Railways – Amusement – Canals
Patent
1995-07-13
1998-08-18
Morano, S. Joseph
Railways
Amusement
Canals
104205, 188 62, A63G 302
Patent
active
057945330
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an amusement park attraction in the form of water traveling vehicles traveling along a waterway or a waterway joined to a ground track, and more particularly to a control apparatus for slowing down or stopping such vehicles in the waterway.
DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART
In amusement parks and so forth, one popular attraction ride has been of the type in which passengers travel in an amphibious vehicle, such as a pleasure launch or boat. In operation of such an amusement ride, a pleasure launch or boat is set afloat in an endless waterway in which water is flowing, and the boat travels with the water flow. A ground track, such as a railway track, can be installed on the ground adjoining the waterway to render an amphibious amusement ride by allowing the passenger carrying vehicle to travel along these ground tracks and waterways successively, so that passengers enjoy traveling over land and in water in one ride in a single amphibious vehicle. To advance such a pleasure vehicle, namely, a pleasure launch or boat, along a waterway, a water flow traveling method has been adopted by which water in the waterway is thrust to generate a recirculating flow and the boat is urged to go ahead with the water flow generated. In the case of adopting this type of traveling method, the boat cannot control its speed by itself and its travel is totally left to the water flow. When passengers board and leave the boat at a platform, for example, the boat must be stopped there, but the boat has no capability of slowing itself. Some apparatus is therefore required to speed down and stop the boat.
Another requirement of such an attraction ride is the control of the various vehicles with respect to one another. Typically, variations occur in the speed of travel of the different boats traveling along a waterway depending on factors such as the number of passengers on board, the weight of the boat itself, and the shape of the boat, as such factors directly affect boat speed. When a plurality of boats are set afloat in the same waterway and travel one after another, such variations in speed can result in boats overtaking one another due to a boat starting later traveling at a higher speed than a preceding boat. This may cause a potential hazard if the succeeding boat comes too near to the preceding boat or bumps against it. For this reason, means for adjusting intervals between boats is required.
Further, when a preceding boat is stopped at a platform, a succeeding boat is required to wait for the preceding boat to depart from the platform to avoid collision. From this viewpoint, too, an apparatus for controlling the speed of boats is required.
Additionally, in the case where various entertainments are provided in the course of the waterway and boats are sped down or stopped at places of those entertainments, allowing passengers to view and enjoy this entertainment, the interval between a preceding boat and a succeeding boat is desired to be kept greater. In that case as well, it is necessary to speed down or stop the boats and, therefore, a velocity damping apparatus is required for that purpose.
One such apparatus for damping the travel velocity of boats is proposed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 45-12594, for example. That apparatus includes an endless conveyor which is disposed parallel to the direction of advance of boats and serves to stop a boat when the boat approaches the conveyor with the aid of a water flow and the boat's bottom rides over the conveyor. Also, by forcibly running the conveyor, by a drive unit such as a motor, the boat can be thrust forward by the conveyor, so that the boat can be started moving to depart therefrom.
In the case of employing the above prior art damping and starting apparatus, unless the boat is guided to the conveyor in a proper direction or attitude, proper friction is not produced between the boat and the conveyor, creating the potential hazard of the boat running off the conveyor.
A further potential hazard in such an
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Morano S. Joseph
The Walt Disney Company
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