Orbiter (ride)

At night time, an Orbiter in full motion is a bewildering blur of lights.

In daylight, it is a little easier to see how the cars are arranged.

The Orbiter is a fairground ride invented by Richard Woolls in 1976, with showman Henry Frederick Smith investing in the blueprints and consequently being the first owner, taking delivery in 1976 of the OB-1, making its debut at Dreamland Amusement Park in Margate, Kent.^[1]

Description

It has a number of articulated arms radiating from a central rotating vertical axis. Each arm supports a cluster of cars, which are lifted through 90° into the horizontal position once the ride is spinning. At the same time, each cluster of cars rotates around its arm's axis.

The Orbiter/Typhoon/Predator arms don't always tilt at the same height (90%). Some might tilt all the way while others don't tilt a lot. Most Orbiters consist of six arms, and have three cars for each arm with up to two people sitting in each car. There is a metal lap bar that comes down on the car for the restraint.

Production

The Orbiter is made by Tivoli manufacturing, a British company. In the U.S. their representative is Amtech.

References

1. "25 Years of Orbiting". Fairground Mercury. Retrieved 5 February 2014.

External links

• National Fairground Archive history of the Orbiter
• Remix Accident