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I think were they going to build a new one they’d use frequency drives.
Ride the Zipper?
Originally Posted by: ridejocky 

Yeah, we used to go through a few of those spring couplings on the Strates wheel.

They probably didn’t use a soft-start because the booms have to start (and run) the same speed


That makes sense. It's a shame especially on the wheel drives, some sort of soft start would eliminate the herky jerky every time you start and stop the wheels, which beats everything up.
All Skywheels should be yeller.
Yeah, we used to go through a few of those spring couplings on the Strates wheel.

They probably didn’t use a soft-start because the booms have to start (and run) the same speed
Ride the Zipper?
On most Sky wheels, the boom drive motors and the shaft speed reducers were mounted in line (or next to each other). The spring grid couplings are the shaft couplers between the two. These type of couplers act as a shock absorber to dissipate the initial thump of the motor starting up, reducing wear on the speed reducers and bull wheel cables as these do not utilize soft start controls.
There were 2 0r 3 Sky wheels built with the motors mounted underneath the speed reducers, and coupled with pulleys and V-belts. These in my opinion were a better setup because you could change the rpm's of the booms by using different sized pulleys, this puts the wheels in a slightly different phase in relation to the booms on each revolution giving a much more exciting ride than the other setup.
All Skywheels should be yeller.
The main drive motors are what drive the wheel. On most bigger wheels, there is a rim that sticks up from the wheel which 2 tires (1 on top 1 on bottom of the rim) that press against the rim and move to wheel. On all of the gaint+ wheels there are usually 4 sets of tires (1 per corner) that drive the wheel and they all are set to run at the same speed and start and stop at the same time. I think I covered that the best I can, I'm sure others could explain better and/or add to it.
Hi Folks:

I have been reading the book "Ferris Wheels" by Norman Anderson.

The book describes the boom motors as "Two synchronized 5 HP fluid shaft main drive motors throught heavgy-duty spring-grid couplings assure safe, smooth starts and stops."

What exactly does this mean. Can someone simplify and/or elaborate on it?

Mike