Unpopular opinion: towers that shoots you up at high speed are much better than simple drop towers, expecially if the fast climb is immediately followed by a free fall. That way you basically experience two rides in one with also the brief but intense moment of absence of weight when you reach the top. BTW, amazing video as always! With your consistent and great production quality there shouldn't even be the need to say it anymore
I'm a big fan of the fear and intimidation factor. I want to reconsider all the choices in my life that lead me to getting on that godforsaken ride before it drops me.
Is the pneumatic tower really a better and safer design? I'm not not an expert by any means, but a ride that relies on pistons and cables literally running through compressed air containers, and you just have to hope the seal holds, just *feels* worse than a magnet which has no moving parts and just works, even if you need the extra hydraulics at the end to soften the fall.
I'd also be interested in more details about this. And maybe analogous situations to explain the forces / pressure that is involved. How strong are those cylinders? What do those seals look like? ... I'm impressed you can have such a long pressurized cylinder in this mode of operation (repeated changes of pressure, outdoors, very long, cables/seals which probably have a lot of friction, ..).
It doesn’t seem safer. On a side note I remember an instance of a cable snapping on one of these and getting caught on a rider and severing their feet. I’m guessing this setup requires extra maintenance to make sure the cable traveling through the seal doesn’t wear and if that maintenance isn’t performed, the ride becomes less safe.
keco185 What you’re talking about actually happened on one of the magnetic breaking Intamin models, Superman Tower of Power at Kentucky Kingdom. The lift cable was worn down and not properly maintained and snapped mid-lift, wrapping itself around her foot. The ride operator failed to notice this and stop the ride, allowing the “drop” to take place. The force of the free fall pulling on the snapped cable wrapped around her leg was what severed it, not the cable breaking itself
@@keco185 actually that accident happened on an electromagnetic brake tower from Intamin in Kentucky kingdom. The cables were from the catch car that lifts the vehicle, not from the dropping mechanism. It wasn't properly maintained.
I don't find either frightening, the only ride that really got me was the water slide with free fall at the top. When the floor dropped out there was definitely a moment.
I remember seeing a drop tower in Celebration Center, Utah that instead of using brakes, had a tube that when the cabin dropped through, the air in it would be compressed, slowing it down
Yup! One of the most unique drop towers ever made. Sadly it doesn't operate anymore.
4 года назад+2
So it didn't use the "breaks"? Did the drop tower get paid for not using the "breaks"? Aren't "breaks" mandatory? Were the "breaks" considered overtime? Did it hopefully have mechanical "brakes" like the ones described here? Sheesh.
@ No, no, yes, no, no. The was basically like a cannon with a drop tower gondola going into it. The ride vehicle fit perfectly into the "cannon", so the compression of the air would make braking force.
@@cssSUL And THAT is what keeps me off of rides that go upside down or too high.... Im mechanically inclined, I didnt build it, Im not maintaining it, I have no idea who is.....No thank you. Still love puke rides (carnival rides, like scrambler, octopus, the UFO, zipper, etc), and wooden coasters. but yeah...all it takes is for someone to get in the habit of not checking a pin, or they do check the pin but that pin has a flaw in the metal....NOPEITY NOPE NOPE!!!
I was the same way with airliners and their wings....until I saw a video of how they test them. They literally strap the plane down, put a winch on the wing tip, and bend it till it breaks. Go check one of those videos out, I guarantee the wing tip goes far higher than you thought it would...
Not really... This braking system is quite expensive, worth the investment if its intentionally being used every 30 seconds over and over again, but in an elevator where it will never be used unless there is a catastrophic failure its just not worth it, also elevators are already really safe as they are Another issue is that these brakes are so safe BECAUSE they are permanent, they can't ever be switched off, this is great for safety, but remember we do have to lift the dropcar up there in the first place, this means you will always have a braking force applied to the dropcar as it is pulled up, but remember, the faster the dropcar the greater the breaking force. basically the drop car starts off being lifted very slowly to minimise the braking force but speeds up once it clears the brakes if you built an elevator with this system it would be REALLY slow and inefficient and a lot more expensive without any actual benefit because they're already really safe and accidents are extremely rare.
Yes, it did age well. The Orlando FreeFall WAS designed with guest safety in mind. It was never an unsafe ride and it still isn’t. His seat had been altered to allow a greater clearance in the harness. Not the ride’s fault. Entirely human error.
@@chaumas I don't personally consider waterparks to be amusement parks. Amusement parks focus on mechanical dry rides, and while Action Park did have an S&S drop tower, it resembled a family entertainment center and water park way more than it did an amusement park.
@@triple7marc I guess you're free to personally define words however you want, but that's not the way other people use them. Waterparks are generally understood to be a subset of amusement parks, and Action Park had a number of land based attractions.
The best pneumatic free-fall I have ever done is probably Mystery castle at Phantasialand. There is a very impressive thematisation and a whole story told with 3 different fall-patterns that are randomly displayed during the day and it is completely in the dark. Very thrilling experience if you like free-fall rides
Hands down my fav was the original Universal Studios Tower of Terror (when it was first released). It went up and down rougly 10 times and had 12 different patterns. You are fully enclosed only to see how high you really are when the elevator door opens to reveal the outside world. They changed how it operates now, so it's no longer as varbible.
I live in Gothenburg in Sweden where we have a 90 meter intamin droptower and I just love regretting my life choices when taking the long journey up and then screaming at the top of my lungs when it falls. The ride is called AtmosFear if you want to see a POV :)
The Parachute Jump! Nicknamed the Eiffel Tower of Brooklyn. That was the tallest structure at the 1939 World’s Fair. Moved to Coney Island in 1941. It was abandoned for a while after it closed, several people even tried climbing it. Luckily there’s been a restoration and it was renovated with LED lights
Love drop towers. They are intense but loads of fun. PS. With my perfect pitch, I've determined that the highest pitch produced by the magnetic fields and eddy currents when the gondola travels through the magnetic brakes is a G#3 on early intamin drop towers (the 4-gondola version). This pitch correlates with the speed of the car. It sounds like a synthesized descending glissando.
These are so interesting because these videos explain how things work. Things that most people don't usually think about. And in a way that's easy to understand. I love the videos!
Another spectacular video, the struggle to fight through After Effects definitely paid off! Drop Towers will forever be the most terrifying rides for me, no matter how many of them I go on!
Went to a park today with an S&S drop tower and while waiting in line we were trying to deduce how it works. We were really close. Amazingly simple system that works very well.
I have some footage showing close ups of all the equipment on the double shot (SCBB). also I think the shot thanks you referred to are not exactly called shot tanks. Aren't the shot tanks the smaller side tanks used? Also, what about the relief valves, gates, etc? Those might have been fun to learn about too.
Does the air get also shoved down back into your lungs when you were trying to scream or breath when falling? I found this to be so uncomfortable, I do not want to ride a free fall Tower again. Do you have a technique to deal with that?
It’s brilliant to finally see an explanation of my favourite amusement rides. You can keep your rollercoasters. Just give me an intamin gen 2 and I’m good
When I was a kid I would go to my country's only proper Amusement/Theme Park, Oakwood. There's a ride there called 'Bounce'. It's a drop tower ride that uses pneumatics. But as you can probably deduce from it's name, it had a car that went all around the main tower, however was square-shaped. The ride would start by shooting you high into the sky, and I always remember the violent hissing and screeching of the ride that just added to the terror and anticipation. Then it would fall after reaching two thirds up, then come down and bounce a few times. Then it would fully lift you up slowly, and hold you for a few seconds and the ride operators would always fake a countdown and drop you without knowing. You would then plummet and bounce up and down a few times before coming to a gentle landing. That ride was probably the most (or joint-second) fun ride in the entire park! But as you can imagine, with H&S getting stricter and stricter as the years went on, it ended up transitioning to just a regular old drop tower, as it did tend to jar you and hurt your back a little. That park is dead now. They try to revitalise it and keep it going, but it's so run down and boring, it's just not worth the insanely expensive £30 entry. Plus there's like literally only one place to get a takeaway burger from and it's super expensive.
One of the first times I ever did a ride of this type was the Big Shot (who knows what it's called today) on top the the Stratosphere in Las Vegas. The one where the base of the tower is some 1000' above the ground! Midway through the ride, I looked down at the observation deck below me and all I could see were faces staring up, wondering what all the noise was about. It was me. But the best one I've done is in Silverwood in Idaho. Not the tallest by any means, but I've never been on another one that lets you drop as close to the ground before putting on the brakes.
Ya here in Alaska we have one carnival company called Golden wheel amusements that does all of the fairs. I did my first drop ride with my five-year-old daughter. They wanted to put us in seats that were not next to each other because one of the freaking seatbelts was broken. Let me assure you safety is not a concern for every company
I got to ride my first drop Tower ride and it was awesome it was a traveling fair ground version of the ride it's always great to be educated on flat rides
I would have liked to know what sort of drop tower construction each of the more commonly known drop towers is - the only one I think I've got figured out is Dr. Doom - you can hear the compression and air exhaust, it must be pneumatic.
Back in the 1990s, I happened to be at Marriot's Great America in Santa Clara, CA....when there was a widespread power outage from Canada to Mexico. I wasn't on any rides at the time, but spent a couple of hours walking around, waiting for the park to come back online. I remember seeing riders still locked into their seats.....but it was at the very bottom of the tower. They just couldn't get the harnesses to raise, so that people could get out of the seats.
That means that the restraints are locked in the event of a power failure, which is a safety feature. If the carriage was on the top of the tower, you wouldn’t want the restraints to open if the power goes out.
My 8 year old son tackled the Drop Tower alone. Gutsy little twerp was the only one willing to take the dare. I wish I was there with him. Gutsy little twerp! I'm so proud of him!
i love the drop tower. i can't really do roller coasters because i get really sick to my stomach from all the janky movements. the tower is perfect tho, it provides a thrill which does not make me sick to my stomach. i ride every one i see here in germany.
The Supreme Scream drop tower at Knott's Berry Farm is definetly an air system. You can hear the pressurized air being released from the street once the passenger car reaches the top. Nice video.
I got stuck on the one at California’s Great America. It was probably just a fault in one of the sensors that caused the carriage to stop on its way up. Nothing to worry about. Remember, even if it started dropping halfway up the tower, it would still brake and come to a safe stop at the bottom.
I have ridden three drop towers; all of them being pneumatic types. These towers shoot passengers to the top. In anticipation of this, I usually say “And…we’re…LAUNCHING!” when the ride cycle begins.
I want to know more about the cable seals on the pneumatic tower. How can a moving cable pass through this air tight tank at suck high pressures without air leaks?
There is actually always air leaking through the cable seals. It used high density rubber tight on the cable and grease to help it pass through the seal. Since there is always a small amount of air leaking, the gondola will always slowly return to the ground in the event of a power failure, making it virtually impossible to get stuck on one of these rides
I honestly hate Drop towers, I'm not scared I just disgust that feeling of being slammed down. But there is difference between towers, I absolutely love the towers where you get launched from the bottom with air. It's so different, you truly feel the freedom of freefall at the highest point instead of just getting some G's smacked on your head.
Of course I've been on the world's tallest Intamin giant drop ZUMANJARO drop of doom in New Jersey. The other tower, Superman Tower of power in Kentucky had a mishap in June 21 2007 when the last trip upwards, one of the cables snapped, due to failed inspection, that caused a guest to be maimed, losing both feet during the free fall. The guest's right foot reattached but the left was amputated. Kentucky Department of agriculture investigated the incident.
Good question! The cable passes through a gland seal, which contains a small ring made out of a polymer/elastomer material. The seal is flexible enough to allow the cable to move in and out, while still maintaining pressure inside the cylinder.
For me it's not so much the drop I'm scared of (I've ridden Tower of Terror and loved it!), it's being that high up in the air. In a dark ride you don't know how high up you are, and only feel the sensation of falling without seeing it.
As an engineer I think this video is excellent as always. However your description of S&S towers isn't quite correct. The large cylinder in the middle is the main air receiver and this can take up to 10 minutes to pressurise to 120psi depending on the size of the compressor. This tank is divided into 3 seperate sections which are isolated from each other. The middle section is supplied by the compressor and is maintained between 100 and 120psi. The upper section is the shot tank, this is filled by the middle section after the car is weighed and is then re-isolated from the system. When the ride is in the launch position and the shot tank is at the calculated pressure which is usually between 70 and 85psi, the shot tank is opened up to the 4 cylinders using an enormous electro-pneumatic gate valve. After completing the space shot, the car is raised to the top of the tower and held by the brakes. The bottom section of the centre tank, called the turbo tank, is filled to about 30psi. There is no gate valve at the bottom however, so the pressure in the turbo tank is applied to the bottom of the pistons at the same time as the tank is filled. The brakes release allowing the pistons to shove the car back down. An interesting safety feature of the S&S towers is that the restraints can't be opened if there is more than about 12psi still in the shot tank when the car is back on the ground. So if you have just had a ride on one and there is a delay of more than a minute or so in letting you off, this is likely the reason why.
That's cool. The one at the park I work at operates a little differently, sounds like it's probably an older model. I'm sure the letdown valves are still the 4-20ma positioning valves though on the tower you work on?
Rode the tower at the top of the stratosphere in Vegas a couple years ago, I would have enjoyed it a whole lot more if I understood how it worked at the time.
@@hardcoreuproar2322 Most people who know me think I'm crazy for riding coasters, but even I won't risk my life by going anywhere near Florida any time soon!
Thanks for _dropping_ in!
🗿
Art of Engineering please no
Happy Father's Day to that Dad Joke.
*facepalm*
thanks for shoving 2 minutes of ads and reminders to subscribe and pay you on patreon
i wont be doing that :)
another toxic channel
The drop tower: The ride where you get exited for in line, freak out once you get to the top, and then want to go on again when the ride is over.
Felt that
exactly
So true
Unpopular opinion: towers that shoots you up at high speed are much better than simple drop towers, expecially if the fast climb is immediately followed by a free fall.
That way you basically experience two rides in one with also the brief but intense moment of absence of weight when you reach the top.
BTW, amazing video as always! With your consistent and great production quality there shouldn't even be the need to say it anymore
hell yeah, i love the pneumatic ride better, shoot up, experience weightlessness for a second or two, then drop!
I'm a big fan of the fear and intimidation factor. I want to reconsider all the choices in my life that lead me to getting on that godforsaken ride before it drops me.
I really love 🍎
Is that unpopular? lol
余宗翰 yeah this seems like a really popular opinion. “I like my rides to be more thrilling!”
I was really excited when I saw the aerial views of Canada's Wonderland at the start!
Agreed.
me too! what a feeling seeing some familiar views
Me too! I live about an hour away and I visit frequently
Would make sense, Art of Engineering is Canadian!!
Same here. I once worked at Canada’s wonderland. Drop Zone was my first year ride group:)
Is the pneumatic tower really a better and safer design? I'm not not an expert by any means, but a ride that relies on pistons and cables literally running through compressed air containers, and you just have to hope the seal holds, just *feels* worse than a magnet which has no moving parts and just works, even if you need the extra hydraulics at the end to soften the fall.
I'd also be interested in more details about this. And maybe analogous situations to explain the forces / pressure that is involved. How strong are those cylinders? What do those seals look like? ...
I'm impressed you can have such a long pressurized cylinder in this mode of operation (repeated changes of pressure, outdoors, very long, cables/seals which probably have a lot of friction, ..).
It doesn’t seem safer. On a side note I remember an instance of a cable snapping on one of these and getting caught on a rider and severing their feet. I’m guessing this setup requires extra maintenance to make sure the cable traveling through the seal doesn’t wear and if that maintenance isn’t performed, the ride becomes less safe.
keco185 What you’re talking about actually happened on one of the magnetic breaking Intamin models, Superman Tower of Power at Kentucky Kingdom. The lift cable was worn down and not properly maintained and snapped mid-lift, wrapping itself around her foot. The ride operator failed to notice this and stop the ride, allowing the “drop” to take place. The force of the free fall pulling on the snapped cable wrapped around her leg was what severed it, not the cable breaking itself
@@keco185 actually that accident happened on an electromagnetic brake tower from Intamin in Kentucky kingdom. The cables were from the catch car that lifts the vehicle, not from the dropping mechanism. It wasn't properly maintained.
It probably has other safety features for the case of emergencies, just like regular elevators.
I love roller coasters but I find drop towers much more frightening.
Me too! I can't ride drop towers but I could ride roller coasters for days.
I don't find either frightening, the only ride that really got me was the water slide with free fall at the top. When the floor dropped out there was definitely a moment.
I rode one too many drop towers and now I’m afraid of elevators
Right? any coaster any day, but a 100 ft tower is a hard pass
Same. This is why I have never been on one lmao. They're frightening. I'll stick to roller coasters
I remember seeing a drop tower in Celebration Center, Utah that instead of using brakes, had a tube that when the cabin dropped through, the air in it would be compressed, slowing it down
Oh yeah that's a sonic boom made by S&S
Yup! One of the most unique drop towers ever made. Sadly it doesn't operate anymore.
So it didn't use the "breaks"? Did the drop tower get paid for not using the "breaks"? Aren't "breaks" mandatory? Were the "breaks" considered overtime? Did it hopefully have mechanical "brakes" like the ones described here? Sheesh.
200iq
@ No, no, yes, no, no. The was basically like a cannon with a drop tower gondola going into it. The ride vehicle fit perfectly into the "cannon", so the compression of the air would make braking force.
This actually makes drop rides far less scary when I know its practically impossible for them to not slow down at the bottom.
Yup science👌
except the kid that died the other year died because the harness malfunctioned
@@cssSUL And THAT is what keeps me off of rides that go upside down or too high.... Im mechanically inclined, I didnt build it, Im not maintaining it, I have no idea who is.....No thank you.
Still love puke rides (carnival rides, like scrambler, octopus, the UFO, zipper, etc), and wooden coasters. but yeah...all it takes is for someone to get in the habit of not checking a pin, or they do check the pin but that pin has a flaw in the metal....NOPEITY NOPE NOPE!!!
I was the same way with airliners and their wings....until I saw a video of how they test them. They literally strap the plane down, put a winch on the wing tip, and bend it till it breaks. Go check one of those videos out, I guarantee the wing tip goes far higher than you thought it would...
So, can this magnetic braking system can be used for an elevator emergency brake?
Great question !
Yes, they are already used in some elevators.
The final brake is done by basically putting a giant spring or a piston at the end of the shaft
Tom Scott made a video which uses magnets, ruclips.net/video/kdTsbFS4xmI/видео.html
Not really...
This braking system is quite expensive, worth the investment if its intentionally being used every 30 seconds over and over again, but in an elevator where it will never be used unless there is a catastrophic failure its just not worth it, also elevators are already really safe as they are
Another issue is that these brakes are so safe BECAUSE they are permanent, they can't ever be switched off, this is great for safety, but remember we do have to lift the dropcar up there in the first place, this means you will always have a braking force applied to the dropcar as it is pulled up, but remember, the faster the dropcar the greater the breaking force.
basically the drop car starts off being lifted very slowly to minimise the braking force but speeds up once it clears the brakes
if you built an elevator with this system it would be REALLY slow and inefficient and a lot more expensive without any actual benefit because they're already really safe and accidents are extremely rare.
Elevators already have more usefully braking safety systems
"Safety is the number one priority at amusement parks, and the same is true for..."
My brain filled in Crazy Russian Hacker.
"Safety is number one priority!"
Tower of Terror is my favorite drop tower
I see you Everywhere bruh
8:25 that aged well. Explain that to the 14yr old who just died in Orlando. RIP young man.
Yes, it did age well. The Orlando FreeFall WAS designed with guest safety in mind. It was never an unsafe ride and it still isn’t. His seat had been altered to allow a greater clearance in the harness. Not the ride’s fault. Entirely human error.
"Safety is the number one priority at any amusement park." Action Park has entered the chat.
Saw the docu on HBO Max. Wow! What a mess!!!
Action Park wasn't an amusement park. It was a water park.
@@triple7marc First of all, waterparks are amusement parks. It's just a subset. Secondly, Action Park was not only a water park.
@@chaumas I don't personally consider waterparks to be amusement parks. Amusement parks focus on mechanical dry rides, and while Action Park did have an S&S drop tower, it resembled a family entertainment center and water park way more than it did an amusement park.
@@triple7marc I guess you're free to personally define words however you want, but that's not the way other people use them. Waterparks are generally understood to be a subset of amusement parks, and Action Park had a number of land based attractions.
The best pneumatic free-fall I have ever done is probably Mystery castle at Phantasialand. There is a very impressive thematisation and a whole story told with 3 different fall-patterns that are randomly displayed during the day and it is completely in the dark. Very thrilling experience if you like free-fall rides
Hands down my fav was the original Universal Studios Tower of Terror (when it was first released). It went up and down rougly 10 times and had 12 different patterns. You are fully enclosed only to see how high you really are when the elevator door opens to reveal the outside world.
They changed how it operates now, so it's no longer as varbible.
I have tried one drop tower and I'm never ever doing that again lmao.
Oh come on it's so fun
@@Sp00kq i tried a drop tower once, didnt enjoy it as it scared tf out of me
Drop rides are the only rides that legit scare me 😂
Yea same. I can handle 103 foot drops on roller coasters with no issue, but drop towers are the rides that scare me a little bit
I live in Gothenburg in Sweden where we have a 90 meter intamin droptower and I just love regretting my life choices when taking the long journey up and then screaming at the top of my lungs when it falls. The ride is called AtmosFear if you want to see a POV :)
The Parachute Jump! Nicknamed the Eiffel Tower of Brooklyn. That was the tallest structure at the 1939 World’s Fair. Moved to Coney Island in 1941. It was abandoned for a while after it closed, several people even tried climbing it. Luckily there’s been a restoration and it was renovated with LED lights
Canada's Wonderland in the beginning made me so happy! It;s cool to see a ride that you've been on before :)
Love drop towers. They are intense but loads of fun.
PS. With my perfect pitch, I've determined that the highest pitch produced by the magnetic fields and eddy currents when the gondola travels through the magnetic brakes is a G#3 on early intamin drop towers (the 4-gondola version). This pitch correlates with the speed of the car. It sounds like a synthesized descending glissando.
These are so interesting because these videos explain how things work. Things that most people don't usually think about. And in a way that's easy to understand. I love the videos!
Another spectacular video, the struggle to fight through After Effects definitely paid off! Drop Towers will forever be the most terrifying rides for me, no matter how many of them I go on!
Went to a park today with an S&S drop tower and while waiting in line we were trying to deduce how it works. We were really close. Amazingly simple system that works very well.
I have some footage showing close ups of all the equipment on the double shot (SCBB). also I think the shot thanks you referred to are not exactly called shot tanks. Aren't the shot tanks the smaller side tanks used? Also, what about the relief valves, gates, etc? Those might have been fun to learn about too.
Drop towers are my favorite rides. I've always had my guesses about how they work but this video was extremely informative !
Does the air get also shoved down back into your lungs when you were trying to scream or breath when falling?
I found this to be so uncomfortable, I do not want to ride a free fall Tower again.
Do you have a technique to deal with that?
@@CraftingCake I just clench my teeth and grunt as I'm free falling. I've also done the slingshot many times,but this one is on another level
r.i.p Tyre Sampson🤞🏽
These are my favorites because it’s really the only thing making my adrenaline pumping.
It’s brilliant to finally see an explanation of my favourite amusement rides. You can keep your rollercoasters. Just give me an intamin gen 2 and I’m good
I rode a drop tower once. I never been so terrified in my life! Would I ride it again? Possibly 😂
When I was a kid I would go to my country's only proper Amusement/Theme Park, Oakwood. There's a ride there called 'Bounce'. It's a drop tower ride that uses pneumatics.
But as you can probably deduce from it's name, it had a car that went all around the main tower, however was square-shaped. The ride would start by shooting you high into the sky, and I always remember the violent hissing and screeching of the ride that just added to the terror and anticipation. Then it would fall after reaching two thirds up, then come down and bounce a few times. Then it would fully lift you up slowly, and hold you for a few seconds and the ride operators would always fake a countdown and drop you without knowing. You would then plummet and bounce up and down a few times before coming to a gentle landing. That ride was probably the most (or joint-second) fun ride in the entire park!
But as you can imagine, with H&S getting stricter and stricter as the years went on, it ended up transitioning to just a regular old drop tower, as it did tend to jar you and hurt your back a little. That park is dead now. They try to revitalise it and keep it going, but it's so run down and boring, it's just not worth the insanely expensive £30 entry. Plus there's like literally only one place to get a takeaway burger from and it's super expensive.
thank you for teaching me the things
One of the first times I ever did a ride of this type was the Big Shot (who knows what it's called today) on top the the Stratosphere in Las Vegas. The one where the base of the tower is some 1000' above the ground! Midway through the ride, I looked down at the observation deck below me and all I could see were faces staring up, wondering what all the noise was about. It was me.
But the best one I've done is in Silverwood in Idaho. Not the tallest by any means, but I've never been on another one that lets you drop as close to the ground before putting on the brakes.
Yeah... Even if these things go through extensive research, testing and maintenance, still not riding one, ever.
Ok, boomer
@@amigman7199 can people not be scared of things these days
Best droptower I have been on is the one at phantasialand. Theming is top notch and the experience is something else. Also, kinda spoopy
Is that the one where you're inside the tower?
I have been on 4 drop towers in my time. I went on The Rocket at Lagoon 3 times and Tower of Terror at Disney World once.
Thank you for the theme park videos. Very nice animations.
Your videos are absolutely amazing!
leaving cert engineering how are ye doing
who ever set the maximum dimension to 400mm was smoking crack.
also don't forget to list your sources lads.
sources: Google@@solidsumo1976
Ya here in Alaska we have one carnival company called Golden wheel amusements that does all of the fairs. I did my first drop ride with my five-year-old daughter. They wanted to put us in seats that were not next to each other because one of the freaking seatbelts was broken. Let me assure you safety is not a concern for every company
I got to ride my first drop Tower ride and it was awesome it was a traveling fair ground version of the ride it's always great to be educated on flat rides
can you make same kind of video about the gravitron?
1:46 looks like "The Edge " which was bright orange in California at Marriott's/Paramount's Great America for years. I loved that ride!
Yep, same model!
I loved the Leviathan cameo! My favourite ride at Wonderland. Even better than the Yukon Striker in my opinion!
I would have liked to know what sort of drop tower construction each of the more commonly known drop towers is - the only one I think I've got figured out is Dr. Doom - you can hear the compression and air exhaust, it must be pneumatic.
Back in the 1990s, I happened to be at Marriot's Great America in Santa Clara, CA....when there was a widespread power outage from Canada to Mexico. I wasn't on any rides at the time, but spent a couple of hours walking around, waiting for the park to come back online. I remember seeing riders still locked into their seats.....but it was at the very bottom of the tower. They just couldn't get the harnesses to raise, so that people could get out of the seats.
That means that the restraints are locked in the event of a power failure, which is a safety feature. If the carriage was on the top of the tower, you wouldn’t want the restraints to open if the power goes out.
My 8 year old son tackled the Drop Tower alone. Gutsy little twerp was the only one willing to take the dare. I wish I was there with him. Gutsy little twerp! I'm so proud of him!
i love the drop tower. i can't really do roller coasters because i get really sick to my stomach from all the janky movements. the tower is perfect tho, it provides a thrill which does not make me sick to my stomach. i ride every one i see here in germany.
The Supreme Scream drop tower at Knott's Berry Farm is definetly an air system. You can hear the pressurized air being released from the street once the passenger car reaches the top. Nice video.
That is correct!
I first went on that in 2000
The first drop tower that was shown at the start of the video at Canada’s wonderland, I got stuck on that exact one!😂😂😂
I got stuck on the one at California’s Great America. It was probably just a fault in one of the sensors that caused the carriage to stop on its way up. Nothing to worry about. Remember, even if it started dropping halfway up the tower, it would still brake and come to a safe stop at the bottom.
10:20 look up action Park.
this channel is so underrated
I have ridden three drop towers; all of them being pneumatic types. These towers shoot passengers to the top. In anticipation of this, I usually say “And…we’re…LAUNCHING!” when the ride cycle begins.
the canadas wonderland drop tower u showed at the beginning is the only drop tower ive been on.
I love drop towers. Great to understand how they work. Thanks! 👍
My first and only drop tower was Supreme Scream at Knotts Berry Farm California...Over 300 feet in the air. Never again.
The Ad was so smooth xD
Supreme Scream at Knott’s Berry Farm is king.
I want to know more about the cable seals on the pneumatic tower. How can a moving cable pass through this air tight tank at suck high pressures without air leaks?
There is actually always air leaking through the cable seals. It used high density rubber tight on the cable and grease to help it pass through the seal.
Since there is always a small amount of air leaking, the gondola will always slowly return to the ground in the event of a power failure, making it virtually impossible to get stuck on one of these rides
Drop Zone is always my 1st hit at Wonderland!! Gets me every time!!
0:00 nice footage from wonderland, thats my home park
Awesome content, congratulations! Drop Towers are my favorite kind of flat rides in a amusement park. It’s very interesting how it works.
Drop of doom at six flags always gets me the chills
Operating a drop tower can be a lot of fun too.
I never operated one, but during the waiting time, I like to watch the reactions of other people.
Please do 'How Disney's Rattatoiie Ride Works'! I love it so much and really want to know how the effects work!!!
I'm a seasoned coaster enthusiast. Drop Towers are still terrifying
Yay, another vid!
drop towers are one of my favorite types of amusement rides
0:01 : that's a boomerang...I'm leaving
U realize the camera was on the drop tower, right?
here after the 14 y/0 boy passed away 🙏🏾
We have the same drop ride in New Zealand theme park called rainbows end. It's called the fear fall
0:47 that's Busch Gardens Tampa, my closest theme park :D
Lucky.
I honestly hate Drop towers, I'm not scared I just disgust that feeling of being slammed down.
But there is difference between towers, I absolutely love the towers where you get launched from the bottom with air.
It's so different, you truly feel the freedom of freefall at the highest point instead of just getting some G's smacked on your head.
My God I was in one of these and it was a spiritual experience. Truly amazing
Of course I've been on the world's tallest Intamin giant drop ZUMANJARO drop of doom in New Jersey. The other tower, Superman Tower of power in Kentucky had a mishap in June 21 2007 when the last trip upwards, one of the cables snapped, due to failed inspection, that caused a guest to be maimed, losing both feet during the free fall. The guest's right foot reattached but the left was amputated. Kentucky Department of agriculture investigated the incident.
字幕翻译很不错，能看得懂！ 感谢分享
RIP to my local electromagnetic intamin drop tower, Drayton manor. It was called Apocalypse. I used to be able to see it from my window.
How is a seal achieved around the cables?
Good question! The cable passes through a gland seal, which contains a small ring made out of a polymer/elastomer material. The seal is flexible enough to allow the cable to move in and out, while still maintaining pressure inside the cylinder.
For me it's not so much the drop I'm scared of (I've ridden Tower of Terror and loved it!), it's being that high up in the air. In a dark ride you don't know how high up you are, and only feel the sensation of falling without seeing it.
i cant wait to see one of these and try to paraphrase this video
Thanks for the info but I’m still not ready for Playland At The PNE’s Hellevator...
Living next to kings island it’s nice to understand how drop tower works
Canada’s Wonderland!!
That’s Canada’s wonderland!
I always love seeing my local amusement park in these :)
Is it sad that I’m impressed by his smooth segway into the sponsor
Thanks for the research and the clear presentation!
I wasn't ready for the ad
Loved this! Very informative and helpful 👍🏻
Haha I knew it gotta love Canada's Wonderland
As an engineer I think this video is excellent as always.
However your description of S&S towers isn't quite correct.
The large cylinder in the middle is the main air receiver and this can take up to 10 minutes to pressurise to 120psi depending on the size of the compressor. This tank is divided into 3 seperate sections which are isolated from each other. The middle section is supplied by the compressor and is maintained between 100 and 120psi. The upper section is the shot tank, this is filled by the middle section after the car is weighed and is then re-isolated from the system. When the ride is in the launch position and the shot tank is at the calculated pressure which is usually between 70 and 85psi, the shot tank is opened up to the 4 cylinders using an enormous electro-pneumatic gate valve.
After completing the space shot, the car is raised to the top of the tower and held by the brakes. The bottom section of the centre tank, called the turbo tank, is filled to about 30psi. There is no gate valve at the bottom however, so the pressure in the turbo tank is applied to the bottom of the pistons at the same time as the tank is filled. The brakes release allowing the pistons to shove the car back down.
An interesting safety feature of the S&S towers is that the restraints can't be opened if there is more than about 12psi still in the shot tank when the car is back on the ground. So if you have just had a ride on one and there is a delay of more than a minute or so in letting you off, this is likely the reason why.
That's cool. The one at the park I work at operates a little differently, sounds like it's probably an older model.
I'm sure the letdown valves are still the 4-20ma positioning valves though on the tower you work on?
Loved the video. Please keep them coming.
Fantastic video - well done!
I'm old enough to have ridden one of those early drop towers in which the car rolls 90-deg at the bottom in order to slow down.
Very informational video! 👍🏼Thanks for explanation! ☺️
I drove an 85 meters tall drop tower at the oktoberfest in Germany this year and dude, it was fkin scary haha
Can you do a video about the safety mechanism for these rides?
Rode the tower at the top of the stratosphere in Vegas a couple years ago, I would have enjoyed it a whole lot more if I understood how it worked at the time.
Cool, I always wonder how this tower works! Thanks!
nice transition
Ok but imagine a drop ride where the rails spin around the tower... so as you drop, you do a full revolution around the tower. That’d be mint.
I believe there's at least one that rotates as it goes up. Don't remember where.
@@viddork Try the new one in Orlando (Icon Point). It's 131m it spins as you're being lifted.
@@hardcoreuproar2322 Most people who know me think I'm crazy for riding coasters, but even I won't risk my life by going anywhere near Florida any time soon!
@@viddork Risk your life? You can wear your face mask!