A roller coaster is a type of amusement ride employing a form of elevated railroad track that carries passengers on a train through tight turns, steep slopes, and other elements designed to produce a thrilling experience. Trains consist of open cars connected in a single line, and the rides are often found in theme parks around the world. Roller coasters first appeared in the 17th century, and LaMarcus Adna Thompson obtained one of the first known patents for a roller coaster design in 1885, based on the Switchback Railway which opened a year earlier at Coney Island.
Tracks are typically built and designed as a complete circuit in which trains depart from and return to the same loading station. One variation, a shuttle roller coaster, reverses at some point throughout the course of the ride to return to the station along the same path.
History
The Russian Mountains and the Aerial Promenades
The oldest roller coasters are believed to have originated from the so-called "Russian Mountains", specially constructed hills of ice located in the area that is now Saint Petersburg, Russia. Built-in the 17th century, the slides were built to a height of between , had a 50-degree drop, and were reinforced by wooden supports. Later, in 1784, Catherine the Great is said to have constructed a sledding hill in the gardens of her palace at Oranienbaum in St. Petersburg.
The Riding Mountain (a.k.a. La Grande Glisade) entertainment pavilion designed by Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli for Tsarskoye Selo royal residence was built in 1754–1757. In Russian it was known as Katalnaya gora (Катальная гора, literally "Mountain for riding") It was a huge building in the shape of rotunda. It had a trail with five hills which can be covered with ice in winter. In the summer time the trails used trolleys on wheels secured in the steel grooves mounted on the wooden trails. Due to a pendulum-like motion based on inertia all five hills could be traversed in one ride. The ride was engineered by Russian scientist Andrey Nartov. The Anglican clergyman John Glen King mentioned that some Englishmen visiting Russia called them "Flying Mountains" and described them as follows: You will observe that there are five mounts of unequal height: the first and the highest is full thirty feet terpendicular altitude; the momentum with which they descend this carries them over the second, which is about five or six feet lower, just sufficient to allow for the friction and resistance; and so on to the last, from which they are conveyed by a gentle descent, with nearly same velocity, over a piece of water into a little island. These slides, which are about a furlong and a half in length, are made of wood, that may be used in summer as well as in winter. The process is, two of four persons fit in a little carriage and one stands behind, for more there are in it the greater the swiftness with which it goes; it runs on castors and in grooves to keep it on its right direction, and it descends with a wonderful rapidity. Under the hill, is a machine worked by horses for drawing the carriages back again, with the company in them. Such a work as this would have been enormous in most countries for the labour and expense in cost, as well as the vast quantity of wood used in it. At the same place, there is another artificial mount which goes in a spiral line, and in my opinion, for I have tried it also, is very disagreable; as it seems always leaning on one side, and the person feels in danger of falling out of seat.
Katalnaya gora was dismantled in 1792-1795. Currently in its place is the Granite Terrace in the Catherine Park.
Two roller-coasters were built in France in 1817. Les Montagnes de Belleville (Les Montagnes Russes à Belleville) in Belleville, Paris had wheels attached to carriages and locked on tracks. The Promenades Aériennes, opened in Parc Beaujon in Paris on July 8, 1817 had wheeled cars securely locked to the track, guide rails to keep them on course, and higher speeds. It spawned half a dozen imitators, but their popularity soon declined.
However, during the Belle Epoque they returned to fashion. In 1887, Spanish entrepreneur Joseph Oller, co-founder of the Moulin Rouge music hall, constructed the Montagnes Russes de Belleville, "Russian Mountains of Belleville" with of track laid out in a double-eight, later enlarged to four figure-eight-shaped loops.