Lift Question

Is it possible to increase or decrease the speed of the elevator lift?

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MF Count: 11

Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe the lift speed is variable. Thus do to the blocking on the ride. Once the third coaster is of the brakes and into the unload station the lift speeds up. This can be felt about 50ft from the top. It didn't seem that much of a change to me, but a couple of people I knew said they could realy feel it!

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"Your obssesed w/ that place aren't you?"

Does anyone know how the sled engages or why it is so much longer?

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Millennium Force - world's first and greatist gigacoaster!

There is a feed dog that engages under the train, but what do you mean by it being longer?

I love the "launch" at the top, because it always freaks people out. I can always hear people give a scream when it speeds up.

hehe, id like to hear and see the people if it were stopped on the top for a minute
I know id love it!
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if I used spell check on this post,this signature will not have any misspellings!!!!

The speeding up effect is awesome. I love how it makes that peak seem so much closer and then hurls you over, causing many people to scream. haha, gotta love that.

Being stuck at the top is cool, but a little off-putting of a feeling. I was in the front seat of the red train when M.F. stopped close to the top, it was only about 45 seconds. But an even odder incident was when i was going to be the in the next train load...the train started going out of the station, and about a fourth of the train was on the incline, then all of the sudden, the train came back into the station with little speed but it startled everyone, especially the front car because they were stuck on the incline alone witht he rest of the train in the station. But anyways, when the train rolled back into the station you could hear a huge "klank" noise which obviously an anti rollback device.

I was on MF during such an incident. It didn't hit an anti-rollback. Most of the train would have to have been out of the station for that to happen. What happened was the train's momentum carried it forward for a few feet when the sled stopped. When gravity took over, the train rolled back down into the station and slammed into the lift sled. Not too much fun for the lift system if this happens quite a bit. The only benefit is that I can say I was on a MF rollback :)

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Scott W. Short
scott@midwestcoastercentral.com
http://www.midwestcoastercentral.com

It's all most a situation you would pay for to experience. Pretty neat.

The sled is long because it has to grab the train under the fourth car. The cable can't follow it down that far because it has to turn around and head toward the drum. When the sled is in the ready position, the cables form a giant triangle with a "dangler" under the train.

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Jeff
Webmaster/Guide to The Point
Millennium Force laps: 50

What Scott forgot to mention, assuming he's talking about the incident I think he's talking about, was that when he experienced the rollback, he happened to be sitting in Car #4, right above the lift dogs. Which was also interesting.

--Dave Althoff, Jr., who was also there at the time.

Jeff, I am confused! There is a second cable to for a triangle?

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Visit Cedar Point The Amazement Park!
www.TheAmazementPark.com *** This post was edited by coast on 12/28/2000. ***

Yes, there are actually two cables. Each one starts at the drum and ends at the sled. The one that does the pulling up the lift is a thicker gauge than the other. If you look at the older photos in the gallery of the drum, you'll notice that the groves on one half are larger than those on the other half.

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Jeff
Webmaster/Guide to The Point
Millennium Force laps: 50

This is, of course, related to the length of the lift catchwagon. Because the catchwagon does not push the train up from the rear, it is necessary for the lift sled to extend partway down the drop in order to insure that a back-heavy train doesn't get stuck at the peak of the hill. Because the catchwagon does not pull the train from the front, the lift catchwagon has to be long enough to extend under the front of the train so that the cable doesn't abrade against the bottom of the car at the bottom of the hill. This means that when the train releases from the catchwagon at the top of the hill, most of the catchwagon is past the hill peak. So simply releasing the tension on the hoisting cable will not cause the catchwagon to reverse; in fact, it "wants" to continue forward down the first drop. So a second cable attaches to the back of the catchwagon to haul it backwards over the top of the lift. Once it's over the top of the lift, the hoisting cable maintains tension to keep the catchwagon from entering the station at 92 mph. Since the total distance from the cable drum, to the station, to the catchwagon, to the hill peak, to the cable drum is always constant, it is possible to use a single cable drum for both cables.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

So Rideman,If the cable broke when it was on its return(the one the keeps the tension)the lift sled will fly into the station real quick?
And out the back of the bottom of the station where it looks like it can be removed from the cables anyway??

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if I used spell check on this post,this signature will not have any misspellings!!!!

WHOEVER, if you drop any object from 300', it will accelerate to better than 90 MPH. So a catastrophic failure of the lift cable would probably allow the catchwagon to come flying down the hill and back into the station. I am making the assumption that there are no elevator-style safety brakes on the catchwagon (I don't think there are, but I haven't studied it in enough detail to know for sure). Also, I don't think the catchwagon can be taken off under the station, as there is a very large concrete support post centered at the end of the catchwagon rail uptrack of the station. As a matter of fact, I think some of us were speculating last season as to whether the purpose of that S-bend under the station and into the pillar was to protect bystanders in the event of a catastrophic lift cable failure. If the lift cable failed at any time, either while lifting the train, or while returning the catchwagon to the station, while the anti-rollbacks under Car #5 will keep the train from rolling back, there doesn't appear to be anything protecting the catchwagon. Such a failure would be noisy, would probably destroy the catchwagon, and would generally be a Very Bad Thing, but since the catchwagon is captive between its guide rails, the danger to customers and crew is probably minimal. Evacuation would be the bigger problem.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

thanks,never looked under there too close :)

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if I used spell check on this post,this signature will not have any misspellings!!!!
*** This post was edited by WHOEVER on 12/29/2000. ***

Actually, Dave, I only have the construction photos to go by, but it appears the sled track goes under by way of the S-bend through two pi-shaped supports where it would have room to slide under the transfer, before hitting a centered footer under the unload station. Again, I'm going off of the construction photos, so I could be wrong.

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Jeff
Webmaster/Guide to The Point
Millennium Force laps: 50

By 'pi' shaped, are you referring to the slice of a circle, or the symbol for the number which approximates to 3.14159...?

The number... sans the little curly parts.

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Jeff
Webmaster/Guide to The Point
Millennium Force laps: 50