SMASHING UP A BIG WHEEL.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 11581, 13 October 1900, Page 4 (Supplement)

SMASHING UP A BIG WHEEL.

; When the Ferris wheel is sent to the scrap heap — a thing likely soon to hap. pea — the greatest engineering vagary uf the ceptury will have passed into that, oblivion reserved for fads, flyiug machines »nd perpetual, m xion contrivances (remarks a Lnndou paper. Not; that the great Ferns wbe°l is any 'of thi s , but s : mply becat se it co 1 never serve any practical use , becanse it embodies no distinctly q,-,v prinupil ii.^ engineering, aud beciuse it has a marjHlona faculty for emptying the cofi>>r-< of those who have tried to maki n» huj;j hnlk eurn even a small part of the cost of maintaining it, to say nothing of the cose of original investment. As one uf the wonder 3of the World's Fiir at Chicago of 1895 — perhaps tl/e chief wonder — the Ferris wheel stood unique During the continuance of the Exposition over a million and a half of vi-mors from all quarters of tbo globe rode in its suspended cars, and from a height of 2Gift oatight a bird s-eyo g imp-e of the Fair grounds, fciie lake, ami the distant city. Though less than a third the height of the Eiffl Tower of the Paris Exposition, tiie Ferris whe?l was a mudi wonder. The Eiff. 1 Tower was merely a projection of ouccesaive towers ono upon nuother. Given a suitable ba^e, its construction simply meant the striding of iioa and stuel straight into the air. But in the Ferris wheel something n»w was accomplished in construction— uew bpcauio of its great size, it was the projection of a mighty circle, oirrying tuousands of tons of steel anJ iron suspended from an axle, and readily i movable by the application of machiDery. To have built the Ferris wheel simply to stand upon its periphery would have been a comparatively aiin/e task. To suspend this mass of uietul from a central point and give it motion was the cot caption of genius. , Eiffil and his engineers were three years building the Tower in Paris. The Ferris wheel was constructed aad carrying passengers within four months. The idea of erecting this great wheel came to Mr Ferris, an engineer for the Pittsbnrg Iron Company, about a year before the opening of the World's Fair. Mr Ferris .vas then known as one of the most expert bridge- builders in America, if not in the world, but when his schema was mentioned to o^her engineers it was promptly pronounced chimerical. About five thousand was sp?nt in plans and tests before the actual construction of the w iet-1 bsgan. Some thirty firms took part in its makiDg, aud a Ohicigo firm saw to its erection. When ready to he turced, the Ferris wheel had cost over £70,000 and had consumed about 4000 tons of iron and steel. The movable part of it weighed abrnit 2000 tons, and it required two engines of 1000 horse-power each to keep It turning. And so nicely adjustod were all the parts, so weli balanced was the great steel ciro'o with its thirty-six cars, capable of carrying 2160 parsons that it was under as full control as a sewing inschine or a donkeyengine. It is barely possible, that had the World's Fair lasted a year r>r two, the Ferris wheel would have paid for itself. This is ba^ed on tho assumption that it would have continued Jo ba a novelty for twelve months or more. As it wo 5, the gross earnings of the wheel during the Fair was £100,000. ; About one fifth *f this went to tho stock-holders as profits. The power necessary to operate the big wheel would have run a cotton factory of 100,000 spindles and 3000 looms, and emnloying 5000 operatives. But the fair lasted only six months, and the Ferris wheel ceased paying dividends with the closing of the Exposition gates. It was then moved to another part ot the city, and placed in a space so small that the oars hung over other property while the wheel was revolving. There it has turned occasionally for the last few years eating up coal, piling up cost, an eyesore to the neighbourhood, and a white elephant to its owners. What has the big wheel cost to dn.to ? Deducting the sum pa ! d to stock-holders during the World's fair, and counting as part of the cost what it has lost tv its owners, it is safe to say that £200,000 will not cover the total. To move it cost alone and it is estimated that it will require an expenditure of at least £5,000 to take it down and remove it from where it now stands.

Hix : " What would you think of a man who divulged a secret entruatcl to him ?" Dix : '• Well, I should think he was on an equal footing with the man who entrusted it to him,"