Volume 1, No. 22. November 30, 2001
Photo of the Space:Walk in use. Photo courtesy of Gerstlauer Elektro GmbH
Honor roll
Hailing from several universities
in southern Germany, the engineering students brought their class project to
Gerstlauer Elektro GmbH two years ago. They had designed a steel caged wheel
on the end of an arm that rotated on a single axis off a tower. Thanks to a
computerized counter-weight system, each step the person inside the wheel takes
raises the wheel, eventually making a full revolution, peaking at a height of
20.8 meters (68 feet).
One of the students' advisors thought Gerstlauer might be interested in the
project. The folks at the amusement ride manufacturer thought otherwise. "The
first day we looked at it and said, 'Oh, come on. They're crazy,'" said Franz
Maier, sales manager for Gerstlauer. "The next day, after we slept on it, we
thought, 'Well, maybe.' We sat down and started talking and said, "OK, yeah,
let's do it."
They built what they called Space:Walk and installed it in a garden show in
Singen, Germany. The ride proved so popular the garden festival in Hanau ordered
one. Gerstlauer plans to build a couple more to rent to other garden shows,
and brought brochures on the product to the IAAPA Trade Show. The firm believes
the simple ride has a number of amusement applications, from shopping centers
to theme parks, and operators can use the wheel's steel mesh for sponsor logos.
This is the first time Gerstlauer worked with students, who get royalties for
the idea. "If we sell one, they make money," Maier said. "This sometimes happens.
You can't predict when ideas walk in the door."
For full coverage on this and other new products and news at the IAAPA Trade
Show, see the January issue of Amusement Today, our booth buddies. Click here
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