LaMarcus Adna Thompson

LaMarcus Adna Thompson ( born March 8, 1848 in Jersey, Ohio, † May 8, 1919 in Glen Cove, New York ) is known for his pioneering work in the construction of roller coasters and is sometimes called " Father of Gravity" (English: Father of gravity) called. To his life's work include nearly 30 patents for roller coaster technology and dozens of railways, mainly in the United States. Sometimes Thompson is falsely attributed also the first patent on a roller coaster, but John G. Taylor patented in 1872 a " Inclined Railway" ( lit. inclined railway).

Its orbit Switchback Railway was inaugurated in 1884 on Coney Iceland is the first gravity - powered roller coaster in the United States. Model for this system was the Mauch Chunk Switchback Railway, a repurposed for entertainment coal mine train in today's Jim Thorpe (Pennsylvania), which Thompson had gone a few years earlier.

The journey of the Orient Scenic Railway was opened in 1887 with 10 km / h, although rather slowly, but the train was equipped with lighting effects and an artificial scene. This later became a model for other Scenic Railways and even modern railways.

In 1895, Thompson founded the LA Thompson Scenic Railway Company.

In Europe at least four lanes of Thompson come: roller coaster and Luna -Bahn in Vienna's Prater, Scenic Railway in Blackpool Pleasure Beach and Rutschebanen in Tivoli Copenhagen, which is the only still existing in Europe.