A roller coaster is a type of amusement ride employing a form of elevated railroad track that carries passengers on a train through tight turns, steep slopes, and other elements designed to produce a thrilling experience. Trains consist of open cars connected in a single line, and the rides are often found in theme parks around the world. Roller coasters first appeared in the 17th century, and LaMarcus Adna Thompson obtained one of the first known patents for a roller coaster design in 1885, based on the Switchback Railway which opened a year earlier at Coney Island.
A steel roller coaster is a roller coaster that is defined by having a track made of steel. Steel coasters have earned immense popularity in the past 50 years throughout the world. Incorporating tubular steel track and polyurethane-coated wheels, the steel roller coasters can provide a taller, smoother, and faster ride with more inversions than a traditional wooden roller coaster.
Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters (PTC) is one of the oldest existing roller coaster manufacturing companies in the world. Based in Hatfield, Pennsylvania, it was established in 1904 by Henry Auchey and Chester Albright under the name Philadelphia Toboggan Company. The company manufactured carousels, wooden roller coasters, toboggans and later, roller coaster trains.
Bolliger & Mabillard, officially Bolliger & Mabillard Consulting Engineers, Inc. and often abbreviated B&M, is a roller coaster design consultancy based in Monthey, Switzerland. The company was founded in 1988 by engineers Walter Bolliger and Claude Mabillard, both of whom had worked for Giovanola.
A spinning roller coaster is a roller coaster with cars that rotate on a vertical axis.
The Mindbender was an Anton Schwarzkopf looping roller coaster at Galaxyland, a theme park in West Edmonton Mall, in Alberta, Canada. The ride officially opened to the public on December 20, 1985 at a cost of $6 million. At 44.2 m (145 ft) in height, it was the tallest indoor roller coaster in the world as of 2020.
Werner Stengel is a German roller coaster designer and engineer. Stengel is the founder of Stengel Engineering, also known as Ingenieurbüro Stengel GmbH.
Antonio Zamperla S.p.A. is an Italian design and manufacturing company founded in 1966. It is best known for creating family rides, thrill rides and roller coasters worldwide. The company also makes smaller coin-operated rides commonly found inside shopping malls.
The Allan Herschell Company was a company that specialized in the creation of amusement rides, particularly carousels and roller coasters. The company manufactured portable machines that could be used by traveling carnival operators. It was started in 1915 in the town of North Tonawanda, just outside Buffalo, New York, USA.
Chance Rides Manufacturing is a roller coaster and amusement ride manufacturer. The company was formed on May 16, 2002, when the former Chance Industries Inc. emerged from bankruptcy. The main office and manufacturing facility are located in Wichita, Kansas.
Toboggan was a steel roller coaster located at Lakemont Park in Altoona, Pennsylvania. It was a portable steel coaster built by Chance Rides, and was one of many of their Toboggan installations across the United States. This specific Toboggan had previously traveled in Florida with Deggeller Shows.
A Suspended Family Coaster is a steel inverted roller coaster built by Vekoma designed for families with no inversions. Just like all inverted roller coasters the train runs under the track with the seats directly attached to the wheel carriage. This latter attribute is what sets it apart from the older suspended swinging coaster, which runs under the track, but "swings" via a pivoting bar attached to the wheel carriage.
Olympia Looping, also known as Munich Looping, is a portable steel roller coaster owned and operated by R. Barth und Sohn Schaustellerbetriebe KG. The ride was designed by Anton Schwarzkopf and Werner Stengel, and built by BHS. It is the largest portable roller coaster in the world, and the only one with five inversions. It appears at many carnivals in Germany, most notably Oktoberfest, where it made its debut in 1989.
Big Fury was a compact steel roller coaster at Six Flags Great Adventure, that operated from 1974 to 1977. It was a Pinfari Zyklon model Z64. The coaster was similar in design but smaller than Flying Dutchman, a Pinfari Z78 model, that operated at Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom, 50 miles (80 km) northwest of Great Adventure.
Top Scan is an amusement ride made by Mondial.
RollerCoaster Tycoon 3D is a 2012 construction and management simulation game developed by n-Space and published by Atari for the Nintendo 3DS. The game is a spin-off of the RollerCoaster Tycoon and its first portable game.
E&F Miler Industries is a family-owned roller coaster manufacturing firm based in Portland, Oregon, United States. The company specialises in smaller children's roller coasters; however, it has manufactured some larger family roller coasters in the past.
Lina Beecher was an American inventor and roller coaster engineer. Beecher is best known for building the first looping roller coaster in North America, which was known as the Flip Flap Railway, and a later looping roller coaster known as Loop the Loop. He is also known for designing a number of other inventions and patents with a variety of applications.
RollerCoaster Tycoon Classic is a construction and management simulation video game developed by Origin8 Technologies and published by Atari. The game's initial release is a port of both RollerCoaster Tycoon and RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 combined into a single game. Both games were amusement park management simulators created by Chris Sawyer for the PC. RollerCoaster Tycoon Classic was released for Android and iOS in December 2016 and for Microsoft Windows and macOS in September 2017.
