Caitlyn Adams Angela Reich 4th hour 10/18/12

The very first Ferris wheel was certainly something to remember and changed the history of America. It was first introduced at the Worlds Columbian Exposition. This took place in Chicago in 1893. The creator was named George Ferris who was a bridge maker making him very knowledgeable about balance and foundation of larger construction. The idea came from the structure of a Merry-go-Round which was simple in structure. George wanted to create this to compete with the building of the Eiffel Tower in 1889; therefore he knew that it had to be large in size. His goal was to make every wheel ever known on earth look very small. He figured a vertical wheel would be just as good as a horizontal wheel if not better. It wasnt a cheap invention with the cost being 380,000 dollars. However its size gave good reasoning to why. The first Ferris wheel was 264 feet tall, 250 feet in diameter, and had an axle of 45 feet. It held 2160 passengers with 36 wooden cars. It would stop every second revolution to let new passengers on. It was very profitable for 50 cents a ride. Its final profit was about 726,805.50 dollars. It was built by Detroit Bridge and iron works and then was transferred to St. Louis where after it was blown up in 1906 because of failure to attract riders. All Ferris wheels today are model replicas of the very first wheel. It is considered the main point of all fairgrounds and widely used. There are many other cyclical functions in the world. Some examples are your metabolism, sewing, class schedules, rotating crops, menstrual cycles, holidays, planets revolving and seasons. These are just a few of the many functions out there but the list is endless.