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, MD. This division is called IntaRide LLC, and is headed up by Sandor Kernacs. The Intamin brand name is an abbreviation of sorts for: 'INT'ernational 'AM'usement 'IN'stallations. 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 also designed and built the first "river rapids ride" known as "Thunder River" based off the idea supplied by Bill Crandall, a past General Manager at the now defunct Six Flags AstroWorld. Intamin also marketed the first Freefall (developed by Giovanola) experience and the first Drop Tower.

Contents

Products and technologies

Coasters

Connections with Bolliger & Mabillard

Safety Incidents

Notable Intamin AG Roller Coasters

Existing Intamin Roller Coasters

References

See also

External links

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 120 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 of 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 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

Main articles: Amusement park accidents

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. The ride had experienced a software malfunction that caused the ride to fall backwards down the wrong shaft.

★ 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.

★ 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 an incident 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 S.Wales) in which 16-year-old Hayley Williams fell approximately 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 the Six Flags New England park in Massachusetts. The ride, again with lapbar restraints, was dispatched with a sufferer of cerebral palsy in the front seat. According to an investigation[1], 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 as well as the victim himself for not notifying the operators of his condition.
Intamin is now supplying rides with the more restricting OTSR (Over the Shoulder Restraints) as well as the traditional lapbars for added safety and to restrict the passenger's movements.
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. ^[1]
:^†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

Year	Accomplishment	Roller Coaster	Park	Notes
1997	First roller coaster to go above .	Tower of Terror	Dreamworld	★ Not a complete circuit; the train does not reach the top of the vertical spike.
1997	First roller coaster with a structure to reach beyond .	Superman The Escape	Six Flags Magic Mountain	★ Not a complete circuit; the train does not reach the top of the vertical spike.
1997	First roller coaster(s) to go	Tower of Terror & Superman The Escape	Dreamworld and Six Flags Magic Mountain	★ See above
1998	First LIM launched inverted roller coaster		Kings Dominion	★ Also is the fastest inverted coaster at when first opened
1999	First Intamin AG branded "mega" coaster (over 200 ft)		Darien Lake Theme Park Resort	★ Originally Superman - Ride of Steel (Six Flags)
2000	First Intamin AG branded "giga" coaster (over 300 ft)	Millennium Force	Cedar Point	★ First roller coaster to stand over 300 ft. (310 ft)
2000	First roller coaster to drop .	Millennium Force	Cedar Point	★ Drop is exactly .
2000	First LIM Twisted impulse roller coaster	Steel Venom	Geauga Lake	★ Originally Superman Ultimate Escape (Six Flags) ★ Coaster is no longer located at Geauga Lake
2001	First roller coaster to utilize an LIM launch hill	California Screamin'	Disney's California Adventure	★ Has a magnetic launch followed by a magnetic non-cable/chain lift hill (this along with "scream tunnels" was done to reduce noise)
2002	First roller coaster to do 10 inversions	Colossus	Thorpe Park	★ Intamin AG is the only company to produce a model that does more than 8 inversions at this time (8/2007)
2002	First Hydraulic Catapult launch coaster	Xcelerator	Knott's Berry Farm
2003	First Intamin AG branded "strata" coaster (over 400 ft)	Top Thrill Dragster	Cedar Point	★ Tallest and fastest coaster in the world when opened at . and
2003	First roller coaster to drop .	Top Thrill Dragster	Cedar Point	★ Drop is exactly .
2003	First Intamin water coaster branded "AquaTrax"	Atlantis Adventure	Lotte World	★ This is the only known AquaTrax that is operating and no other Aquatrax is currently planned for the future. ★ Features LSM propulsion
2005	Current record holder for the fastest and tallest roller coaster	Kingda Ka	Six Flags Great Adventure	★ 456 feet high; launch speed
2007	First Terra Coaster, with Dual LSM launch (launch hill and flat launch) with a 95-degree drop and a terrain hugging layout	Maverick	Cedar Point

Existing Intamin Roller Coasters

An incomplete table of currently-standing Intamin coasters:

Name	Model	Park/Country	Year Opened
Atlantis Adventure	Aqua Trax	Lotte World, South Korea	2003
Avalancha	Looping Coaster (Monte Makaya)	Xetulul, Guatemala	2002
California Screamin'	Looping Coaster (Custom)	Disney's California Adventure, United States	2001
Cobra	Stand-Up Coaster	La Ronde, Canada	1995
Colossos	Wooden Coaster (Pre-Fab)	Heide Park, Germany	2001
Colossus	Looping Coaster (Colossus)	Thorpe Park, Great Britain	2002
El Toro	Pre-Fab Wood Coaster - Plug-N-Play	Six Flags Great Adventure, United States	2006
Expedition GeForce	Mega Coaster	Holiday Park, Germany	2001
Flight of the Phoenix	looping coaster (Monte Makaya)	China	2006
Furious Baco	Accelerator Coaster	PortAventura, Spain	2007
Goliath	Mega Coaster	Walibi World, Netherlands	2002
Half Pipe	Half Pipe Coaster (20m)	Don Quijote, Japan	(SBNO)
Half Pipe	Half Pipe Coaster (30m)	Särkänniemi, Finland	2003
Half Pipe	Half Pipe Coaster (30m)	Six Flags Elitch Gardens, United States	2004
Half Pipe	Half Pipe Coaster (30m)	Wet 'n' Wild Water World, Australia	2007
Indiana Jones et le Temple du Péril	Looping Coaster (Custom)	Disneyland Resort Paris, France	1993
Kanonen	Accelerator Coaster	Liseberg, Sweden	2005
Kingda Ka	Accelerator Coaster	Six Flags Great Adventure, United States	2005
Kirnu	Ball Coaster	Linnanmäki, Finland	2007
Millennium Force	Giga Coaster	Cedar Point, United States	2000
Maverick	Launched Full-Circuit Coaster	Cedar Point, United States	2007
Raging Spirits	Looping Coaster (Custom)	Tokyo DisneySea, Japan	2005
Rita - Queen of Speed	Accelerator Coaster	Alton Towers, Great Britain	2005
Shockwave	Stand-Up Coaster	Drayton Manor, Great Britain	1994
Skycar	Accelerator Coaster	Mysterious Island, China	2005
Speed Monster	Accelerator Coaster	Tusenfryd, Norway	2006
Stealth	Accelerator Coaster	Thorpe Park, Great Britain	2006
Storm Runner	Accelerator Coaster	Hersheypark, United States	2004
Superman Escape	Accelerator Coaster	Warner Bros. Movie World, Australia	2005
Superman - Ride of Steel	Mega Coaster	United States	1999
Supersonic Odyssey	Looping Coaster (Custom)	Cosmo's World, Malaysia	2003
Tenth Ring Roller Coaster	Looping Coaster (Colossus)	China	2006
The Claw	Gyro Swing	Dreamworld, Australia	2004
Top Thrill Dragster	Accelerator Coaster	Cedar Point, United States	2003
Tower of Terror	Accelerator Coaster	Dreamworld, Australia	1997
Tornado	Inverted Coaster	Särkänniemi, Finland	2001
Xcelerator	Accelerator Coaster	Knott's Berry Farm, United States	2002
Zaturn	Accelerator Coaster	Japan	2006

References

1. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19370592/

See also

★ Incidents at Cedar Fair parks

★ Incidents at PARC Management parks

★ Incidents at Six Flags parks

External links

★ Intamin (official site)

★ Intamin Bahntechnik (official site of Intamin's factory in Germany)

★ Intamin brochure outlining various products

★ Accidents involving amusement roller coasters manufactured by Intamin