The Ferris wheel was first created in the 16th century and the first mechanized version was designed by George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr. in 1893. Other designers created their own versions, but the emphasis shifted to smaller, portable constructions. Other types of wheels, such as the two wheels and three-wheel ride, also became popular. Some Ferris wheels today exceed the height of the original design, with the Star of Nachang in China being the tallest at 525m.
A Ferris wheel is a carousel typically found at fairs and amusement parks and consists of a large standing wheel, with passenger cars or seats attached at intervals around the wheel. The first type of Ferris wheel was a hand-cranked model called Ups and Downs, which was used in the 16th century. He was undoubtedly influenced by medieval and renaissance concepts of the wheel of fortune.
George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr., designed the first mechanized Ferris wheel for the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893. Unlike most modern Ferris wheels, the Ferris design was extraordinarily large and could hold over 200 passengers at a time. It was slow; a single revolution took about 10 minutes.
Ferris’ design soon had rivals. In 1895 in London, a copy of the Ferris wheel designed by Ferris operated for eleven years. In Vienna in 1897, Hubert Cecil Booth created a slightly smaller wheel. The Paris Exposition of 1900 prompted the construction of the Grande Roue, which operated until 1937.
Though the designers continued to build extraordinarily large rides, the Ferris wheel’s emphasis gradually shifted to smaller, lighter-weight constructions that could be moved to different city or country fairs. It is quite common to see this Ferris wheel all over the country at local fairs or carnivals. Rides of this type can have between 12-16 two-seater cars, and it remains one of the most popular carnival rides.
However, other types of wheels also became popular. The two wheels, or wheel of heaven, are two round wheels, which when not moving, form an oblong, one wheel on top of the other. The sky wheel offers extra thrills because the entire structure rotates in an elliptical pattern and each wheel moves independently. The Ferris wheel is also twice as tall as the lightest portable Ferris wheel, providing a better vantage point for riders.
A three-wheel ride also became a popular design in the 1970s. Three wheels on a tripod arm rotate independently of each other. Seating was often caged gondolas, allowing a group of 4-6 people to sit together.
Although the gondolas on the Ferris wheel tend to move only slightly as the wheel spins, there are several rides with sliding gondolas, which can move towards the center of the wheel as it spins. These are called roller coaster wheels and two can be found in the United States at Disneyland’s California Adventure Park and Coney Island. Not all gondolas are on rails, so the person who prefers a stationary gondola may choose to ride one instead.
Interest in recovering the early Ferris design, and particularly its size, has led to the construction of several new Ferris wheels in recent years. Some exceed the 264 feet (about 80 m) height of the original Ferris wheel. The London Eye, built in 1999, is 442m high and was until recently the largest Ferris wheel on the planet. The Star of Nachang, China now towers over the London Eye and is 135 feet (about 525m) tall. The Singapore Flyer, when completed, will be slightly higher than the Star of Nachang.
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