Where Did The Ferris Wheel Get Its Name?
The Ferris wheel was named alter its builder, George W. Ferris, an able engineer, now dead. The original Ferris wheel was exhibited at the Chicago World’s Fair. It was a remarkable engineering feature. Its diameter was 270 feet and its circumference 825 feet. Its highest point was 280 feet. The axle was a steel bar, 45 feet long and 32 inches thick. Fastened to each of the twin wheels was a steel hub 16 feet in diameter. The two towers at the axis supporting the wheel were 140 feet high, and the motive power was secured from a 1,000 horse-power steam engine under the wheel. The thirty-six cars on the wheel each comfortably seated forty persons. The wheel and passengers weighed 12,000 tons. By the Ferris wheel the almost indefinite application of the tension spoke to wheels of large dimensions has been vindicated, the expense being far smaller than that of the stiff spoke. Steel Rail Mill. Interior view of the Bethlehem Steel Company’s rail mill finishing department, showing the machine
