Big Wheel
Quick Facts
Manufacturer(s): Eli Bridge, Lusse
Debut year: 1800s
First UK produced: not known
Last UK produced: not known
Total UK number: approx 90
Summary: A classic ride dating back to the beginning of fairs and experiments
into riding devices. The Big Wheel is as its name suggests - a large spoked
wheel with swinging gondolas that maintain a horizontal keel. Development
has been in expansion and refinement, with a recent trend of travelling
'Giant Wheels' (or erecting them as landmarks in cities).
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The Big Wheel, as a ride type, has been a part of the
fairground for as long as the fairground has existed. The idea of using
a giant spoked device to propel passengers gently through a circle is
an obvious attraction for the fairground engineer, and the success of
the ride from its very early experimental formats has meant that development
tends to be in the realm of refinement and expansion rather than rugged
evolution.
Braithwaite's 'Fairground Architecture' shows various
sketches of early Big Wheel devices with limited construction and propulsion
methods, though by the end of the 19th Century the Big Wheel as we know
it was taking its shape. Giant Wheel installations became a badge for
all budding exhibitions, and the example at Earl's Court (London) erected
in 1894 led the way in expressing opulence and engineering superiority.
The Earl's Court Big Wheel.
Patenting around the Big Wheel design was fast and frenetic,
with American engineers at the forefront in pushing through upwards of
50 patents from around 1867. The key person however was George Washington
Gale Ferris (whose name is attributed to the 'Ferris Wheel' - the proper
name for a Big Wheel). Ferris grew up with a poor farming family and was
said to have a strong interest in mechanical farminf devices and wheels
used to draw water from rivers. His academic and career path took him
to become a practical expert in structural steel and its uses in building
large bridges and turning devices. His first 'Ferris Wheel' project involved
building an observation wheel for the Columbian Exposition in the early
1890s.
The race to build a more practical, transportable, Big
Wheel was eventually won by William Sullivan as he founded the Eli Bridge
Company in 1906. Sullivan had been active in various patent arguments,
with a key case being between Will Conderman and Newton Johnson. Conderman
went on to produce many of the early Big Wheels, including an example
at Skegness Beach, but it was the Eli Bridge Big Wheel, with its simple
design and robust drive mechanism, that became the standard.
Eli Wheels began to venture onto the UK fairground scene,
with larger 16-car examples taking places at various amusement parks.
A small handful began to travel, but the large size was preventative of
any practical benefits, and eventually these 16-car machines settled into
the various Butlins camps throughout the UK. Through the 1950s and 1960s
many of the camps had 2 of these wheels alongside each other, with another
'twin set' also evident at Blackpool Pleasure Beach. The Big Wheels at
Blackpool are said to be the first examples of the Eli type in the UK,
with one being added in 1936 and a second being added 2 years later. These
twin Big Wheels survived until the 1990s.
The popular Eli Wheel was the more manageable 12-car
version. Large enough to provide a thrill for the rider and a beacon for
the fair, but practical enough to build-up and pull-down with the required
regularity of a travelling fair. Eli Big Wheels became an instant success,
and the Lusse Brothers of Blackpool, American designers with good connections
to the US manufacturing scene, began building versions for the UK market.
Popularity remained strong in the post-war years, and the company Hayes
Fabrication kept up the production regime through the 1960s. By this decade
all of the major fairs would feature a Big Wheel, and Nottingham Goose
Fair already had its own 'double wheel' landmark at the top of the site
(the Wheels belonging to the Williams and Weston families of North Wales).
A 16-car Wheel new for Southsea in 1947.
Staring the build-up of the Goose Fair Big Wheels in 1959.
Goose Fair, 1961 - this landmark survived until the 1990s.
Dobson's Big Wheel in 1984 - robust and adapted for travelling.
Decoration was a challenge, but is seen here to good effect with Allan Downs.
Farrell's Big Wheel was well-travelled and is seen here on the Mid-Lent circuit at Grantham.
Variations in design and aesthetics were led by park-based
installations, with the Flying Saucers developed for Botton Brothers at
Battersea and Great Yarmouth. The Flying Saucers had a rotating base (which
proved quite troublesome) and a more futuristic 'flying saucer' gondola.
A park-based 'Wagon Wheel' style ride has alos been developed by company
Zamperla.
Big Wheel variations can be considered: Rock-o-planes
are a descendant of the Big Wheel, and the Sky Wheels was an intricate
double Big Wheel that also rotated around a central axis. The novelty
ride Zipper can also be considered a distant
relative to the Big Wheel.
Recent developments have been back towards Giant Wheels
- with travelling models and in-situ versions a key fixture of the 2000s.
The Flying Saucers ride at Southsea, 1983.
The park-based Wagon Wheel from Zamperla.
Goose Fair boasts the tallest travelling Wheel.
Adding to the attraction of the Welsh town of Caernarfon.
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