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Ferris wheel

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Ferris wheel

A Ferris wheel (also called a big wheel, giant wheel or an observation wheel) is an amusement ride consisting of a rotating upright wheel with multiple passenger-carrying components (commonly referred to as passenger cars, cabins, tubs, gondolas, capsules, or pods) attached to the rim in such a way that as the wheel turns, they are kept upright, usually by gravity. Some of the largest modern Ferris wheels have cars mounted on the outside of the rim, with electric motors to independently rotate each car to keep it upright.

The original Ferris Wheel was designed and constructed by George Washington Gale Ferris Jr. as a landmark for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago; although much smaller wooden wheels of similar idea predate Ferris's wheel, dating perhaps to the 1500s. The generic term "Ferris wheel", now used in American English for all such structures, has become the very common type of amusement ride at amusement parks, state fairs, and other fairs or carnivals in the United States.

The tallest Ferris wheel is the 250-metre (820 ft) Ain Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, which opened in October 2021.

The term Ferris wheel comes from the maker of one of the first examples constructed for Chicago's World's Columbian Exposition by George Washington Gale Ferris Jr. in 1893.

Modern versions have been called observation wheels. In 1892, when the incorporation papers for the Ferris Wheel Company (constructors of the original 1893 Chicago Ferris Wheel) were filed, the purpose of the company was stated as: [construction and operation of] "wheels of the Ferris or other types for the purpose of observation or amusement".

Design variations include single- (cantilevered) or twin-sided support for the wheel, and whether the cars or capsules are oriented upright by gravity or by electric motors. The most prevalent design is the use of twin-sided support and gravity-oriented capsules.

"Pleasure wheels", whose passengers rode in chairs suspended from large wooden rings turned by strong men, may have originated in 17th-century Bulgaria.

The Travels of Peter Mundy in Europe and Asia, 1608–1667 describes and illustrates "severall Sorts of Swinginge used in their Publique rejoyceings att their Feast of Biram" on 17 May 1620 at Philippopolis (now Plovdiv) in the Ottoman Balkans. Among means "lesse dangerous and troublesome" was one:

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