Power Tower Evac

Last time I was at CP and on the Power Tower it took a little longer for it to drop. When I was up there, it made me think, how would they get people down if the turbo drop side were to go down and the car would not release? I think you would have a hard time getting people to get out of their seat and into whatever they would use to get you down.

Once I saw the Turbo Drop side being e-stopped and for whatever reason it came down really slow. At the same time I have seen maintence men go up and down the tower really slow checking the cables a well.

------------------
Dan Haverlock
"who didn't see anything"

the only thing holding up there is the compressed air so why would it get stuck.

Like if the brakes wouldn't let go......

------------------
Wicked Twister Rocks

Get To The Po!nt My Website
Evan H., Webmaster, GetToThePo!nt

I don't think there are any "brakes" in the sense of regular brakes. Come to think of it what would the failsafe be in the case of a catostrophic loss of air pressure? I

------------------
Welcome back Magnum riders how was your ride?

Watch the base of the tower when the 'vehicle' launches/begins ascent. At each corner of the tower, what looks like a hyraulic ram goes up. I'm sure RideMan or someone else could give a better description of what it is and how it works.

------------------
Tommy Penner - Variable X
Cedar Point FanBoy since 2001.

Power Tower is supposedly failsafe... if there was a catostrophic loss of air pressure for whatever reason when a car was up on the top, it will slowly descend back to the platform...

I'm not sure of all the engineering behind this, but supposedly it's 100% failsafe...

On the Turbo Drop, there are steel bars that stick up from the top of the car. I don't think you'd call them "brakes", but something grabs these bars when the ride is at the top, and holds it while the air pressure is adjusted for the drop (that's the whooshing sound you hear). When they let go, you drop.

Last year, I did see an empty car at the top for about 30 minutes during the afternoon. After it had been up there for a while, I saw some maintenence guys climb to the top, and after they did some work, it gradually started coming down like Dan described.

I would think the car is held at the top until the pressure is stablized, and that way if there is a failure, it will just hold the car and not let it drop. That would make the most sense to me anyway. Also, I do think the hydrolic ram is a last resort safety feature designed to at least slow you down a little if something terrible was to happen. I'm sure Ride Man has more info about this.

------------------
-Chris Woodard
Who finally met the infamous Magnum Dan!

I thought that all S&S towers had guide wires on all four sides, that can also operated as another way to lower and raise the car in case of maintance or emergency.

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

Those cables are used to run the ride, but would also have to be used to lower the car in case of emergency. Jeff gave a good explanation as to how the cables work here.
------------------
-Chris Woodard
Who finally met the infamous Magnum Dan!

If the car on the Drop side was at the very top and a loss of air pressure occured, wouldn't it just drop anyway? The Launch side wouldn't launch in that situation anyway

when i woke up early in the morning at hotel breakers...i looked out of my window and saw that 3 of the cars on the power tower were just up the air about half way up...they stayed like that for about an hour...i think there is something else that holds the veichles up besides air pressure.

------------------
- Dennis

Remembering 9/11

We Will Never Forget

I am wondering what would happem if the Space shot launched and then there was a catostrophic loss of air pressure. Say the tube explodes (I know very unlikely). What would keep the car from crashing down into the Earth as fast as fast as gravity could pull it down?

------------------
Welcome back Magnum riders how was your ride?

It's not like the cars run up and down those towers by themselves after being shot with air pressure. There's cables attached to the cars on each side of the tower. I won't pretend to understand how it works, but there is a pulley system involved. I'd imagine that somewhere within that pulley system is a failsafe, that in the event of a malfunction, only allows those cars to move back to ground level at a regulated speed.

------------------
gravity: down to earth, without the sugar coating.

www.geocities.com/gravityjmb

But the deal is their is one cable that connects to the bottom and top of the car. The way i understand it it works just like I gigantic piston with the actual piston being at the oppisite spot on the cable from the car. I don't know what else the cables are attached too but thats how it works. I am sure there is a failsafe but I would love to understand what it is.

Where is Dave aka Rideman when ya need him?

------------------
Welcome back Magnum riders how was your ride?

Who needs him? There are four tubes, do you really think all four are going to fail at the same time?

------------------
Jeff
Webmaster/GTTP, Sillynonsense.com
"Let's stop saying 'don't quote me,' because if no one quotes you, you probably haven't said a thing worth saying." - Dogma, KMFDM

CP_Jigga said:
when i woke up early in the morning at hotel breakers...i looked out of my window and saw that 3 of the cars on the power tower were just up the air about half way up...they stayed like that for about an hour...i think there is something else that holds the veichles up besides air pressure.
------------------

What you were witnessing was part of the 'AM checkup' PT gets. They do the same thing @ VF. I'm guessing it's to ensure everything maintains proper pressure.

The Turbo Drops don't drop at all-they're pushed. So if something goes wrong, they don't get pushed and stay put. If there was an emergency situation, the air can be bled off and the vehicles would gradually drop. In a true emergency (power loss), it would take a half-hour to get them down; but rideops can lower them from the operating panel without maintenance intervention if they need to.

-'Playa

------------------
The CPlaya 100--6 days, 9 parks, 47 coasters, 2037 miles and a winner.....LoCoSuMo.

*** This post was edited by CoastaPlaya 9/5/2002 10:50:36 AM ***

Dan said:
Once I saw the Turbo Drop side being e-stopped and for whatever reason it came down really slow.

I saw that once too. In fact, I think I saw you that time, Dan. It was on this past Memorial Day weekend. I think I saw you getting off Wicked Twister (last ride of the night?). I don't know for sure if that was the time I saw it happen, but the far space shot (from the queue) wasn't working all day. There were maintenence man all around and they finally opened it, and the second shot it reached the top and then it started to slowly come down.

------------------
Paul

Duh, thanks Jeff for making me realize I am an idiot. I knew there were four tubes what the hell was I thinking? these 12 hour work days making car seats for Honda's of all things (I make em and I wouldn't buy one) are getting the best of me.

------------------
Welcome back Magnum riders how was your ride?