Intamin AG

Intamin AG is a designing and manufacturing company in Wollerau, Switzerland. It is best known for creating thrill rides and roller coasters worldwide. The U.S. division of the company is located in Glen Burnie, Maryland, and is headed by Gary Palmer, MD and Arnold Bernsteiner. The Intamin brand name is an abbreviation for: INTernational AMusement INdustries. The company distributes approximately 5-7 roller coasters from their workshops in Switzerland and Glen Burnie each year.

Intamin is a major player in the amusement park attractions industry, supplying some 22 different styles of rides to a variety of parks. Their first roller coaster installation was The Great American Revolution, a roller coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain in 1976. Since then they have installed a total of 70 coasters in several countries around the globe. They designed and built the first "river rapids ride" known as "Thunder River" based on the idea supplied by Bill Crandall, a past General Manager at the now defunct AstroWorld. Intamin also marketed the first Freefall (developed by Giovanola) experience and the first Drop Tower.

Products and technologies

Intamin is well known for being innovative and creative with their rides. They were some of the first to create a magnetic propulsion system (Linear induction motors/Linear Synchronous Motors) and remain one of only a handful of manufacturers continuing to use such technology on roller coasters. Intamin also created the first hydraulic launch system (also known as the "Accelerator" or "Rocket Coaster"), which is now being used to catapult roller coaster trains from 0 to speeds upwards of 128 mph (193 km/h) in a few seconds before climbing up immense heights. Furius Baco at PortAventura was their latest achievement and is Europe's fastest coaster, launching riders from 0-135 km/h (83.9 mph) in 3.5 seconds.

Intamin is also known for their massive "Mega" (Intamin's term for a hypercoaster; often considered over 200 ft/61 m) and "Giga" (over 300 ft/91 m) coasters. They have also created the "Strata Coaster" (Any coaster over 400 ft / 122 m tall). There are currently only two Strata Coasters in existence (Top Thrill Dragster at Cedar Point and Kingda Ka at Six Flags Great Adventure), both manufactured by Intamin. These rides are often acclaimed by roller coaster enthusiasts for their amounts of airtime and Top Thrill Dragster uses lapbars as the choice of restraint, allowing the rider more comfort and freedom of the upper body throughout the ride. Mega/Giga Coasters currently occupy the top 2 spots of the Golden Ticket Awards with Millennium Force (Giga) and Superman: Ride of Steel (Mega). Also drawing much praise is the company's recent foray into the wooden roller coaster business with their "Plug and Play" models, such as Balder at Liseberg, Colossos at Heide Park, and El Toro at Six Flags Great Adventure which opened spring 2006. Unlike other traditional wood coasters, these rides use prefabricated track sections made of a high strength wooden laminate that can be secured on site when the super structure is completed. This design enables the coaster to reach speeds and navigate course elements smoothly not unlike a steel roller coaster while retaining the look and some of the traditional feel of common wooden coasters.

Another recent roller coaster development by Intamin is the Ball Coaster, a type of Spinning roller coaster. It has individual cars, each with 8 seats, arranged in two pods coming off the sides of the car, each with 2 seats facing forwards and two facing backwards. This car is either lifted to the highest point by a conventional chain lift, or propelled around the course at a constant speed by a Linear Motor system.

Intamin is also responsible for a large number of other thrill rides. They have designed some of the largest Ferris wheels in the world, along with various types of observation towers, and currently hold the record for the world's tallest and fastest freefall ride (The Giant Drop) at Dreamworld, Australia. They also supply motion simulator technology which can be seen in many installations around the world. Intamin is also credited with the invention of the river rapids ride, though the idea was given to Intamin by Bill Crandall, a past General Manager of AstroWorld.

Outside the amusement realm, Intamin supplies monorail transportation systems which are used in both public transport networks and at tourist attractions across the world.

Coasters

See

Connections with Bolliger & Mabillard

The company is also known for being the original home to the famous (within the coaster world) Bolliger & Mabillard (B&M). The two engineers worked for Giovanola who in turn were frequently contracted by Intamin for their early stand-up roller coasters (Giovanola eventually started producing roller coasters independently). B&M broke away from Giovanola to form their own company which now supplies roller coasters as well. Similarities between the two companies are often obvious, such as the style of track used by B&M, which was used in a number of early Giovanola installations which were contracted by Intamin.

Safety Incidents

Intamin has been in the news for a number of safety-related accidents or incidents.^†

* In 1984, 3 passengers riding The Edge at Marriott's Great America were injured and hospitalized. The boys were soon after released. The ride had experienced a software malfunction that caused the ride to fall backwards down the wrong shaft.Fact|date=July 2007

* In May 1999, a passenger riding the newly opened Superman Ride of Steel roller coaster at Six Flags Darien Lake fell out of the train.

* In 1999, a 12-year-old boy fell to his death on the Drop Zone Stunt Tower at Paramount's Great America. Following the accident, modifications were made to add redundancy to ride restraints of not just Drop Zone, but all of the Intamin Drop Towers around the world. Fact|date=July 2007

* In 2001 a 40-year-old woman fell from Perilous Plunge at Knotts Berry Farm. She was too large to be correctly restrained by the T-Bar, and rose out of it on the -1G 76 degree drop.

In 2004 two incidents involving the Intamin lapbar system occurred within months of each other. The first on Hydro, an Intamin vertical river plunge at Oakwood Leisure Park (Narberth, Pembrokeshire) in which 16-year-old Hayley Williams fell approximately convert|100|ft|m|-1|abbr=on to her death. The peculiar incident is very similar to an earlier accident with another vertical plunge ride, Perilous Plunge. Hydro remained closed for the rest of the park's 2004 season before reopening 2005 with modifications that have seen the lapbar restraints replaced with "Over-the-Shoulder" restraints.

The second incident of 2004 was on one of Intamin's mega coasters, Superman: Ride of Steel at Six Flags New England in Massachusetts. The ride, again with lapbar restraints, was dispatched with a sufferer of cerebral palsy in the front seat. According to an investigation [http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2004/05/07/coaster_riders_question_safety_steps/] , the ride operators were primarily to blame for not ensuring the man was properly secured. Intamin was also partially blamed for the ride's safety system allowing the train to be dispatched without all the restraints properly secured. Some blame was also attributed to the victim for not notifying the operators of his condition.

Intamin is now supplying rides with the more restricting OTS (Over-the-shoulder) restraints as well as the traditional lapbars for added safety.

In June 2007, a 13-year-old girl had both of her feet severed at the ankles on Superman: Tower of Power at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom. A ride malfunction caused a cable to snap and a cord to wrap around the girl's feet, amputating both of them. She was brought to the hospital in critical condition. [ [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19370592/ Teen’s feet severed while on thrill ride - Life - MSNBC.com ] ]

Recently in June 2008, the same accident stated above occurred at the Hurakan Condor ride in PortAventura, Spain. However, luckily, the ride was emergency stopped and no one was injured.

:^†Citations for all incidents listed above are available on the various "Incidents" pages listed at Amusement park accidents. In most cases, please see those pages for additional information.

Notable Intamin AG Roller Coasters

Existing Intamin Roller Coasters

An incomplete table of currently-standing Intamin coasters:

References

ee also

* Incidents at Six Flags parks
* Incidents at PARC Management parks
* Incidents at Cedar Fair parks

External links

* [http://www.intaminworldwide.com/ Intamin (official site)]
* [http://www.intamin.de/ Intamin Bahntechnik (official site of Intamin's factory in Germany)]
* [http://www.intamindb.com/ Intamin Ride Database (IRDB)]
* [http://www.rideaccidents.com/intamin Accidents involving amusement roller coasters manufactured by Intamin]