Has the Australian Industry got it all wrong
-
Aussie Ride Broker
- Member
- Posts: 260
- Joined: Mon Dec 27, 2004 5:35 am
- Location: Brisbane
-
HUSSRAINBOW
- Senior Member
- Posts: 2764
- Joined: Fri Jan 10, 2003 8:36 pm
- Location: Melbourne, Australia
-
HUSSRAINBOW
- Senior Member
- Posts: 2764
- Joined: Fri Jan 10, 2003 8:36 pm
- Location: Melbourne, Australia
LOL Mattie... no, I was not aware of the 'Redundancy Safety" on the Zipper.. but I will keep that in mind next Zipper ride.Mattie wrote:Has everyone forgotten about the Redundancy safety on the Zipper??
It would have to be one of the safest rides.
I have been on enterprises when they squeak like all hell and thinking ohhh sh**. But I have survived all crashes. LOL
-
Zamperla
- Administrator
- Posts: 2030
- Joined: Wed Nov 27, 2002 9:00 pm
- Location: Melbourne, Australia
- Contact:
Trav, a Zipper car is possibly the most safety-redundant thing you could ever put your body in - 3 separate locks on the door (pin, main lock and extra spring lock) and the hinges have 2 small circles of cable around them on the top and bottom in the rarity that they give way.
You'd have a greater chance of escaping Alcatraz than unlocking yourself in a Zipper car.
You'd have a greater chance of escaping Alcatraz than unlocking yourself in a Zipper car.
thanks Mattie and Dave for the information above. I only ever really noticed the Pin lock and were not aware of any back up locking system.
May I please ask you guys one more Zipper safety thing LOL
Could a cage on the Zipper just break off the whole boom/cable from the excessive G forces? Do the cages have some sort of special attatchment to the ride itself?.. sometimes I hear the bolts crunching while the cage is swinging and I fear something will 'snap' under all the pressure when flipped suddenly and violenty?
Or, do I have nothing to fear?
I had to ask
May I please ask you guys one more Zipper safety thing LOL
Could a cage on the Zipper just break off the whole boom/cable from the excessive G forces? Do the cages have some sort of special attatchment to the ride itself?.. sometimes I hear the bolts crunching while the cage is swinging and I fear something will 'snap' under all the pressure when flipped suddenly and violenty?
Or, do I have nothing to fear?
I had to ask
I wouldn't stress too much about the thing falling apart. From memory of the Zipper, since I haven't seen on up close for a while, it is fairly over engineered structurally, as thing were back then. Even the bolted joints are fairly hefty. Remember, it was originally designed to run at twice the speed it does now.
Even it peak G's the forces running through the structure are fairly low. Bending in the various series of beam structure would therefore well below even yield, and torsion in the beams, which is usually the killer, is really non-existent given relative symetries and straight forward loading from the forces.
It's not a ride ride thats particularly well design from a 'Noise, Vibration and Harshness' perspective, but that makes it all the more fun. Having a think about it (IMHO), most of the creaks and groans are probably in the weldmesh on the cages. Where the weldmesh crosses at the verticals to the horizontals (of the mesh, not to the cage's chassis), there could be a crack here or there. A small amount of deformation in the chassis will make a noise at the weldmesh crossings.
Clunks are probably caused by slap from the drive cable against drive wheels as the cable goes from loaded to unloaded and back. Some of the creaks and groans probably come from the cable too.
If you look at most of the ride accidents lately that occur, many are from some dillhole (operator or rider) over-riding a saftey system or not observing a safety requirement rather than an specific engineering design fault. I don't recall an incident on a Zipper on that rise accidents site either.
Sorry if this was a little heavy technically, we're all here for fun really!!
Corey
Even it peak G's the forces running through the structure are fairly low. Bending in the various series of beam structure would therefore well below even yield, and torsion in the beams, which is usually the killer, is really non-existent given relative symetries and straight forward loading from the forces.
It's not a ride ride thats particularly well design from a 'Noise, Vibration and Harshness' perspective, but that makes it all the more fun. Having a think about it (IMHO), most of the creaks and groans are probably in the weldmesh on the cages. Where the weldmesh crosses at the verticals to the horizontals (of the mesh, not to the cage's chassis), there could be a crack here or there. A small amount of deformation in the chassis will make a noise at the weldmesh crossings.
Clunks are probably caused by slap from the drive cable against drive wheels as the cable goes from loaded to unloaded and back. Some of the creaks and groans probably come from the cable too.
If you look at most of the ride accidents lately that occur, many are from some dillhole (operator or rider) over-riding a saftey system or not observing a safety requirement rather than an specific engineering design fault. I don't recall an incident on a Zipper on that rise accidents site either.
Sorry if this was a little heavy technically, we're all here for fun really!!
Corey
-
Zamperla
- Administrator
- Posts: 2030
- Joined: Wed Nov 27, 2002 9:00 pm
- Location: Melbourne, Australia
- Contact:
Nah not overly technical (not for a laymen like me anyway)
Yeah I suppose one thing with Zipper is the sheer number of moving components (rollers, cable crosses, numerous bearings)
Perhaps one of the things that always draws me to being a fan of this ride is watching it - to the eye, my mind has always boggled at how those cages do manage to flip around the ends of the boom without structural failure (they always look so fragile, yet the reality is, like Gibbo states, it is typically 'over-engineered' like most rides were back in that time before computer assisted design)
History itself has proven there is no need to upgrade the current design of the cages on the tracks and their pivot points etc.
As you may have read in a previous post on here, there was an unfortunate incident in USA in the Zipper's early years where a cage occupied by 3 people had its door open mid-ride. As I understand it, all 3 riders were fatally ejected. (the travelling ride allegedly stood stationary on the site for over a year after during the investigation)
This incident let to the current redundant locks we now see on Zippers. (Keep in mind, the 'key' or pin that the ops insert into the lock doesn't even come in contact with the door unless the two separate locks holding it shut both fail simultaneously)
Yeah I suppose one thing with Zipper is the sheer number of moving components (rollers, cable crosses, numerous bearings)
Perhaps one of the things that always draws me to being a fan of this ride is watching it - to the eye, my mind has always boggled at how those cages do manage to flip around the ends of the boom without structural failure (they always look so fragile, yet the reality is, like Gibbo states, it is typically 'over-engineered' like most rides were back in that time before computer assisted design)
History itself has proven there is no need to upgrade the current design of the cages on the tracks and their pivot points etc.
As you may have read in a previous post on here, there was an unfortunate incident in USA in the Zipper's early years where a cage occupied by 3 people had its door open mid-ride. As I understand it, all 3 riders were fatally ejected. (the travelling ride allegedly stood stationary on the site for over a year after during the investigation)
This incident let to the current redundant locks we now see on Zippers. (Keep in mind, the 'key' or pin that the ops insert into the lock doesn't even come in contact with the door unless the two separate locks holding it shut both fail simultaneously)
Did that actually happen in Australia? I know it happened at the Texas State Fair back in the 80's (my parents were in Texas at the time, so they saw it plastered all of the news there).HUSSRAINBOW wrote:oh yes like that time on wittingslows when your car flew off the booms and shot right into the main arena, people thought it was part of the show!
CG