U.S. patent number 3,596,905 [Application Number 04/821,398] was granted by the patent office on 1971-08-03 for plural horizontal axis roundabout having sheave driven carriage.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Chance Manufacturing Company, Inc.. Invention is credited to Joseph M. Brown.
United States Patent |
3,596,905 |
Brown |
August 3, 1971 |
PLURAL HORIZONTAL AXIS ROUNDABOUT HAVING SHEAVE DRIVEN CARRIAGE
Abstract
An amusement ride consisting of a tower movable from a
horizontal position on a trailer to an erect position and including
an elongated oblong structural member or boom centrally pivoted to
the upper end of the tower. The structural member carries an oblong
closed track and parallel endless conveyors trained around sheaves
at opposite ends of the boom to which are attached frame means
carrying freely swingable passenger cages. As the boom is rotated
about a horizontal axis separate power means operate the conveyors
and sheaves to move the frame and cages about the closed path
defined by the track.
Inventors: |
Brown; Joseph M. (Wichita,
KS) |
Assignee: |
Chance Manufacturing Company,
Inc. (Wichita, KS)
|
Family
ID: |
25233296 |
Appl.
No.: |
04/821,398 |
Filed: |
May 2, 1969 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
472/3; 104/76;
472/45; 472/46 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A63G
27/00 (20130101); A63G 2200/00 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
A63G
27/00 (20060101); A63g 001/08 () |
Field of
Search: |
;272/38,29,37
;104/53,55,76,77,78,81 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Oechsle; Anton O.
Assistant Examiner: Kramer; Arnold W.
Claims
I claim:
1. An amusement ride comprising an upstanding tower having support
means, a horizontal stub shaft mounted adjacent the upper end of
said tower, an elongated boom centrally supported by said stub
shaft for rotation about the axis thereof, first and second pairs
of horizontally spaced sheaves carried at opposite ends of said
boom for rotation about axes parallel to the axis of said stub
shaft, a pair of parallel, endless flexible conveyors trained
around said sheaves, a pair of closed tracks carried by said boom
in spaced parallel relationship with said flexible conveyors, a
plurality of outwardly extending individual frames interconnected
with both of said conveyors in longitudinally spaced relationship
with respect to each other, carriage means pivotally connected to
said frames and guidingly engaging said tracks, a pair of
longitudinally spaced passenger cages freely swingably connected to
each of said frames outwardly of said conveyors and said tracks,
power means for rotating said boom about the horizontal axis of
said stub shaft, and separate power means for driving said endless
conveyors and said sheaves so as to move said frames and passenger
cages around said closed tracks.
2. The amusement ride of claim 1 wherein said frames are outwardly
extending substantially rectangular units and include transverse
cross braces adjacent their inner sides, the outer sides of said
frames comprising a pair of horizontally spaced parts, said pair of
cages being swingably connected in longitudinally spaced
relationship between the outer horizontally spaced parts of said
frame.
3. The amusement device of claim 1 wherein each of said track means
is channel shaped with transversely spaced flanges extending
outwardly, each of said carriages comprising a rigid element
carrying vertical roller means engaging a track between said
flanges, second vertical roller means engaging the under side of
said track and horizontal roller means engaging a side of said
track.
4. The amusement ride of claim 1 wherein the power means for
driving said conveyors and sheaves comprise differential gearing
between each pair of sheaves, an axle operatively connecting each
sheave to said gearing, motor means carried by said boom, and a
propeller shaft operatively connecting said motor means and said
differential gearing.
5. An amusement ride comprising an upstanding tower having support
means, a horizontal stub shaft mounted adjacent the upper end of
said tower, an elongated boom centrally connected to said shaft,
diametrically opposed sheave means adjacent the opposite ends of
said boom for rotation about axes parallel to the axis of said stub
shaft, endless flexible conveyor means trained around said sheave
means, closed track means carried by said boom in spaced parallel
relationship with said conveyor means and said sheave means, a
plurality of outwardly extending frame means connected to said
conveyor means in longitudinally spaced relationship to each other,
passenger cages swingably connected to said frame means outwardly
of said conveyor and track means, carriage means connected to the
inner side of said frame means and guidingly engaging said track
means, power means for rotating said boom about the horizontal axis
of said stub shaft and power means for driving said endless
conveyor means and said sheave means so that said frame means and
passenger cages may be moved about the closed path defined by said
track means at the same time as said boom is rotated about the axis
of said stub shaft.
6. The amusement ride of claim 5, said support means including a
flat bed trailer, means pivotally connecting the lower end of said
tower to said trailer, hydraulic ram means carried by said trailer
for moving said tower from a horizontal position on said trailer to
an erect position, and bracing means engageable with said tower and
with the ground for retaining said tower in its erect position.
Description
This invention relates to amusement devices and more particularly
to amusement devices of the round-about variety wherein riders
experience compound rotary movement about a plurality of parallel
horizontal axes.
The broad object of the present invention is to provide a portable
amusement device wherein an oblong framework or boom is driven
about a horizontal axis. The boom carries pairs of horizontally
spaced sheaves at its opposite ends and a pair of endless conveyors
having attached thereto passenger cars. As the framework is rotated
about its horizontal axis, the endless conveyors are simultaneously
driven around tracks about the periphery of the framework so that
riders receive an unusual sensation of being driven in a plurality
of directions, though in a single plane, at the same time.
Referring now to the drawings:
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the ride of the invention in
its erected position;
FIG. 2 is a vertical front elevational view of the ride of the
invention;
FIG. 3 is a broken perspective view showing parts of the
invention;
FIG. 4 is a side elevational view on an increased scale of one end
of the rotatable framework;
FIG. 5 is an enlarged broken detailed view of parts of the
invention; and
FIG. 6 is a side elevational view of the structure of FIG. 5.
Referring now to the drawings, the numeral 10 designates a flat bed
trailer which is especially adapted for transporting the ride of
the invention. The main support member of the ride comprises a
tower 12 hinged to brackets 13 at one end of the trailer 10 and is
raised from a horizontal transport position to its vertical
position by means of a telescoping hydraulically extended strut 14
as best seen in FIG. 1. The tower 12 is securely supported in its
vertical position by suitable outriggers 16 which extend laterally
a substantial distance on opposite sides of the tower as shown and
by diagonal struts 18 which are composed of articulating sections
rigidly locked together by removable pins after the tower has been
raised to its vertical position.
A stub shaft 20 at the upper end of the tower is connected to the
center of an elongated framework or boom 22, as best seen in FIG.
2. The boom 22 is the main structural component of the movable part
of the ride and is rotated bodily about the axis of the stub shaft
20. Connected to the boom 22 by transverse brace members 24 are a
pair of spaced channel members 28 (see FIG. 1) which define guide
tracks for roller carriages 30 at the inner ends of outwardly
extending rigid rectangular frames 34, whose outer side parts are
spaced apart and carry at their corners a pair of freely rotatable
passenger cages 36, 38, respectively. As can be seen, the cages
have a seat portion 40 and are mounted oppositely to each other so
that in one position a passenger in the upper cage 36 of the
uppermost right-hand frame 34 in the position shown in FIG. 2, for
example, faces outwardly whereas a passenger in the lower cage 38
faces inwardly. As the frames 34 are driven by means described
hereinafter relative to the guide rails 28 to the position of the
frame 34' on the upper left-hand side of the apparatus of FIG. 2,
it will be noted that the cage 36' corresponding to the previously
mentioned cage 36 is now below the cage 38', corresponding to
previously described cage 38, and the passenger in the cage 36' is
now facing inwardly whereas the passenger in carriage 38' is facing
outwardly. Thus it will be seen that the passengers are facing
inwardly for one half of the traverse around the elongated path and
are facing outwardly for the other half.
The pivot points 42 of the individual cages are selected so that
gravity causes the cages to remain more or less in their proper
orientation with respect to the ground while being able to swing
freely about the pivot points 42 to increase the excitement of the
ride.
At opposite ends of the main structural member 22 are pairs of
sheaves 44 respectively. The sheaves of each pair are carried on
the ends of axles 45 (see FIG. 4) which are operatively connected
together through a gear arrangement 46 similar to the transmission
of an automobile for rotation on axes parallel to the axis of the
stub shaft. A positively driven propeller shaft 47 operates the
transmission gearing to rotate the two sets of sheaves 44, 44 and
drive endless flexible cables 48, 49 which are trained around the
sheaves. The shaft 47 and transmission 46 may be driven in any of a
variety of ways as by the electric or hydraulic motors 50 which are
mounted on the support member 22 adjacent its outer ends. If two
electric motors are employed, they receive power through
conventional brushes and sliprings and if hydraulic motors are
used, they would receive hydraulic fluid from a stationary pump
mounted on the trailer 10 or elsewhere and it would be delivered to
the motors through a conventional hydraulic swivel coupling (not
shown). The sliprings or the swivel couplings are coaxially mounted
with respect to the stub shaft 20 on the inner side of the upper
end of the main support tower 12.
For driving the entire assembly about the axis of the stub shaft
20, a large wheel member 54 is connected to the stub shaft between
the tower and frame 22 and is engaged by frictional driving wheels
56 driven by electric or hydraulic motors 58 carried by the support
tower 12 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.
The frame members 34 for the respective pairs of cages are movable
from the collapsed to the erected position of FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 and
may be rigidly locked in the erected position by the insertion of
suitable pins into registering openings in the braces, outer
longitudinal members and cornerposts 60, 61, 62 which compose the
frames.
The corresponding cornerposts of the two side frames are rigidly
connected by transverse braces 64 and lower extensions of the
cornerposts are pivoted by pins 65 to the roller carriages 30 which
are of somewhat cruciform configuration (see FIGS. 5 and 6)
carrying on two arms a pair of horizontal rollers 70 which engage
the inner sides of the tracks 28 and a pair of vertical rollers 72
which ride in the track itself. A depending or inwardly extending
arm 74 of each carriage 30 carries a single vertical roller 78
which engages the underside of each track 28.
As can be seen in FIG. 5 a rigid member 74 is welded to the outer
face of one leg of an L-shaped member 76 whose other leg is welded
to the cruciform member 66 and it is between the confronting faces
of the latter and the L-shaped member that the pivot pin 65 for
each cornerpost of a cage frame extends. The outer end of each
rigid member 74 is clamped by conventional cable clamps 78 to
cables 48 and the corresponding roller carriages 30 on the
respective cables are interconnected by rigid transverse braces 80.
The sheaves 44, 44 are grooved to accommodate the cables 48 as well
as the clamps 78, it being apparent that as the carriages are moved
by the cables about the arcuate end parts 82 of the tracks the
pivoted connection of the cornerposts with the carriages enable the
rigid cage frames to traverse the arcuate path without being
strained or racked.
In operation, the trailer 10 is drawn by a tractor to its place of
use and legs 84 at the four corners of the trailer are lowered by
conventional jacking gear to sustain the weight of the apparatus
when in operating condition. Thereafter the passenger cages and
their frames are properly positioned, erected and pinned in place
and upon the removal of conventional hold-downs, utilized for
transport of the apparatus, hydraulic pressure is delivered to the
telescoping hydraulic ram 14 and this is extended to raise the
tower 12 to the erect position of FIG. 1. Thereafter the previously
described outriggers 16 are positioned and pinned in place and the
struts 18 are rigidly connected in their support positions by the
suitable insertion of pins in a manner well recognized in the
art.
When the apparatus is to be operated, the motors 58 are energized
to operate the friction drive wheels 56 and rotate the member 54
which in turn drives the stub shaft 20 and the entire assembly
about the axis of the stub shaft. At the same time, the motors for
driving the transmissions 46 are energized to drive the sheaves 44
and endless conveyor cables 52 to cause the cages to traverse the
oblong frame at the same time that the frame is being driven about
the horizontal stub axle 20.
This ride has been found commercially popular, successful, and safe
while at the same providing riders with a unique sensation not
previously experienced.
* * * * *