Amusement devices – Roundabout – Occupant or article carriage follows stationary,...
Reexamination Certificate
1999-10-22
2001-09-11
Nguyen, Kien T. (Department: 3712)
Amusement devices
Roundabout
Occupant or article carriage follows stationary,...
C472S059000, C297S466000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06287211
ABSTRACT:
The present invention relates to an installation for amusement park, in particular to an installation of the roller coaster type.
Amusement parks in general feature a number of installations comprising vehicles in which passengers take place to undergo an original experience and encounter unusual emotions and sensations.
The installations comprising vehicles offer a very broad range of sensations, ranging from the straightforward ride, sometimes unusual in the form of ghost trains, to the aerial acrobatic rides which can be provided by roller coasters.
According to the speeds and accelerations to which each of these installations subjects the passengers, more or less stringent devices are required to keep the passengers secure. Accordingly, the modern roller coasters, with very daring configurations, are in general provided with very tight retention devices, true shackles which bind every passenger. These devices allow any risk to be avoided of the passengers being thrown out during the ride, but do detract from their comfort.
In installations which are less daring, but which are nevertheless affiliated to the category of roller coasters, retention bars are used, often in the form of a “T”, the horizontal bar of the “T”, which comes in contact with the passenger to keep him in the seat, being surrounded by a roll of foamed material in order to render its contact more comfortable.
Whether the rides are on roller coasters of an acrobatic nature, or on quieter versions, some passengers raise their arms in order to accentuate the sensations they are feeling. However, the very great majority of passengers appreciate being provided with grips which they can hold on to, and of which they make considerable use. In reality, these retention devices are entirely capable of restraining the passenger without his needing to seize the handles. The handles are accordingly intended to provide mental comfort to the passenger rather than contribute to their safety, but this does not reduce their usefulness.
Even if, in the majority, passengers visit amusement parks in families or as a group of friends, when the question arises of trying out an installation of this type, it is, in the final analysis, the feelings and impressions of the individual which determine each person's experience. The individual nature of the sensations is not the result, up to this point, of the installation itself, because the passengers are seated next to one another, in rows of two or four people in general, and the trains are made up of wagons of several rows. This means that there is an inevitable collective aspect to the ride, even if, as has just been said, the sensations are essentially of an individual nature.
In the search for new impressions or stronger impressions than those experienced hitherto, constructors are making recourse to more daring track layouts and even greater changes of level, but the collective character referred to above still remains.
Ideally, each passenger should be provided with an individual vehicle in order to experience in full the pleasures offered by the ride, and to experience stronger sensations due to these being enhanced by the sensation of freedom. To provide a somewhat simplistic comparison, a person feels, in overall terms, more at liberty on a bicycle than in a bus. Unfortunately, when the number of visitors is considered, and the outlay which would be necessary for the installation to be profitable, individual vehicles are immediately disqualified.
The aim of the present invention is to propose an installation which, by way of the design of its vehicles and the combination between the seat and the means of restraint, will allow in the first instance, for an outlay to be incurred which is comparable to known installations, but which will also allow, secondly, for the passengers to be placed in an environment which will intensify the sensations of individuality and liberty, giving each passenger the impression, albeit artificial, that he is seated on a flying carpet or that he is at the controls of a kind of flying scooter, while still guaranteeing optimum security with regard to the retention of the passenger in the seat.
To this end, the invention relates to an installation for amusement park, comprising at least one vehicle designed in such a way as to be able of accommodating at least one passenger in at least one seat, associated with at least one retention device comprising a pivoting bar topped by a retention element intended to maintain the passenger in the seat, wherein the retention element features a complex spatial form, of which the lower part, intended to come in contact with the passenger's thighs, comprises for this purpose two recesses forming a hollow corresponding approximately to the passenger's thighs.
The retention element can feature an external shape of multiple dishings and roundings and comprise handles, which can be located in the front part of the retention element, and form integrated parts of the same.
The retention element may comprise an edge of rounded form, in such a way as to match at least partially with the stomach of the passenger against whom it comes to rest when the retention device is in the blocking position.
According to one embodiment the upper surface of the retention element is of a generally dished and rounded appearance, and comprises a first rear face essentially trapezoidal in shape, inclined upwards, of which the large base is formed by the said edge of rounded shape, and of which the small base constitutes the side of a second upper face, inclining forwards, said element further comprising parts which are concave in shape, constituting two shoulder edges at the two front corners of the retention device, each of the said shoulder edges containing a perforation in the vicinity of the front end of the retention device, in such a way as to form handles.
The present invention also relates to said element for retaining a passenger in a seat of an installation for amusement park, and comprising a complex spatial form of which the lower part, intended to come in contact with the passenger's thighs, comprises for this purpose two recesses forming a hollow corresponding approximately to the passenger's thighs.
REFERENCES:
patent: 2664150 (1953-12-01), Byrne
patent: 2970638 (1961-02-01), Halter
patent: 4359200 (1982-11-01), Brevard et al.
patent: 5203612 (1993-04-01), Pokrzywinski
patent: 5662523 (1997-09-01), Yasumaru et al.
patent: 5827123 (1998-10-01), Reverchon
Bolliger Walter
Mabillard Claude
Bolliger & Mabillard Ingenieurs Conseils S.A.
Browning Clifford W.
Nguyen Kien T.
Woodard Emhardt Naughton Moriarty & McNett
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