Tricia Vita

Happy 100th patent-versary to the Tilt! One hundred years ago this month, Herbert Sellner applied for a patent for the ride he invented at his kitchen table and built in a neighbor's yard. According to family lore, he came up with the idea for the Tilt-A-Whirl when he placed his son Art on a chair atop the table and rocked it back and forth to the boy's delight. Celebrating a Century of The Tilt-A-Whirl, my article about the history of the ride, is in the April issue of Amusement Warehouse, the print magazine companion to the amusement industry website carnivalwarehouse.com. 

Heads up, fans of the Loop-O-Plane, Roll-O-Plane, and Rock-O-Plane! My article about the history of Eyerly Aircraft's classic thrill rides is in the January issue of Amusement Warehouse, the print magazine companion to the amusement industry website carnivalwarehouse.com. Lee Eyerly was a barnstorming pilot who settled in Salem, Oregon in 1927, the year that Charles Lindbergh's solo transatlantic flight sparked public enthusiasm for aviation. During the Great Depression, Eyerly launched a career as an amusement ride manufacturer when a device that he built to train pilots became a popular attraction at fairs. The Acroplane – short for acrobatic plane – let single riders operate the controls to perform dips, dives, spins, and loops without going more than a dozen feet off the ground.

A Spin Through History! My article about the park world's oldest operating amusement rides is published in the November IAAPA special edition of Amusement Warehouse, the print magazine companion to the amusement industry website carnivalwarehouse.com. It's available by subscription but you can pick up a copy at the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions Expo in Orlando this week. Among the century-old rides featured in my story are Vienna's Giant Wheel (1897), Coney Island's Deno's Wonder Wheel (1920), Luna Park Melbourne's Great Scenic Railway (1912), Seabreeze Park's Jack Rabbit roller coaster (1920), Blackpool Pleasure Beach's Sir Hiram Maxim's Captive Flying Machine (1904), and the hand-carved, 19th century carousels at Lake Compounce and Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.

My first article for Amusement Warehouse, the print magazine companion to carnivalwarehouse.com, the amusement industry website, is published this month. I wrote about Coney Island's William F. Mangels and "The Whip," the first portable thrill ride. If you know of a show or a park that still has a Whip in operation or in storage, please let me know. I'm updating my Whip Census!