Bisby's Spiral Airship built in 1910 had cars that were suspended underneath a track and could swing freely. The cars travelled up an inclined track, and then descended along a spiral track around a steel frame tower before returning to the station. This is commonly acknowledged as the first suspended roller coaster type ride.
http://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showpost.php?p=5102941&postcount=2308
What a cool ride. I did want to share that the 1902 date is an oft-repeated error though - I'm trying to help clean it up across the internet :)
ReplyDeleteThe ride actually opened in 1910. Here's a few sources backing that up:
-March 9, 1910 article on ride's construction starting: https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-long-beach-telegram-and-the-long-bea/200116147/
-June 8, 1910 article on the ride's first test: https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-long-beach-telegram-and-the-long-bea/136170040/
-June 20, 1910 article from after the ride opened: https://www.newspapers.com/article/press-telegram/117138682/
-Patent from 1909: https://patents.google.com/patent/US955217A
thank you! I'll edit that, and change it to 1910
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