Kurze "Presseschau" zur Geschichte des Loopings:
As early as 1895, designers were experimenting with loops. The Flip-Flap rolled a two-passenger car through a 25-foot-diameter circular loop, but closed in 1903 because of the neck and back injuries it inflicted on its passengers.
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The early 1900's saw tremendous innovation in roller coaster design with Coney Island in Brooklyn still at the forefront of innovation. Loop-the-Loop, built at Coney Island in 1901, incorporated a much smoother elliptical loop. <1>
Ein Bild von Loop-the-Loop: <2>
http://naid.sppsr.ucla.edu/coneyisland/mapsdocs/images/con-loop.jpgThis looping roller coaster, located at Surf Avenue and W. 10th Street, was the first to use an elipitical loop which was less stressful on passenger's necks. Unfortunately it had a low ride capacity and most people perferred to pay to watch rather than ride. <2>
Dazu auch:
Inverting coasters all have wheels underneath the track, and most have over-the-shoulder restraints, but theoretically, these should not be necessary. In fact, an early inverting coaster, the Loop-the-Loop at Coney Island had neither of these thing's, apparently without mishap. However, wheels under the track are still prudent, because should the train somehow lose speed at the top of the loop, physics would no longer guarantee that it stays on the track. Even in this case, lapbars should be sufficient to hold a passenger in; shoulder harnesses were apparently designed to give a psychological sense of safety. <3>
Und zu Stengels Rolle:
It wasn't until the 1970's when Anton Schwarzkopf, working with Werner Stengel, that the Clothoid loop (pronounced 'clockoid') was fully developed. What they did is decrease the radius of the loop at the top, where the train would be going slow, and then increase it's radius as the track came down the other side. In this way the curve at the bottom isn't sharp enough to hurt people yet at the top the radius is tight enough to keep riders pressed into their seats at all times. The first successful vertical loop opened at Six Flags Magic Mountain in 1976 on a coaster appropriately named Revolution. Now, one year before, in 1975, Arrow opened the Corkscrew at Knott's Berry Farm, but this element was a helix placed on it's side, called a Corkscrew, and inverted riders twice. <4>
Quellen:
<1>
http://www.me.utexas.edu/~uer/roller/history.html<2>
http://naid.sppsr.ucla.edu/coneyisland/mapsdocs/con06-map9.htm<3>
http://www.thrillride.com/SpecialFeatures/education/generalphysics/gp9.php<4>
http://www.mansfieldct.org/schools/mms/staff/hand/lawsclothoidloops.htmHoffe, das hilft weiter. :-)
Jens
