– (Disclosure/Reproduction/Wikimedia Commons)
It was even in Russia, as the name says. The fun would have started in the 15th century, on real mountains that formed gigantic slopes covered with snow. People climbed to the top to slide down the slope sitting on blocks of ice covered with straw. The brake system was rudimentary: in the last meters, sand was thrown on the track to reduce the speed of the “carts”.
It didn’t take long for the blocks of ice to be replaced by sleds, which reached higher speeds. In 1784, in St. Petersburg, still in Russia under the Tsars, the first specific train for this purpose was built. In 1827, it was the turn of the United States to open its first roller coaster, adapting the rails of a coal mine for a ride that lasted more than two hours. The brake system was manual and could be activated by the passengers. From then on, the 19th century experienced roller coaster fever, with various adaptations.
Instead of radical descents, the little trains walked through tunnels with specially assembled scenery – universal attractions in amusement parks, such as the tunnel of love and the ghost train, were born. In 1846, the French inaugurated the looping (a section in which the tracks make a complete circle, leaving passengers upside down). But the roller coaster as we know it today only appeared in 1884, in the United States. It was also in that country, in 1959, that the model in steel tubes appeared, a material that allowed increasingly frightening mountains. There are carts that exceed 160 km/h and some falls over 100 meters.
dizzying story
Origin of the roller coaster has more than five centuries
15TH CENTURY – ICE COURSE The fun of descending snowy slopes using blocks of ice as “sleds” originates in Russia. Shortly after, wooden ramps appear, also covered with snow, to imitate the mountains. Some of these slides reach 20 m in height
1784 – WHEELS AND RAILS The first roller coaster with a wheeled cart appears, also in Russia. In 1827, the Americans gain their first version, the Mauch Chunk Railroad, adapting a deactivated coal mine. The tour could last more than two hours.
1846 – UPSIDE DOWN The French make the first roller coaster with looping. Before being opened to the public, the Chemin de Centrifuge (centrifugal path), as it was called, has its safety tested transporting sandbags and even monkeys
1884 – MODERN STYLE The first roller coaster of the current format, the Gravity Pleasure Switchback Railway, opens at an amusement park on Coney Island, near New York. But the cart hardly exceeds 10 km/h
1885 – INNOVATIVE DEPARTURE Mechanical thrust is invented: carts no longer need to be pushed to the highest point. At the turn of the century, wagons that reach 60 km/h appear. In 1927, the Cyclone is inaugurated, in Coney Island, with a 30 meter dive
1959 – MOUNTAINS OF STEEL The Matterhorn, the first roller coaster with a tubular steel structure, appears in Disneyland. In 1974, it was the turn of the first screw-shaped route and, in 1992, the first inverted mountain: the track was above the carts.