Putnik Ride

It's hard to see what this thing did, other than revolve around the fake Earth. Swing up and down, maybe? I assume there was a counterbalancing capsule on the other end of the boom.

Plus, 300 riders per hour? Three in each capsule, as shown. Six total per "ride." That's fifty rides per hour, given filling and emptying the capsules. One minute swinging around at the end of a boom?

Surely one of the dullest rides ever invented.

Source.

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Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over forty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. Contact Us

Posted By: Paul - Fri Dec 28, 2018
Category: Boredom | Fairs, Amusement Parks, and Resorts | Spaceflight, Astronautics, and Astronomy | 1950s

Comments

I am of the opinion the 300 rides per hour claim is more a sales pitch than a real world turnover.

agent j

Posted by agent j on 12/28/18 at 07:50 PM

A quick search in Billboard magazine back issues at Google books showed the price at $5,500 (in the July 27, 1959, issue, page 58). That's the equivalent of $47,000 in today's dollars. If rides were 25 cents each, it would take 22,000 rides just to pay the upfront cost. It'd be interesting to see the initial prices of other popular carnival rides in the early 20th century. Billboard probably has a lot of this information, especially in their classified ads section. A quick search found Ferris wheels going for about $5000 in 1950.

Posted by Fritz G on 12/29/18 at 06:36 AM

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