Dinn Corporation

Dinn Corporation

Company type	Private
Industry	Roller coaster construction
Founded	1983
Founder	Charles Dinn
Defunct	1991
Fate	Closed
Headquarters	West Chester Township, Butler County, Ohio , United States
Key people	Charles Dinn, Denise Dinn Larrick, Randy Larrick, Jeff Dinn

Dinn Corporation was a roller coaster designing and manufacturing company established in West Chester, Ohio, in 1983 by Charles Dinn. The company is noted for moving and rebuilding several existing wooden coasters and building ten new wooden roller coasters in the United States. ^[1]

History

Charles Dinn served as Kings Island's Director of Construction, Maintenance and Engineering, where he oversaw the design and building of The Beast ^[2] with a team including Al Collins, Jim Nickell, William Reed and Curtis D. Summers. In November 1983, Dinn left Kings Island and opened his own corporation in West Chester, Ohio. The corporation relocated three older wooden roller coasters from parks that had been closed to new parks ^[3] One of the firm's first projects was rebuilding the San Antonio Playland Park Rocket as the Phoenix at Knoebels Amusement Resort. ^[1] In 1985 Dinn contacted Curtis D. Summers, Inc., an engineering firm in Loveland, Ohio, to provide the design for the restoration of the helix of Paragon Park's Giant Coaster which his company was moving to Wild World in Largo, Maryland. ^[1] That was the start of relationship that lasted until 1991. In 1987 the two started building new coasters, with Wolverine Wildcat and Raging Wolf Bobs both opening in 1988.

In 1991, Dinn closed the Dinn Corporation after a dispute that occurred during the construction of Pegasus at Efteling. ^[1] This was despite a possible project in the works for Kings Island to open in 1992. ^[4] However, his daughter Denise Dinn Larrick formed the now-defunct company Custom Coasters International, with many of the key personnel from the Dinn Corp. ^[5]

On July 6, 2021, Dinn died at the age of 88 in Clermont, Florida. ^[6]

List of roller coasters

As of 2019, Dinn Corporation has built 11 roller coasters around the world and assisted with at least 3 known restoration. ^[7]

Relocated/rebuilt coasters

Name	Park	Country	Opened	Status	Ref
Wildcat	Lake Compounce	United States	1927	Operating	[8]
Phoenix Formerly Rocket	Knoebels Amusement Park Playland Park	United States	1985 1948 to 1980	Operating	[9] [10]
Wild One Formerly Giant Coaster	Six Flags America Paragon Park	United States	1986 1917 to 1985	Operating	[11] [12]

New coasters

Name	Park	Country	Opened	Status	Ref
Wolverine Wildcat	Michigan's Adventure	United States	1988	Operating	[13]
Raging Wolf Bobs	Geauga Lake	United States	1988	Removed	[14]
Timber Wolf	Worlds of Fun	United States	1989	Operating	[15]
Hercules	Dorney Park	United States	1989	Removed	[16]
Georgia Cyclone	Six Flags Over Georgia	United States	1990	Converted Now known as Twisted Cyclone	[17]
Texas Giant	Six Flags Over Texas	United States	1990	Converted Now known as New Texas Giant	[18]
Predator	Six Flags Darien Lake	United States	1990	Operating	[19]
Woodland Run Formerly Thunder Run	Kentucky Kingdom	United States	1990	Operating	[20]
Psyclone	Six Flags Magic Mountain	United States	1991	Removed	[21]
Mean Streak	Cedar Point	United States	1991	Converted Now known as Steel Vengeance	[22]
Pegasus	Efteling	Netherlands	1991	Removed	[23]

Water projects

The Dinn Corporation served as project managers on the following ride installations: ^[24]

• Raging Rapids, Kennywood
• The Grand Rapids, Boardwalk and Baseball
• Zoom Flume, Lake Compounce
• Paradise Island, Wild World

References

1. Seifert, Jeffrey (2008). "Dinn and Summers, A Brief Resurgence in Wooden coasters". RollerCoaster! Magazine. 29 (3): 18–27. ISSN   0896-7261.
2. "Screeeeeeam!" . Retrieved 2014-05-29.
3. Rutherford, Scott (2002). The Roller Coaster Lover's Companion . Citadel Press. pp.  143. ISBN   978-0-8065-2309-5.
4. "Rattler Letter mentioning Dinn Corp" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-08-05. Retrieved 2019-11-18.
5. "Roller Coaster History" . Retrieved 2009-05-26.
6. "Charles Dinn Obituary" . Retrieved 2021-07-08.
7. Dinn Corporation - rcdb.com
8. Marden, Duane. "Wildcat  (Lake Compounce)". Roller Coaster DataBase . Retrieved June 12, 2012.
9. Marden, Duane. "Phoenix  (Knoebels Amusement Park)". Roller Coaster DataBase . Retrieved June 12, 2012.
10. Marden, Duane. "Rocket  (Playland Park)". Roller Coaster DataBase . Retrieved June 12, 2012.
11. Marden, Duane. "Wild One  (Six Flags America)". Roller Coaster DataBase . Retrieved June 12, 2012.
12. Marden, Duane. "Giant Coaster  (Paragon Park)". Roller Coaster DataBase . Retrieved June 12, 2012.
13. Marden, Duane. "Wolverine Wildcat  (Michigan's Adventure)". Roller Coaster DataBase . Retrieved June 12, 2012.
14. Marden, Duane. "Raging Wolf Bobs  (Geauga Lake)". Roller Coaster DataBase . Retrieved June 12, 2012.
15. Marden, Duane. "Timber Wolf  (Worlds of Fun)". Roller Coaster DataBase . Retrieved June 12, 2012.
16. Marden, Duane. "Hercules  (Dorney Park)". Roller Coaster DataBase . Retrieved June 12, 2012.
17. Marden, Duane. "Georgia Cyclone  (Six Flags Over Georgia)". Roller Coaster DataBase . Retrieved June 12, 2012.
18. Marden, Duane. "Texas Giant  (Six Flags Over Texas)". Roller Coaster DataBase . Retrieved June 12, 2012.
19. Marden, Duane. "Predator  (Six Flags Darien Lake)". Roller Coaster DataBase . Retrieved June 12, 2012.
20. Marden, Duane. "Woodland Run  (Kentucky Kingdom)". Roller Coaster DataBase . Retrieved June 12, 2012.
21. Marden, Duane. "Psyclone  (Six Flags Magic Mountain)". Roller Coaster DataBase . Retrieved June 12, 2012.
22. Marden, Duane. "Mean Streak  (Cedar Point)". Roller Coaster DataBase . Retrieved June 12, 2012.
23. Marden, Duane. "Pegasus  (Efteling)". Roller Coaster DataBase . Retrieved June 12, 2012.
24. Slade, Gary (1990). "Spotlight on Dinn Corporation (special section)". Inside Track (November 1990): 1–5.