Intamin

Industry	Manufacturing
Headquarters	Wollerau, Switzerland
Products	Amusement rides, roller coasters, transportation
Divisions	Intamin Amusement Rides Intamin Transportation
Website	www.intaminworldwide.com

Intamin Worldwide 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 Sandor Kernacs. The Intamin brand name is an abbreviation for: INTernational AMusement INstallations. 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 Jr. Gemini, a roller coaster at Cedar Point in 1979. 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 [edit]

Intamin's product range is in two broad categories, Rides and Thrill Rides, and Transportation.

Amusement rides [edit]

Roaring Rapids river ride at Six Flags Over Texas (2007)

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 standstill to speeds upwards of 240 kilometres per hour (150 mph) in a few seconds before climbing up immense heights. Furius Baco at PortAventura, for instance is Europe's second fastest coaster, launching riders from 0–135 km/h (84 mph) in 3.5 seconds.

Intamin is also known for their massive "Mega Coaster" (Intamin's term for a hypercoaster; often considered over 200 ft/61 m) and "Giga Coaster" (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. Top Thrill Dragster uses lapbars as the choice of restraint, allowing the rider more comfort and freedom of the upper body throughout the ride than Kingda Ka's over-the-shoulder restraint system. Mega/Giga Coasters currently occupy the top 2 spots of the Golden Ticket Awards with Millennium Force (Giga) and Bizarro (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 superstructure is completed. This design enables the coaster to reach speeds and navigate course elements smoothly, like a steel roller coaster, while retaining the look and some of the traditional feel of common wooden coasters.

Kirnu - the first ZacSpin opened in 2007

Another recent roller coaster development by Intamin is the "ZacSpin", a type of 4th Dimension roller coaster that was first seen in 2007. The Green Lantern at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California, is the first ZacSpin in the United States and opened July 1, 2011. 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.

Maverick at Cedar Point

The company is 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.

Transportation [edit]

Outside the amusement realm, Intamin supplies monorail transportation systems which are used in both public transport networks and at tourist attractions across the world. Intamin was responsible for the design and building of the Moscow Monorail System. The Moscow Monorail (Russian: Московская Монорельсовая Транспортная Система (ММТС)) is a 4.7 kilometres (2.9 mi) long monorail system located in the North-Eastern Administrative Okrug of Moscow, Russia which runs from the Timiryazevskaya metro station to Sergeya Eisensteina street. The monorail line has 6 stations. Planning of the monorail in Moscow started in 1998.

Safety incidents [edit]

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

• In 1984, three passengers riding The Edge at Six Flags 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.^[1]
• On May 16, 1999, a 365 lb (166 kg) guest was unable to close his lap bar properly and was ejected and fell approximately 9 feet from the Ride of Steel roller coaster at Six Flags Darien Lake as the ride went over a "camel hump" hill, suffering serious injuries. He sued the park and the ride manufacturer for negligence, and was awarded US$3.95 million.^[2]
• In August 1999, a 12-year-old boy who was mentally disabled fell from the Drop Tower: Scream Zone ride at Paramount's Great America and died. The victim's family claimed the harness was not locked properly. An investigation was inconclusive and no charges were filed.^[3][4]
• In September 2001, a 40-year-old woman fell out of the Perilous Plunge attraction at Knott's Berry Farm, into the water, was hit by the boat, and died. An investigation showed that the 300 lb (140 kg) woman had loosened the safety restraints, so that she could fit more comfortably inside the ride.^[5]
• On April 16, 2004, a 16-year-old girl from Pontypool was killed after falling approximately 30 m (100 ft) from the top of the Hydro (now called Drenched) ride at Oakwood Leisure Park, Narberth, Pembrokeshire.^[6] During a trial brought by the victim's family against Oakwood, a jury returned a narrative verdict stating that the victim died due to not being properly restrained.^[7]
• 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 lap bar restraints, was dispatched with a sufferer of cerebral palsy in the front seat, who died after being ejected from his 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 because the ride's safety system allowed the train to be dispatched without all the restraints properly secured.
• 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 ^[8] and the park was later fined $1,000 for not properly maintaining the ride. The girl did survive the accident and doctors were able to re-attach her right foot. A settlement was reached later with Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom that will provide for her throughout her life.^[9]
• On September 16, 2009, two guests were injured when a cable snapped on the Xcelerator roller coaster at Knott's Berry Farm. The 12-year-old victim had lacerations on his leg, while the adult victim complained of back injuries.^[10]
• On July 8, 2011, a 29-year-old guest was killed when he was ejected from the Ride of Steel roller coaster. The rider, an Iraq War veteran whose legs had been amputated, was on the front row of the roller coaster when he was thrown from the train during the course of the ride. Park officials stated that the ride was in proper mechanical order and that the various safety restraints were also working normally at the time of the incident, but that the attraction would remain closed pending an investigation.^[11][12]
• On February 24, 2012, a 14-year-old girl died in an accident at Hopi Hari, Vinhedo, São Paulo State, Brazil. She fell from the drop tower ride "La Tour Eiffel" suffering cranial trauma and died on the way to the hospital. Local police are investigating the accident, initial investigations suggest the possibility of mechanical failure in the restraint latch.^[13]
• On July 24, 2012, a launch cable snapped on the launch coaster Rita, at Alton Towers in Staffordshire, UK. No one was hurt on or off the ride. Since then, the launch area has been sealed off to all guests, whereas before guests were able to walk underneath the launch to get access to the entrance of Th13teen, another one of Intamin's rides.^[14]

Notable Intamin roller coasters [edit]

See also [edit]

• List of Intamin rides
• Incidents at Six Flags parks
• Incidents at PARC Management parks
• Incidents at Cedar Fair parks

References [edit]

External links [edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Intamin AG

• Intamin (official site)
• Amusement Division
• Transportation Division
• Intamin Bahntechnik (official site of Intamin's factory in Germany)
• Accidents involving amusement roller coasters manufactured by Intamin
• Alton Towers Secret Weapon 6 believed to be built by Intamin