The Whip (ride)

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "The Whip" ride – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (August 2009) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

The Whip was a ride originally designed and built by W.F. Mangels Company of Coney Island, New York, United States.^[1] William F. Mangels patented the ride in 1914 and it soon became extremely popular.

The ride consists of two circular wheel-like turn-table platforms on opposing sides of a rectangular base. Motors turn a cable that leads a number of 2–3 person seater cars that are attached, around a laminated wooden track. The ride follows the track while the cable turns. When the car reaches one of the turn-table platforms, the speed picks up forcing riders to one side as the car whips around the corner. Whips with 8, 10, or 12 cars were available. At least two 16-car models exist, one operating at Kennywood and the other in storage at Knoebels. The Whip is commonly found at older, historic parks.

A children's version was also built that looked exactly like the full size version. A children's roto-whip was also produced and is in a circular motion that whips the cars as it goes around. The children's roto-whips are more common today than the full-scale versions.

The Whip's name could lead many to believe it is an aggressive thrill ride but most are actually very tame. The normal minimum rider height requirement is 46 inches tall unless with an adult at most parks, even though most whips are rarely aggressive rides. The version at Knoebel's has non-lockable restraints, and riders can easily get out during the ride's rotation, which may add reason to these restrictions.

The Whip spread to other countries such as England. During the 1930s, the English poet John Betjeman described St Giles' Fair in Oxford as follows:

It is about the biggest fair in England. The whole of St Giles' … is thick with freak shows, roundabouts, cake-walks, the whip, and the witching waves.

— Alison Petch^[2]