ANSWERS: 7
  • That depends on how one defines invented. A few viewpoints to consider. . . Historians agree that the ride's origins were the Russian Ice Slides. These slides first appeared during the 17th century throughout Russia, with a particular concentration in the area of in what would become St. Petersburg. The structures were built out of lumber with a sheet of ice several inches thick covering the surface. Riders climbed the stairs attached to the back of the slide, sped down the 50 degree drop and ascend the stairs of the slide that laid parallel (and opposite) to the first one. During the winter festival season slides were built between seventy and eighty feet high, stretched for hundreds of feet and accommodated many large sleds at once. Elaborate constructions often stretched several city blocks and were said to reach speeds of 50 mph. The first "real" roller coaster, ( one built with wheels on a dry track), was constructed on orders of Catherine the Great. The roller coaster was built in the Gardens of Oreinbaum in St. Petersburg in an amusement center called Katalnaya Gorka in the year 1784. Soon after the first coaster was built, the Napoleonic Wars began. Many French soldiers grew fond of the ice slides while in Russia and brought the idea of the roller coaster back with them to France. . . The first two roller coasters that operated on a continuous circuit were built in the early 1800s in France. One was named Les Montages Russes (The Russian Mountain) was built in Belleville, while the other named Promandes Aeriennes was built at Beajon Gardens in Paris. These two coasters were the first ever recorded to have wooden cars with wheels connected to a metal track. These first coasters were locked on to the track by a wheel axis projecting into grooves on the track. There was only one drop on these coasters, but they flew down the hill at an excess of 30 mph, after the coaster reached the bottom of the hill attendants had to push the car up the opposite side. Mining company entrepreneur Josiah White built his "Gravity Road" in 1827 to expeditiously haul coal from the mines at Summit Hill to the Lehigh River landing at Mauch Chunk, PA (now the town of Jim Thorpe)--a nine-mile, downhill journey. Trains of up to 14 cars, loaded with 50,000 pounds of anthracite coal, sped down the mountain under the command of a single courageous "runner" who operated a brake lever. Mules had the unpleasant task of dragging the cars back up the mountain. But they enjoyed the rapid ride back down. And they weren't the only ones. Quickly the thrilling Gravity Road became a public attraction. Coal was hauled in the morning, but the afternoon runs were filled with passengers paying 50 cents per ride. By the mid-19th century, the demand for coal was increasing, so White added a backtrack with two 120-horsepower steam engines at the top of nearby Mount Pisgah, which pulled the trains up the incline of 664 vertical feet, assisted by "barney," or "safety," cars. The ingenious addition of a ratchet rail running between the dual two-rail tracks, when engaged by a ratchet on the barney, prevented the cars from rolling backward. This safety device, later perfected, gave rise to the clanking sound that would characterize the latter-day coasters. In 1872 a tunnel was completed that became a more efficient coal route than the Gravity Road, but it was not the end of the Mauch Chunk Switchback by any means. By 1873, 35,000 tourists were taking an 80-minute, 18-mile spectacularly scenic ride up and down Mount Pisgah and the other peak, Mount Jefferson. The price? A steep $1. The first person to patent (not invent) a roller coaster was LaMarcus Adna Thompson on 20 January 1885. In essence a specialised railroad system, a coaster consists of a track that rises and falls in specially designed patterns, sometimes with one or more inversions (the most common being loops) that turns the rider briefly upside down. The track does not necessarily have to be a complete circuit (the antonym of complete circuit is "shuttle"), though some purists insist that it must to be a true coaster. (Note that not all thrill rides that run on a track are roller coasters). Most coasters have cars for two, four, or six passengers each, in which the passengers sit to travel around the circuit. An entire set of cars hooked together is referred to as a train. The early history of roller coasters seems to have many disputes about exactly who invented the thrill ride. Hopefully, this gives you some idea though :)
  • The Russians Today, they are high-tech marvels rising more than one hundred feet in the air with tubular steel tracks, loops, corkscrews and boomerangs. Their riders are hurled through space at 60 miles per hour -- while sitting, standing or suspended from an overhead track. Their roots are still with us today -- majestic wooden labyrinths with steep rises and swooping plunges and superstructures that look like delicately balanced matchsticks. Steel and wooden roller coasters may look different, but there is much they have in common. All exist to exhilarate and terrify. The exhilaration began with Russian Mountains, in the 15th and 16th centuries. They were ice slides built near Russian towns, some as high 70 feet in the air. The track was ice and the sleds was ice, with straw stuffed in chiseled hollows to serve as seats. The ride -- and the sleds -- became more elaborate as Russian royalty adopted the idea. The first wheeled roller coaster was invented in Russia too, built in 1784 in St. Petersburg. The rides then made their way to Paris, where a wheeled coaster attraction was opened in 1804. But there were problems. The wheels often fell off and the cars did not always stop at the end of the track. It was in Paris where the phrase roller coaster originated. Early rides used tracks made of rollers and sleds with runners -- thus the art of roller coasting. The name stuck after runners were replaced with wheels. Early coaster rides came in two parts. Riders rolled down one hill to the bottom and then walked up a second hill to get enough height for the return trip. The coasters were dragged uphill by attendants. The first ride resembling modern roller coasters opened in Paris in 1817. Called Promenades Aeriennes, or Aerial Walks, it had two separate, continuous tracks. Its cars were locked onto the track and reached speeds of 40 mph. The speed gave the coasters enough momentum to complete a circular track and return to the starting point. America s first coasters were a bit tamer. The first roller coaster ride in America was a gravity-powered mine train used to haul coal through the mountains of Pennsylvania. It was called the Mauch Chunk Railway, and after the mine shut down, the railway became a full-time attraction. Hundreds of people paid a nickel each for the six-mile-per-hour trip downhill. Mules pulled the cars uphill and shared the ride down with passengers. The first specially built roller coaster in America was the Gravity Pleasure Switchback Railway built by La Marcus Adna Thompson in 1884 at Coney Island. The ride was a series of leisurely wooden waves and passengers paid a nickel each to sit sideways in cars that reached a top speed of six miles-per-hour. Thompson recovered his $1,600 investment in three weeks, and his success made for roller coaster mania in the United States. Within a few years, Americans re-invented a circular track for coasters. Another American, Phillip Hinckle, invented a steam-powered chain lift to tug coasters to new heights -- and new downhill speeds. As inventors worked to make coasters better and faster, someone got the idea that it would be fun to turn riders upside down. The first loop was built in Paris in 1846 and called the Centrifugal Railway. The ride was tested with sandbags, monkeys, flowers, eggs and glasses of water before humans were allowed on board. Similar rides appeared in America in the early 1900s -- but the strain and speed necessary to get cars through the loop proved too much for passengers and loops disappeared until the 1970s. The 1920s were the golden age of roller coasters. Large, wooden figure-eight tracks were popular and newly-invented safety devices allowed coasters to go faster and more furiously. By 1929, there were more than 1,500 roller coasters in the world. It was in 1927 that the benchmark for roller coasters was built. Called The Cyclone, and built at Coney Island, it featured an 85-foot plunge and incredible 60-degree angles. Today, the Cyclone is still an industry standard. Roller coasters suffered along with everything else during the Great Depression. Amusement park attendance was down and owners could not afford to keep coasters in good repair. Rides were abandoned or torn down. By 1960, there were fewer than 200 coasters in the United States. Then a man named Walt Disney decided to build a theme part in California. With Disneyland came a revival of amusement parks -- and, later, roller coasters. The first tubular steel-tracked coaster was Disney's Matterhorn Bobsled Ride, built in 1959. Steel rides were quieter -- but more importantly, they allowed designers to build twists, turns and other thrills not possible with wood coasters. Roller coaster fans mark the advent of a corkscrew-shaped ride in 1975 and a perfected, tear-drop-shaped loop in 1976 with the same passion as historians mark the Renaissance. As theme park attendance rose, wooden coasters became popular again, too. These grand visions of the past reached higher into the sky at the same time their metal descendants torqued and twisted riders through weirder and faster paths. Today, the roller coaster industry belongs to engineers and computers. There is talk of rides that will exceed 100 miles-per-hour. The only limit will be what physics -- and the human body -- will allow. http://www.themedattraction.com/coaster.htm
  • The Russians, invented the roller coaster.
  • The first wheeled roller coaster was invented in Russia too, built in 1784 in St. Petersburg. The rides then made their way to Paris, where a wheeled coaster attraction was opened in 1804. But there were problems. The wheels often fell off and the cars did not always stop at the end of the track.
  • yo dog i don't know!!!!!!
  • The same man who invented the vomit bag.

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