Arrow Dynamics

Arrow Dynamics was an American manufacturing and engineering company that specialized in designing and building amusement park rides, especially roller coasters. Based in Clearfield, Utah, the company was the successor to Arrow Development (1946–1981) and Arrow Huss (1981–1986), which were responsible for several influential advancements in the amusement and theme park industries. Among the most significant was tubular steel track, which provided a smoother ride than the railroad style rails commonly used prior to the 1960s on wooden roller coasters. The Matterhorn Bobsleds at Disneyland, built in 1959, was Arrow's first roller coaster project.

In 1975, Arrow Development introduced the first corkscrew style track

Arrow Dynamics' forerunner, Arrow Development, was founded in 1946 when Ed Morgan, Karl Bacon, Bill Hardiman, and Angus "Andy" Anderson, started a machine shop in Mountain View, California.^[2] They started out selling used machine tools, building truck parts, and repairing cars until about 1950 when they built their first merry-go-rounds for San Jose's Alum Rock Park.^[3]

In 1953, they contacted

In 1959, Arrow Development designed what was to be their first of many roller coasters, the Matterhorn Bobsleds at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. Built in conjunction with WED Imagineering,^[5] the ride was the first modern tubular steel tracked roller coaster.

After construction of the Matterhorn, Disney bought a third of Arrow Development in an effort to keep them viable and at least partially in-house. Arrow had already developed rides for other customers, and had orders for more, so they moved into a larger plant in Mountain View. At the new location, Arrow developed vehicles, flumes and tracks for

In 1975, Arrow installed one of the most important rides of its time, Corkscrew, which made its debut at Knott's Berry Farm as the first modern inverting coaster. Arrow made hundreds of coasters throughout the decades, including 17 Corkscrew-style coasters, 16 "runaway mine train" coasters like Cedar Creek Mine Ride and Adventure Express, custom-designed coasters like Loch Ness Monster, and Carolina Cyclone.

Some of Arrow Development's later projects included what were at the time the world's tallest roller coasters, such as

In 1971, Karl Bacon, Ed Morgan and Walter Schulze sold Arrow Development to

In the late 1990s, Arrow Dynamic's bookings steadily decreased, with few installations toward the end of the decade. Despite attempts to keep up by implementing more updated design techniques, Arrow still found itself struggling to compete. Other manufacturers such as Bolliger & Mabillard and Intamin began to dominate the industry.^[8]

Design and manufacturing costs for new, larger ride systems were increasing and competition grew. Bankruptcy loomed once again just as Arrow introduced

• 1959: The first tubular steel track coaster, Matterhorn Bobsleds, at Disneyland^[11]
• 1963: The first Log Flume, El Aserradero at Six Flags Over Texas
• 1966: The first mine train roller coaster, featuring the first underwater tunnel, the Runaway Mine Train at Six Flags Over Texas^[12]
• 1975: The first modern inverting coaster, Corkscrew, at Knott's Berry Farm^[11]
• 1976: The first coaster with 3 inversions, Corkscrew at Cedar Point
• 1977: The first coaster with consecutive vertical loops,
  Geauga Lake^[13]
• 1978: The first
  interlocking loops, Loch Ness Monster at Busch Gardens Williamsburg
• 1980: The first coaster with 4 inversions, Carolina Cyclone at Carowinds
• 1981: The first modern suspended coaster, The Bat, at Kings Island^[11]
• 1982: The first coaster with 5 inversions,
  Darien Lake
• 1983: The first and only
  bowtie element. Record-breaking lift hill requiring two lift chains, Dragon Mountain, at Marineland of Canada
• 1984: The first successful suspended coaster,
  Six Flags Astroworld and Big Bad Wolf at Busch Gardens Williamsburg
• 1987: The first coaster with six inversions, Vortex at Kings Island
• 1988: The first coaster with seven inversions, Shockwave at Six Flags Great America
• 1989: The first "hypercoaster," Magnum XL-200, at Cedar Point^[11]
• 1990: The first suspended coaster to go underground, Vampire at Chessington World of Adventures
• 1991: The first looping coaster to feature an underwater tunnel, Anaconda at Kings Dominion
• 1991: The world's fastest roller coaster, Steel Phantom, opened at Kennywood
• 1993: The first roller coaster to feature three consecutive corkscrews, Fantasia Special at Fantasia
• 1994: World's tallest and steepest coaster,
  The Big One at Blackpool Pleasure Beach
  in Great Britain
• 2002: Designed the steel supporting structure for the
  2002 Winter Olympic Games
  in Salt Lake City
• 2002: The first 4th dimension coaster, X, at Six Flags Magic Mountain^[11]

See also

• List of Arrow Dynamics rides
• HUSS Park Attractions

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Arrow Dynamics.

• Arrow: Building a Dream from themagiceye at Joyland Books