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Tilt-A-Whirl is a flat ride designed for commercial use at amusement parks, fairs, and carnivals. The ride consists of a number of cars which rotate freely while moving in a circle. As the cars revolve, the floor of the ride undulates so that the cars rise and fall as the ride spins. The offset weight of the riders causes each car to rotate. The riders experience varying levels of g-force from the spinning of the car, and the rotation of the ride itself. It is similar to a Waltzer, which is used in Europe. The rides are manufactured by Larson International of Plainview, Texas.

Description

The ride consists of seven freely-spinning cars that hold three or four riders each, which are attached at fixed pivot points on a rotating platform. As the platform rotates, parts of the platform are raised and lowered, with the resulting centrifugal and gravitational forces on the revolving cars causing them to spin in different directions and at variable speeds. The weight of passengers in these cars (as well as the weight distribution) may intensify or dampen the spinning motion of the cars, adding to the unpredictable nature known as chaotic motion.

Physicists Bret M. Huggard and Richard L. Kautz came up with a mathematical equation that approximates the motion of the Tilt-A-Whirl.

This ride is similar to the Waltzer ride commonly found at British and Irish fairs.

History

Herbert Sellner invented the Tilt-A-Whirl in 1926 at his Faribault, Minnesota, home. In 1927, the first 14 Tilt-A-Whirls were built in Sellner's basement and yard. Sellner Manufacturing opened its factory in Faribault and the ride debuted at the Minnesota State Fair. More than a thousand rides were eventually built. Some of the rides produced in the 1940s and 1950s are still in operation.

The earliest Tilt-A-Whirls were constructed of wood, powered by gas motors, and featured nine cars. Modern rides are constructed of steel, aluminum and fiberglass, and are powered by seven small electric motors, and has seven cars.

In 1995, Tovah Sellner took over Sellner Manufacturing after the loss of her husband Bruce Sellner; her daughter Erin Sellner joined her in 1998 and the two of them ran the business together.

Modern Tilt-A-Whirls

Modern Tilt-A-Whirls cost in excess of US$300,000 to purchase. A Tilt-A-Whirl package comes with a choice to employ either the famous domed tipkarts (which were introduced back during the 1930s), or Waltzer-style open squat podkarts having headrest bars (that option was introduced by Sellner Manufacturing in 2003).

The oldest operating Tilt-A-Whirl is a 1927 model, traveling with Tom Evans United Shows in the US Midwest. Between six- and seven hundred Tilt-A-Whirls are in operation.

Conneaut Lake Park in Conneaut Lake, Pennsylvania, still has its original Tilt-A-Whirl from 1949.

Installations

Incidents and accidents

On September 22, 2018, a Tilt-A-Whirl operated by Thomas Amusements in St. John's, Newfoundland, malfunctioned when two of the cars crashed into each other causing the top of one of the cars to fall off and on to the platform. No serious injuries resulted but some of the passengers suffered minor injuries.

See also

• List of amusement rides
• List of closed rides and attractions

References

1. Rides for Amusement Parks, Carnivals, and Fairs – Made in the USA Archived 2006-11-09 at the Wayback Machine
2. Kautz, R.L., and B.M. Huggard. 1994. Chaos at the amusement park: Dynamics of the Tilt-A-Whirl. American Journal of Physics 62(January):59.
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34. This information compiled from actual park maps and a Sellner Manufacturing Company, Inc. advertising post card.
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External links

• Larson International Inc.
• Sellner Manufacturing Co.
• Random Terrain's Tilt-A-Whirl Tribute
• Amusement Ride Extravaganza – Tilt-A-Whirl
• "It's been a tilting, whirling ride for 75 years," Minneapolis Star Tribune, 1-SEP-2001
• Tilt-A-Whirl Chaos (I) at Ivars Peterson's MathTrek
• Tilt-A-Whirl Chaos (II) at Ivars Peterson's MathTrek
• Amusement Ride Extravaganza – Tilt-A-Whirl

v t e Chaos theory
Concepts	Core Attractor Bifurcation Fractal Limit set Lyapunov exponent Orbit Periodic point Phase space Anosov diffeomorphism Arnold tongue axiom A dynamical system Bifurcation diagram Box-counting dimension Correlation dimension Conservative system Ergodicity False nearest neighbors Hausdorff dimension Invariant measure Lyapunov stability Measure-preserving dynamical system Mixing Poincaré section Recurrence plot SRB measure Stable manifold Topological conjugacy Theorems Ergodic theorem Liouville's theorem Krylov–Bogolyubov theorem Poincaré–Bendixson theorem Poincaré recurrence theorem Stable manifold theorem Takens's theorem
Theoretical branches	Bifurcation theory Control of chaos Dynamical system Ergodic theory Quantum chaos Stability theory Synchronization of chaos
Chaotic maps (list)	Discrete Arnold's cat map Baker's map Complex quadratic map Coupled map lattice Duffing map Dyadic transformation Dynamical billiards outer Exponential map Gauss map Gingerbreadman map Hénon map Horseshoe map Ikeda map Interval exchange map Irrational rotation Kaplan–Yorke map Langton's ant Logistic map Standard map Tent map Tinkerbell map Zaslavskii map Continuous Double scroll attractor Duffing equation Lorenz system Lotka–Volterra equations Mackey–Glass equations Rabinovich–Fabrikant equations Rössler attractor Three-body problem Van der Pol oscillator
Physical systems	Chua's circuit Convection Double pendulum Elastic pendulum FPUT problem Hénon–Heiles system Kicked rotator Multiscroll attractor Population dynamics Swinging Atwood's machine Tilt-A-Whirl Weather
Chaos theorists	Michael Berry Rufus Bowen Mary Cartwright Chen Guanrong Leon O. Chua Mitchell Feigenbaum Peter Grassberger Celso Grebogi Martin Gutzwiller Brosl Hasslacher Michel Hénon Svetlana Jitomirskaya Bryna Kra Edward Norton Lorenz Aleksandr Lyapunov Benoît Mandelbrot Hee Oh Edward Ott Henri Poincaré Itamar Procaccia Mary Rees Otto Rössler David Ruelle Caroline Series Yakov Sinai Oleksandr Mykolayovych Sharkovsky Nina Snaith Floris Takens Audrey Terras Mary Tsingou Marcelo Viana Amie Wilkinson James A. Yorke Lai-Sang Young
Related articles	Butterfly effect Complexity Edge of chaos Predictability Santa Fe Institute

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