What are the physics behind pirate ship ride?

Type of amusement ride

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For the film, see Swing Ride

Not to be confused with Pendulum ride

A Chair-O-Planes ride with a tilting top A woman on a swing ride at the Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany

Video of "Slänggungan" at Liseberg, Gothenburg, Sweden Chair-O-Planes or "Kettenkarussell" (chain-carousel) at the Roonkarker Mart fair, Germany Around the World

The swing ride or chair swing ride (sometimes called a swing carousel, wave swinger, yo-yo, waver swinger, Chair-O-Planes, Dodo or swinger) is an amusement ride that is a variation on the carousel in which the seats are suspended from the rotating top of the carousel. On some versions, particularly on the Wave Swingers, the rotating top of the carousel also tilts for additional variations of motion.

History

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Hollycombe Steam Collection has a chair-o-planes adapted from a bomb damaged roundabout in .[1]

A Chair-O-Planes premiered in Germany in , designed by Zierer and built by Franz Schwarzkopf, brother of Anton Schwarzkopf. In the first portable unit debuted under the same partnership. Since then Zierer has built about 200 units.[2] Other manufacturers have followed creating their own versions of the Chair-O-Planes, including Zamperla, Chance Rides, Grover Watkins, Bertazzon, Preston & Barbieri, Vekoma, and Sanoyas Hishino Meisho.[2][3][4][5][6][7]

In the late s, Austrian manufacturer Funtime developed the world's first tower swinger, known as the Star Flyer.[8] Mondial followed with their WindSeeker, resulting in a lawsuit between the two companies.[9][10] Zamperla also sells a Vertical Swing.[11]

Locations

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Europe

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The Prater Turm located in the Wurstelprater in Vienna opened in at a height of 117 metres (384 ft).

The Star Flyer, located in Tivoli Gardens, Copenhagen, affords sweeping views of the city's historical centre. The Swing Carousel also located in Tivoli Gardens Copenhagen.

Les Chaises Volantes in Walibi Sud-Ouest is a Zierer model from which was relocated to the park in .

In Germany, swing rides are often found on fairs, Volksfests like the Oktoberfest and traveling funfairs. But swing rides are also common in amusement parks. Most of the German swing rides are from Zierer.

Some of these include:

In Italy, most swing rides travel with fairs. The ride is called "Seggiolini volanti" ("Flying chairs") or "calcinculo", which literally means "kick in the bottom". Two people sit in contiguous seats, and the one sitting behind kicks or pushes their partner higher in the air, in order to reach a "tail" suspended beyond normal reach at a point in the ride's rotation. Any individual who manages to grab the tail wins a free ride.[12]

Attractiepark Slagharen located the same Chair-O-Plane as Loundoun Castle.

Some Swing rides in the Netherlands:

Sverrehusken a Wellenflieger at TusenFryd (Norway) in

The second-largest amusement park within the Nordic countries is Tusenfryd (lit. &#;daisies&#;), located 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) outside the capital city Oslo, Norway. Tusenfryd features a Wellenflieger called Sverrehusken (&#;swear the chairs&#;) that has been in-operation since . Sverrehusken was the first ride of its kind in the Nordic countries.

At Kongeparken (lit. &#;the royal park&#;), located 10 km outside the third-largest city in Norway, Stavanger, is a Wellenflieger named Spinnvidle (&#;spin-wheel&#;) that has been in-operation since . Spinnvidle is the first of its kind in Norway with double seats.

The Swedish name for Swing ride is Slänggunga or Kättingflygare. At Gröna Lund, Stockholm, a swing ride with the name "Eclipse" can be found. With its 121.9 metres (400 ft), it shares the "world's second tallest" title with SkyScreamer in Texas, North America.[13][14]

The biggest amusement park in the Nordic countries is Liseberg, in Sweden's second largest city Gothenburg. Liseberg is the home of a Swing ride named "Slänggungan".

Monkey Swinger with water fountains at Chessington World of Adventures

Loudoun Castle Theme Park in Scotland claimed that its moon-shaped ride, "The Plough", was the largest Chair-O-Plane in the world. The Plough was originally called Apollo 14 and was owned by the Bembom family, operating in their Ponypark Slagharen in the Netherlands during the late seventies. It had gondolas travelling around the outside of the ride. When moved to Dreamland in England (then called "Bembom Brothers"), it was reconstructed into a Chair-O-Plane and named Heatwave. Leaving Dreamland, it opened in Lightwater Valley in where it operated until when Henk Bembom moved Heatwave to his new park, Loudoun Castle, where it was renamed "The Plough" and painted green. The park has been closed since .

Until , there was a Chair-O-Plane ride at Alton Towers in Staffordshire. Called Twirling Toadstool it was set in a fantasy themed area of the park called Cloud Cukoo Land, it was themed as a giant mushroom. This was formerly themed as a prehistoric dinosaur-type ride and located in an area called Ug Land.

You can also find a Chair-O-Plane at Carters Steam Fair which is one of the largest vintage travelling funfairs including some steam driven rides. Their ride's past is a little patchy but is thought to have been built in Germany in the s and imported to Britain with a blank canvas. It's generally the case that British roundabouts run clockwise, whereas their Continental and American counterparts run anti-clockwise. The Chair-o-Plane certainly runs the right direction to be a British-built ride, but it may have been adapted by an early owner.

Adventure Island has a Chair-O-Plane called Archelon, which was themed to the extinct species of turtle of the same name.

Chessington World of Adventures is home to a monkey-themed Chair-O-Planes, named the "Monkey Swinger", that squirts water at riders. This formerly had a theme based on Billy Whizz of The Beano.

Paultons Park is also home to a Chair-O-Planes called "The Sky Swinger". This ride opened in and is a Zierer model.

Butlins is home to three Chair-O-Planes, one at each site, located at Butlins Minehead, Butlins Bognor Regis, and Butlins Skegness. Butlins Minehead is home to a Zierer Wave Swinger, and the other two resorts manufacturers are unknown.

North America

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Wave Swinger ride at Playland, Vancouver, BC, Canada.

Most of the traditional-style swing carousel rides in North America are found in amusement parks, as well as at many seasonal fairs and carnivals. They are usually made by Zierer (which calls the ride &#;Wave Swinger&#;),[15] although some are made by Bertazzon (which calls the ride &#;Swing Carousel&#;)[16] or Zamperla (which calls it &#;Flying Carousel&#; or &#;Lollyswings&#;).[17]

In recent years, many American amusement parks have opened towering (and considerably more thrilling) models, such as the WindSeeker[18] (by Mondial) or the Sky Screamer (by SNS). These high-thrill swing rides are normally a minimum of 100 feet (30.48 m) tall, with several even surpassing 200&#; (60.96 m). The Texas and New England Six Flags parks have Sky Screamers measuring 400&#; (121.92 m).

North American swing rides include:

For more information, please visit Pirate Ship Ride For Sale.

South America

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• Trukis Di Pinguim &#; Hopi Hari (Vinhedo, São Paulo, Brazil)
• Vertical Swing &#; Mundo Aventura Bogota, Colombia
• Fly Over &#; Fantasilandia, Santiago, Chile
• Sillas Voladoras &#; Salitre Mágico Bogota, Colombia

Asia and Oceania

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Australia

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• The Wave Swinger - OCS Fun Sydney Royal Easter Show

New Zealand

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• Chair-o-Plane &#; Mahons Amusements (Carnival Ride Operator)

Malaysia

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• Spinner &#; Genting Highlands (Genting Highlands Theme Park)

Spinner had dismantled when the Genting Outdoor Theme Park closed since 1 September to make way for the world's first 20th Century Fox World, which was completed by .

Africa

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South Africa

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• Wave Swing &#; Gold Reef City

Popular culture

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The Metalocalypse episode "Motherklok" features a Wave Slinger.

A Chair-O-Planes is featured on the cover of Dave Matthews Band's album Under the Table and Dreaming. The liner note credit lists the site of this photo as Sandusky, Ohio, which is the location of Cedar Point.

In John Updike's short story "You'll Never Know Dear How Much I Love You" he mentions a WhirloGig.

At the end of the Lilo & Stitch: The Series episode "Short Stuff", Experiment 297, a crab-like alien who was accidentally enlarged by his creator Jumba Jookiba's growth ray and given the name "Shortstuff", has the ability to swivel his body from the waist up. He was allowed to stay at his enlarged size by being employed as a living swing ride for a carnival as his "one true place".[21]

The film Swing Ride (Italian title: 'Calcinculo'), directed by Chiara Bellosi, is a coming of age story set in the world of travelling fairs. It recounts the friendship between a young girl seeking to escape her family and a transgirl from a family of show people. Its title is a play on the Italian name for Swing-Rides (Calcinculo "kick up the arse"), and refers both to the ride and to the blows and setbacks that girls receive during adolescence.[22]

References

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• Swing rides at Wikimedia Commons

Swing Rides

Pirate Ship Swing Ride (photo by Ziko van Dijk, via wikimedia commons)

Ship swing rides are often found in amusement parks and at carnivals and fairs. They can serve to illustrate several important principles from physics including torque and rotation, periodic motion and the physical pendulum, and applications to work and energy. This simulation was originally inspired by the Pirate Ride at Hershey Park. The "ship" part of the ride has a center of mass that lies 14 m from the pivot point (approximately the center of the boat). The ship swings freely from the pivot, and is driven by a roller built into the floor directly below the ship. The operator selects either the clockwise torque button, the neutral button or the counter clockwise torque button to change the motion of the ship. Because the drive can only push the ship when it is in contact, the drive is only available when the ship is within 30º of its lowest postion. The box surrounding the drive buttons turns black when the ship coes not contact the drive roller,or white when the drive is available. Depending upon which drive button is selected, the drive mechanism applies a constant torque on the ship unless the ship moves out of contact with the drive roller. Thus the drive can be used to speed up or slow down the ride.

Ship being driven by a clockwise torque, whose button is green indicating the torque is being applied.

In addition to the drive controls, there is a play/pause button, a reset button and a check buttons to display the force of gravity and the reaction force of the seat on the rider for three positions (far left, middle and far right) and plot the g-forces (apparant weight of the riders compared to their normal weight) as a function of time.Hershey Park ride does not go much beyond 90º, although some versions of this ride do go all the way around. Try driving the ride through a complete sequence from start to finish (don't forget the ride must be brought to rest so that your riders can safely disembark.

Consider

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• On some rides, which seat you get can affect your ride. Is there any variation in the g-gorces experienced by our three riders? Is this difference significant? Are there other aspects of this ride which vary based upon your seat selection?
• When swinging freely, when does the ship have the greatest speed? When does it have the least speed?
• When the ship is swinging freely, when do the riders have the greatest centripetal acceleration due to their circular motion? When would they be likely to experience the greatest g-forces?
• Restart the ride and have it do small swings. Determine the period of oscillations ; it may be helpful to examine the g-force graph and determine the time between cycles of maximum g-force (clicking on the graph displays the "time location" of the cursor). Does this result agree with the theoretical value for the simple pendulum?
• How does the size of the swings (i.e. the amplitude) affect the period of the swings? Try going from small sqings to swings that nearly carry the ship all the way arround.
• Try to estimate the torque produced by the drive by using the Work energy theroem. The work done by a constant torque is W=τΔθ. Note the angular width of the entire ship is about 60º which is about 1 radian. The ship's mass in the simulation is kg. Hint: try figuring out how many "pushes" it takes to get the ship to swing up 90º so that its height from its lowest position is 14 m.