Free swing ferris wheel
AssigneeDisney Enterprises, Inc.
InventorsDAVID W. CRAWFORD, EDWARD A. NEMETH
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A Ferris wheel-type ride. A lever arm is mounted to the wheel rim to freely pivot between front and rear stops. Passenger gondolas, pivotally attached to the lever arms, travel through four zones experiencing differing ride dynamics. In the first zone, the lever arm abuts the front stop while, in the second, the lever arm is spaced apart from the stops and the lever arm is supported from above by the wheel via the lever arm causing the gondola to be vertically lifted and to rotate slower than the hub rotation rate. In the third zone, the lever arm abuts the rear stop and, in the fourth zone, the lever arm is spaced apart from the stops and is supported from below by the wheel as it falls toward the front stop at a rate greater than the hub rotation rate.
Claims20
A rotating wheel ride, comprising:
- a vertical wheel driven to rotate about a central rotation axis;
- a plurality of passenger vehicles;
- and
- a lever arm assembly associated with each of the passenger vehicles, the lever arm assembly pivotally connected at a first end to the wheel and at a second end to the associated passenger vehicle.
A Ferris wheel-type ride, comprising:
- a vertically orientated hub adapted for being rotated about a central axis;
- a plurality of vehicles;
- a lever arm associated with each of the vehicles, the lever arm pivotally coupled to the hub at a first end and to the associated vehicle at a second end, whereby the lever arm pivots at the first end and the associated vehicle pivots about the second end during rotation of the hub about the central axis;
- and
- for each of the lever arms, a pair of stops defining a range of travel for the lever arm between a first and second stop as the lever arm pivots about the first end.
A ride, comprising:
- a vertical wheel rotating at a hub rotation rate during operation of the ride;
- pairs of spaced apart stops providing a contact surface on the wheel;
- a lever arm assembly associated with each of the stop pairs and mounted to the wheel to pivot between a front stop and a rear stop in the associated stop pair during the operation of the ride;
- and
- a passenger gondola pivotally attached to each of the lever arm assemblies at a location spaced apart from the contact surface,
- wherein each of the passenger gondolas sequentially travel through at least a first and a second vehicular dynamics zones in which the passenger gondolas have differing ride dynamics.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.