Prefab Wood Coasters

http://www.google.com/patents?id=0PYMAA ... &q=&f=true

So I was bored today and decided to check out Werner Stengel's patent for prefabricated wood coaster track after talking about wood composites in my materials class. It's a really interesting read if anyone wants to check it out, it's definitely worth the time. The thought process of how to save time and money on construction and maintenance while providing a smoother wood coaster was actually pretty cool to see. I've still never been on one of these, and I do love the classic wood coaster feel of a CCI or GCI, but the technology really is pretty amazing.

[Dirk_Ermen]

Originally posted by guitarplayer673

The thought process of how to save time and money on construction and maintenance while providing a smoother wood coaster was actually pretty cool to see.

Uhm... Not really. I know from experience that these woodies get rough pretty quick. When one of these woodies starts to age, you'll start to feel the seams of every prefabricated part. aka... A constant bump at about every several feet... Very cool how smooth they are but those tiny bumps is a big letdown to me.

Still, relative to a normal wooden coaster? Very smooth in my experience. Also consider these rides withstand significantly higher forces than normal wooden coasters. Yeah I don't like that you can feel the seams on El Toro on the middle 1/5 or so of the layout, but I don't think it's that big a deal. Might also be something they improve on in the future, though I'm not sure how they might do so considering the connection steel is already at an angle which seems like a good idea to me.

Yeah like I said, I haven't actually been on one yet, I was just saying that the engineering process was neat to read about. You can feel the seams on El Toro already? That can't bee a good sign...

I wouldn't go so far as to say it saves money on construction; those rides haven't been selling very cheaply. It seems like a pretty straightforward patent.

[gouldy]

It is an interesting read for sure, but I don't think the patent itself is anything spectacular. Reading it, it seems to be pretty much just common sense stuff.

You could feel the seams between the hill after the first turnaround and the turn into the hill over Rolling Thunder since it opened. Now you can feel a bit of the seams at the bottom of the first turnaround. They're not that bad though, and you can't feel them at all on the rest of the ride. Still by far the smoothest wooden ride I've ever been on.