Ferris Wheel | Wheel in the Sky | S31-E1

American Innovations

Wondery

Steven Johnson, History, Kids & Family, Education For Kids, Science

4.6 • 4.1K Ratings

🗓️ 28 May 2020

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The 1889 World’s Fair in Paris dazzles attendees with the Eiffel Tower. So, when plans begin for the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago, the mandate is clear: beat the Tower.

America’s architects and engineers compete to win the job – but every proposal they submit is more outlandish and dangerous than the last. And the most dangerous of all? Well, that might be a ride that resembles a twenty-story bicycle wheel, submitted by a young man named George Ferris….

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Transcript

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0:14.2	podcasts.
0:16.5	Wondery. It's June 9, 1893, late afternoon on a fairground on the south side of Chicago.
0:30.0	William Growna, a 27-year-old engineer, is peering up at a machine he helped design with a lump in his throat.
0:38.0	The 264-foot wheel is the second tallest structure in Chicago. It's shaped like a bicycle
0:45.8	wheel with spokes that look as fragile as a cobweb. Throughout its
0:50.3	construction the Fairgrounds other workers gawked at it.
0:54.1	Any day now, they were sure it would tip over.
0:57.5	Today, though, Gronin needs the machine to do more than just stay upright.
1:01.9	He needs it to rotate. Luther v Rice, the
1:05.7	Project's superintendent, waves at Growna from the engine pit. Stop staring!
1:10.5	It's now or never! Grana's too nervous to yell the order, so he just nods, and Rice gives the signal to his
1:17.7	format to start up the machine.
1:20.0	700 feet away,
1:24.0	away, steam begins surging through underground pipes.
1:27.0	Boilers power up the wheels 1,000 horsepower engines.
1:31.0	Gears begin to grind. And then, the wheel is begin to grind.
1:33.8	And then the wheel itself shutters,
1:36.3	like a monster waking up.
	...

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