A
carousel is an amusement ride
consisting of a rotating platform with
seats for passengers. The "seats" are
traditionally in the form of wooden
horses or animals, which are often
moved mechanically up and down to
simulate galloping. This leads to one
of the machine's alternative names,
the galloper. Other popular names are
merry-go-round, roundabout and flying
horses.
Although modern carousels (especially
in America) are mainly populated with
horses, carousels from earlier periods
frequently included diverse varieties
of animals, including dogs, cats,
rabbits, pigs, and deer, to name a
few.
Within a given country, carousels are
generally all built to rotate in the
same direction, with the choice
derived perhaps from the rules of the
road of that country. In the US,
traffic as seen from the sidewalk
appears to travel from left to right;
hence American carousels rotate
counter-clockwise so that the view
from outside is the same as that from
the sidewalk. In Britain, it's the
reverse in both cases. Another reason
for the choice may be that the British
felt it necessary to enable the rider
to mount the wooden steeds in the
"proper" fashion, inserting the left
foot in the stirrup and swinging the
right leg over and up onto the animal.
The Americans, on the other hand, were
more concerned with people being able
to "grab the brass ring" while
spinning round and round. Since most
people are right-handed, the machine
would have to travel in a
counter-clockwise direction so that
the right hand would be free to reach
for the ring.
Any rotating platform may also be
called a carousel. In a playground, a
merry-go-round is usually a simple,
child-powered rotating platform with
bars or handles to which children can
cling while riding. At an airport,
rotating conveyors in the baggage
claim area are often called carousels.
History
Records of early carousels are known
from the Byzantine Empire. The first
steam-powered carousels began to
appear in Europe in 1860, and then in
England and the USA in 1870. The first
carousel at Coney Island was built in
1876 by Charles I. D. Looff, a Danish
woodcarver. The oldest functional
carousel in Europe is in Prague (Letna
Park).
The carousel met its artistic zenith
in early 1900s America - the
industry's carvers, mostly immigrants
from Europe, took the traditions of
their home countries, and let their
imaginations loose in their new
creations. Whereas most European
carousel figures are relatively static
in posture, American figures are more
representative of active beasts -
tossed manes, expressive eyes and
postures of movement are their
hallmarks. American companies fell
into three distinct carving styles:
The Philadelphia Style (including the
William Dentzel, Daniel Carl Muller,
and Philadelphia Toboggan Companies),
The Coney Island Style (including the
Charles Carmel, Marcus Charles
Illions, Solomon Stein & Harry
Goldstein, and Charles I. D. Looff
companies), and The County Fair Style
(including the Armitage Herschell,
Allan Herschell, Edward Spillman, and
Charles Parker companies).
Trivia
Recently, William Henry Dentzel III,
built the world's first solar-powered
Carousel. The carousel is in operation
in the Solar Living Institute in
Hopland, California. There is only one
carousel in the world that rides in a
waving motion. It is "Over the Jumps:
The Arkansas Carousel" in Little Rock,
Arkansas. It is also the only
remaining wooden track carousel built
by the Herschell & Spillman Company.
The carousel at Hershey park in
Hershey, PA is purposely misspelled as
"Carrousel".
