The Ferris Wheel

The Ferris wheel gets its name from the engineer who designed the first one, George Washington Gale Ferris. In 1890, Congress decided to celebrate the discovery of America by Columbus by hosting the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The director of the corporation in charge of the event was given the task of coming up with something to be the icon of the event, as the Eiffel Tower was to the 1889 Paris Exposition. He presented the problem to a group of engineers, and Mr. Ferris presented the solution, which was a giant revolving wheel that people could ride in.

The task was monumental. A structure of this size and shape had never been built, which meant that the science behind it had not yet been tested. In fact, the Saturday Afternoon Club, a group of engineers and architects of the time, called him a fool and proclaimed that he would never be able to build the giant wheel. He obtained permission in spite of this and began building.

The wheel spun on an 89,320-pound axle, which was forged in Pittsburgh. The 45 ½-foot axel carried two 16-foot cast-iron spiders that turned the machine. It was turned with a 1000 hp reversible engine using ten-inch steam pipes. A second engine stood in reserve in case the first broke. An air brake stopped the contraption when needed. The final wheel stood 264 feet tall.

Once the device had performed one complete revolution on June 9, 1893, the cars were hung. The cars could hold 60 total passengers and took 20 minutes to make one turn. The grand opening occurred on June 21 st . Between its opening and the end of the expo on November 6 th , the wheel earned $726,805 dollars, which turned into a profit of $395,000 for the company that commissioned it.

After the expo , the wheel was moved to a new site in Chicago. However, it did not bring in the patrons they expected, and the company quickly went bankrupt. The wheel was sold at auction and transported piece by piece to St. Louis for the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition . Here it brought in less money, and on May 11, 1906, it was blown up. However, its legacy lives today in modern-day Ferris wheels. Today's wheels are not powered by steam, but the structure and turning mechanism are quite similar to the first one.

For more information, visit:

• The History of the Ferris Wheel – A guide from About.com
• The First Ferris Wheel – An interactive lesson plan teaching about the first Ferris wheel
• Ferris Wheel – Interesting facts about George Ferris's giant wheel
• Ferris Wheel, World's Columbian Exposition, 1893 – Images and information from the Encyclopedia of Chicago

To find images of the wheel, visit:

• 1893 Ferris Wheel Compared to Navy Pier's Ferris Wheel – Superimposed image compares two Chicago Ferris wheels
• The Ferris Wheel Souvenir – An image of a souvenir postcard from the 1893 World's Fair
• Ferris Wheel Research – A ThinkQuest full of images of construction and the finished product
• Ferris Wheel – A photograph of the first Ferris wheel
• Ferris Wheel Photograph – Another angle of the famous Ferris wheel 

The Ferris wheel, once the laughingstock of engineers, stands today as the icon of the Midway, and it owes its history to one brave engineer who was willing to think outside of the proverbial box.