

, El Toro,

Maverick Maverick, Maveric or Maverik may refer to: History * Maverick (animal), an unbranded range animal, derived from U.S. cattleman Samuel Maverick Aviation * AEA Maverick, an Australian single-seat sportsplane design * General Aviation Design Bure ...

and Olympia Looping, the world's largest portable roller coaster, among many others. Seventy-two percent of the attractions on the 2004 Amusement Today

Golden Ticket Awards ''Amusement Today'' is a monthly periodical that features articles, news, pictures and reviews about all things relating to the amusement park industry, including parks, rides, and ride manufacturers. The trade newspaper, which is based in Arli ...

list of the world's top fifty steel roller coasters were designed by Stengel Engineering. Stengel received an

honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...

from

Gothenburg University The University of Gothenburg ( sv, Göteborgs universitet) is a university in Sweden's second largest city, Gothenburg. Founded in 1891, the university is the third-oldest of the current Swedish universities and with 37,000 students and 6000 ...

in 2005 for "inexhaustible creativity in linking physics and design to the experience of the body in roller coasters and other rides,". In 2002, he designed the "Stengel Dive," the roller coaster element that bears his name, for Goliath at Walibi Holland,

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. Stengel celebrated his 500th roller coaster with the opening of

, located at Cedar Point. He is semi-retired and serves as a consultant to the amusement park ride industry.

References

External links

Official website of Stengel Engineering
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stengel, Werner 1936 births Living people People from Bochum Amusement ride manufacturers Roller coaster designers Engineers from North Rhine-Westphalia Recipients of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany