Questions about "-O-Plane" rides

Spiders only have six arms, two tubs each.

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SFEG's #1 Most Requested Lost Item Retrieval of 2003:
Silver Motorola Flip Phone

Like the old Lobster at Great America, Santa Clara? I actually got to run that one. Cool ride to run because it had joysticks instead of push buttons.

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"I go out at 3 o' clock for a quart of milk and come home to my son treating his body like an amusement park!" - Estelle Costanza

I thought that the Spider had double the amount of cars (two per sweep as opposed to one), but that is based upon my memory of assembling those little IHC model kits many years back.

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-Rob
A.C.E. member since 1990
Posting @ Coasterbuzz since 2000
E.C.C. member since 2002

Oh wait a minute, the lobster had four tubs per sweep. Would that be considered a "Monster"?

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"I go out at 3 o' clock for a quart of milk and come home to my son treating his body like an amusement park!" - Estelle Costanza

My guess is that the version at Paramounts Great America was probably a Schwarzkopf Monster (aka Polyp). I know that the version at SFGAm is a Schwarzkopf and since Marriott bought the same rides for each park (and bought a lot from Intamin) when they had the same owner there is a good chance that this is from Anton.

Adam

I think you are right about it being called "Polyp" generically. I vaguely remember from the manual. Situated next to the Tidal Wave of course. :)

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"I go out at 3 o' clock for a quart of milk and come home to my son treating his body like an amusement park!" - Estelle Costanza

IHC's spider matches the prototype with 6 arms, two tubs on each. It's actually one their better rides. The Monster has 4 tubs on each arm (and each "pod" of 4 tubs also rotates). The Ocotopus has 8 arms with either 1 or two tubs per arm.

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Ripple Rock Amusement Park

Yup, one of the joysticks controlled the "pod" rotation while the other controlled the main rotation. Come to think of it, it was a really large ride.

Now if HUSS would make a gigantic version. Could you imagine a Monster with 50' arms? :)

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"I go out at 3 o' clock for a quart of milk and come home to my son treating his body like an amusement park!" - Estelle Costanza

Okay, let me spill what I know...

The Eyerly Aircraft Company was founded back in the 1920's by Lee Eyerly and Frank Hrubetz as a flying school, flying service, and aircraft manufacturer. Unlike the Eli Bridge Company, which in its current incarnation never built a single bridge, Eyerly Aircraft actually built aircraft. In fact, I found a couple of photos on the Web...link at the bottom of this page. They eventually came up with an oddball flight trainer with an aircraft fuselage mounted on a wheeled trailer and attached to a big yoke. Called the Acroplane, it flew thanks to the electric propeller on the front and the working control surfaces. One thing led to another, and before long, Eyerly and Hrubetz were in the amusement ride business, building the Loop-O-Plane, then the Roll-O-Plane, the Fly-O-Plane, then the Rock-O-Plane. Later still came the Octopus, with eight straight sweeps and either eight or sixteen tubs, then the Spider with only six curved sweeps, but two tubs per sweep and the ability to load two sweeps at a time. The Monster was the logical extension of the Spider, with four tubs per sweep, six sweeps, and a rotating pod on the end of each sweep for the tubs to attach to.

There are some oddball variations out there. The first couple of Monsters, for instance, had only five sweeps. The earliest Octopus rides (Octopi?) had a two-layer center, four up, four down, similar to the Flying Coaster at Kennywood. Later Octopus rides were more conventional with an octagonal center. Enchanted Village has a strange hybrid, a Spidopus, an Octopus with *six* straight sweeps. I have heard that there is at least one eight-sweep Spider out there as well. Another variation is that Spider sweeps come in two sizes, the difference being the design of the sweep at the point where it attaches to the ride center.

As for the later history of Eyerly and how it morphed into ORI, there are too many steps involved for me to describe it accurately. I know that for a time the company became JVI and actually created the tank-steering Krazy Kar bumper cars, but that operation somehow became RDC, and through a series of maneuvers ORI was formed and set up shop in the original Eyerly facility in Salem, to provide parts and support for the old Eyerly rides. I have no idea what the current status of ORI is; I heard at one point that they moved to Portland, but I don't know that for certain.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I hated the Roll-O-Plane at Knobels. It hurt my legs so bad!

Thanks for the info, Dave. That definitely helped!

My question is... how many Eyerly rides has Oregon Rides manufactured since the rides fell under the "Oregon" name? I understand that the company does very little to market themselves and their product, but also know that they have produced new rides. Do parks still install Spiders/Monsters that are brand-new, or are there enough used versions out there to satisfy whatever demand there is?

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-Rob
A.C.E. member since 1990
Posting @ Coasterbuzz since 2000
E.C.C. member since 2002

I don't know for certain. The only ride I know for certain was built new by ORI is the (now gone) Kennywood Roll-O. It seems that most of their business is in refurbishing old rides. For example, when I was out there for a couple of weeks in '97 (long story...) they were finishing up a total rehab of the Rocky Point Spider...rebuilt the center, converted the sweeps to the new style, replaced the decorative ball on the top of the eccentric tube, replaced the tubs, and racked the whole thing on a new trailer. Just before that ride went out, someone else's Sidewinder came in. So I think for the most part the demand for those old rides is being satisfied by the used market. Those old rides...and I'm talking about old rides from just about any manufacturer...were built big, heavy, and strong, and the good ones will run forever with proper care.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

I figured that there was an ample supply of pretty much any kind of flat ride out there, which makes me wonder why Kennywood went with a new ride instead of a refurbished one?

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-Rob
A.C.E. member since 1990
Posting @ Coasterbuzz since 2000
E.C.C. member since 2002