Q: What do Eskimos get from sitting on a block of ice?
A. Polaroids.
Roller coasterIn 1885, the first U.S. patent for a roller coasting structure was issued to La Marcus Thompson of Coney Island, NY. (No. 332,762). Coney Island, at the terminus of New York City's extensive trolley line, was already a popular amusement park in 1884, when Thompson opened a new attraction - the Gravity Pleasure Switchback Railway. For a five-cent ticket, passengers sat sideways in cars that by gravity descended the gentle waves of the 600-foot wooden mini-railway, reaching a top speed of six miles per hour. The enormously popular ride earned back Thompson's original $1,600 investment within three weeks. Within four years, he had built about 50 more across the nation and in Europe. On 22 Dec 1885, he patented the gravity switch-back railway. |
