The Zipper!
Brooke came into town this weekend because she was my +1 for my friends wedding. She came up on Friday afternoon, and on Friday night we stumbled across some really rinky dink carnival. We decided to go and ride some fairly unsafe looking rides.
The last ride we rode was called "The Zipper." It doesn't sound bad, but it's ridiculous. Here's a picture I found:
So, basically they close you into this little compartment, then off you go into nausea-inducing skies. Here's a description of how it's supposed to work:
It has a long oblong frame (the boom) that rotates like a Ferris wheel, with free-flipping cars suspended on off-center axes that move around the sides of the boom via pulley system. Each passenger capsule is essentially a bench seat that snugly fits two people, built into a compartment of metal mesh contoured to protect the riders' entire bodies. The odd, apostrophe-shaped capsules, spaced evenly along the perimeter of the boom look very much like the rows of interlocking teeth on a zipper, for which the ride was named.
The passenger capsules travel around the perimeter of the boom at 4 rpm, not particularly fast, but the "flip" around the end of the oblong frame causes a sudden burst of speed and sends the compartments flipping end over end. The boom itself rotates at 7 rpm in the same direction as the pulley system. This combined but offset rotation provides each capsule with a unique and unpredictable experience. Zippers are capable of rotating both clockwise and counter-clockwise, and most are run with several rotations in each direction constituting "one ride".
Which is all well and good, except that 1 - we were the only people on it so they gave us an extra long ride, and 2 - it was a shitty old carnival and the ride wasn't exactly well maintained. I almost knocked a couple of teeth out, I'm pretty sure I got whiplash, and although I'm no doctor, probably got a mild concussion as well. Fun!
At least I this didn't happen:
On September 7, 1977, the Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a public warning, urging carnival-goers not to ride the Zipper after four deaths occurred due to compartment doors opening mid-ride. The safety restraints being attached to the door itself, riders are left unrestrained whenever the door is open. The 1977 victims all died after falling from their compartments. The failure was traced to original spring-close latches on the doors wearing out and not being replaced. Compartments on currently operating Zippers are secured using the original latch, a redundant latch approved by the CPSC, and a large R-Key pin as a third backup.
Despite these new safety features, the same scenario was repeated in July 2006 in Hinckley, Minnesota when two teenage girls were ejected from the their compartment as the door swung open. Their door was apparently not properly closed by the operator who admitted to local law enforcement that he had not inserted the safety pin (R-Key) before starting the ride. Both of the victims, Erica Matrious and Breanna Larsen, survived the incident despite facing some serious injuries.
And now, back to my seminar paper.
The last ride we rode was called "The Zipper." It doesn't sound bad, but it's ridiculous. Here's a picture I found:
So, basically they close you into this little compartment, then off you go into nausea-inducing skies. Here's a description of how it's supposed to work:
It has a long oblong frame (the boom) that rotates like a Ferris wheel, with free-flipping cars suspended on off-center axes that move around the sides of the boom via pulley system. Each passenger capsule is essentially a bench seat that snugly fits two people, built into a compartment of metal mesh contoured to protect the riders' entire bodies. The odd, apostrophe-shaped capsules, spaced evenly along the perimeter of the boom look very much like the rows of interlocking teeth on a zipper, for which the ride was named.
The passenger capsules travel around the perimeter of the boom at 4 rpm, not particularly fast, but the "flip" around the end of the oblong frame causes a sudden burst of speed and sends the compartments flipping end over end. The boom itself rotates at 7 rpm in the same direction as the pulley system. This combined but offset rotation provides each capsule with a unique and unpredictable experience. Zippers are capable of rotating both clockwise and counter-clockwise, and most are run with several rotations in each direction constituting "one ride".
Which is all well and good, except that 1 - we were the only people on it so they gave us an extra long ride, and 2 - it was a shitty old carnival and the ride wasn't exactly well maintained. I almost knocked a couple of teeth out, I'm pretty sure I got whiplash, and although I'm no doctor, probably got a mild concussion as well. Fun!
At least I this didn't happen:
On September 7, 1977, the Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a public warning, urging carnival-goers not to ride the Zipper after four deaths occurred due to compartment doors opening mid-ride. The safety restraints being attached to the door itself, riders are left unrestrained whenever the door is open. The 1977 victims all died after falling from their compartments. The failure was traced to original spring-close latches on the doors wearing out and not being replaced. Compartments on currently operating Zippers are secured using the original latch, a redundant latch approved by the CPSC, and a large R-Key pin as a third backup.
Despite these new safety features, the same scenario was repeated in July 2006 in Hinckley, Minnesota when two teenage girls were ejected from the their compartment as the door swung open. Their door was apparently not properly closed by the operator who admitted to local law enforcement that he had not inserted the safety pin (R-Key) before starting the ride. Both of the victims, Erica Matrious and Breanna Larsen, survived the incident despite facing some serious injuries.
And now, back to my seminar paper.