Amusement attraction with man-made tornado

Information

  • Patent Grant
  • 6254489
  • Patent Number
    6,254,489
  • Date Filed
    Wednesday, March 24, 1999
    25 years ago
  • Date Issued
    Tuesday, July 3, 2001
    23 years ago
Abstract
An amusement attraction is housed within a building. The building contains several different settings. Each setting contains a variety of scenic elements. One setting acts as a pre-show and includes an audio-visual presentation. A second setting is designed to resemble a tornado-damaged building. A third setting contains various scenic elements designed to resemble an outdoor scene. In the third setting, a special effects show takes place that includes a man-made tornado. Other special effects are used to simulate the effect of the tornado on the scenic elements in the outdoor scene. Guests can safely view the man-made tornado from a guest viewing area.
Description




BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION




The present invention relates to amusement attractions. More specifically, the invention relates to a novel amusement attraction having a simulated tornado within a building.




Amusement attractions and theatrical shows that use special effects are well known. As technology advances and audiences become more sophisticated, special effects have become a more important part of these types of shows or attractions. To enhance the realism of live attractions and shows, various techniques have been used to recreate real environmental events (such as rain, wind, fire and the like).




One of the most terrifying, yet fascinating, environmental events is the tornado. Tornadoes have been created on small scales in laboratories for research purposes. See, Eagleman, Joe R.,


Severe and Unusual Weather,


pp. 297-300, Von Nostrand Reinhold Co., 1983, incorporated herein by reference. Tornado effects and computer-generated tornado images have also been used in television and motion pictures. However, notwithstanding their terrifying nature, no amusement attraction or theatrical show has simulated a tornado. Accordingly, there remains a need for an amusement attraction that allows guests to safely view a real man-made tornado and provides the experience of being in a tornado disaster. There is also a need for an amusement attraction that houses such a man-made tornado inside a building.




SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION




An amusement attraction is housed within a building. Guests enter the building and walk through various scenes or settings. One setting is designed to look like an outdoor scene. A guest viewing platform faces the outdoor scene. The guests watch a special effects show that takes place in the outdoor scene. In an alternate embodiment, the guests view the outdoor scene while seated in ride vehicles that travel along a track or other pathway. A tornado generating system in the building creates an actual physical and 3-dimensional tornado. The special effects show also includes moving scenery, props, show action equipment, lighting effects, sound effects, projection effects and fire effects. The result is that the guests feel like they are witnessing an actual tornado disaster.











BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS





FIG. 1

is a plan view of the building used for the amusement attraction of the present invention.





FIG. 2

is a schematic representation of the second setting in the amusement attraction of the present invention.





FIG. 3

is a side view of the third setting in the amusement attraction of the present invention.





FIG. 4

is a plan view of the third setting.





FIG. 5

is a front view of show action equipment used in the third setting.





FIG. 6A

is a partial plan view of the fire effects used in the third setting.





FIG. 6B

is front view of the fire effects used in the third setting.





FIG. 7

is a front view of the projection effects used in the third setting.





FIG. 8

is a plan view of a building used for an alternate embodiment of the amusement attraction of the present invention.





FIG. 9

is a plan view of the building shown in

FIG. 1

, showing the overhead bell mouth and air exhaust system;





FIG. 10

is a plan view thereof showing preferred fan locations;





FIG. 11

is a side view of a simulated exploding window effect;





FIG. 12

is a rear view thereof;





FIG. 13

is detail view of the latch shown in

FIG. 11

with the latch engaged to the window; and





FIG. 14

is a detail view thereof showing the latch in the released position.











DETAILED DESCRIPTION




Referring now to the drawings in detail, and initially to

FIG. 1

, an amusement attraction


2


is housed within a building


4


. The building contains a variety of settings (


6


,


8


and


10


). In the preferred embodiment, there are three distinct settings in the building


4


. Guests enter the building


4


through a main entrance


18


. The first setting that the guests encounter is a pre-show


6


. The pre-show


6


sets up the amusement attraction by providing audio-visual information to the guests. In the preferred embodiment, the audio-visual information is a video or film presentation


16


. After the guests view the film presentation


16


they enter the second setting


8


via a walkway


20


having various scenic elements that are designed to resemble a tornado-damaged building, specifically, blown out windows, damaged doors, walls, ceilings and stairways, toppled furniture, broken pipes, shattered glass and the like as shown in FIG.


2


. The second setting also contains several video monitors


32


on which a dramatization of a tornado disaster is shown.




Referring now to FIG.


3


through

FIG. 7

, the third setting


10


is designed to simulate an outdoor scene. The guests enter the third setting


10


via walkway


20


and stand on the guest viewing platform


12


. The guest viewing platform


12


is arranged in tiers and faces the outdoor scene. In an alternate embodiment, the guest viewing platform


12


could contain rows of chairs. A canopy


40


is located above the guest viewing platform


12


. The simulated outdoor scene contains a variety of scenic elements or scenery


48


such as buildings, vehicles, gasoline pumps, trees, fences, telephone or power poles, fire hydrants, signs and similar scenic elements.




Other scenic elements constitute forced perspective show sets


46


, projection effects


50


(which are projected onto a large curved projection screen


52


), show action equipment


54


(such as a flying prop), fire effects


56


and lighting and sound effects. A principal special effect is a man-made tornado


44


that appears in the middle of the outdoor scene. When the man-made tornado


44


is active, some of the scenery


48


moves or otherwise acts to simulate the effects of a real tornado. The combination of all of the above elements provides the guests with an extremely realistic, but simulated tornado experience.




In use, as the guests enter the third setting


10


, wind starts to blow and is accompanied by the sound effect of thunder. The wind is created by various wind fans within the building


4


as described in detail below. The guests take their places on the guest viewing platform


12


which is located under the canopy


40


. Spread out before the guests is an outdoor scene which could be designed to resemble a small Midwestern town. The outdoor scene includes the scenery


48


. The wind picks up and lighting effects simulate a slowly darkening sky, using known techniques.




Simulated lightning appears in conjunction with the simulated sounds of thunder. The lightning appears to strike a tree, splitting it in two. As the wind intensifies, trees, signs and buildings (


48


) start to shake and rattle. Simulated rain begins to fall onto the guests and a fine mist fills the air.




Using projection effects, the image of a massive tornado


44


is projected onto the projection screen


52


and appears, to the guests, to be in the distant horizon. Various pieces of scenery


48


begin to sway, fall over, give way or tear loose, moved by show action equipment


82


such as actuators controlled by the show controller


14


. The canopy


40


above the guest viewing platform


12


ripples erratically from the strong gusts of wind. Props


58


appear to fly through the air right in front of the guests.




Suddenly, the man-made tornado


44


whirls into view. Windows of a building explode outwardly. More props


58


fly through the air. A vehicle is pushed into a fire hydrant, knocking it over and spraying the guests with water. Fire effects


56


are used to simulate the effect of a vehicle crashing into a gas pump which explodes. The canopy


40


lifts up to give the guests a view of the full man-made tornado


44


.




Finally, the tornado


44


dies out. As the man-made tornado


44


dissipates and the sound of thunder fades away, the scene is slowly brightened. Suddenly, the wind dies, releasing pressure on the canopy


40


which collapses and suddenly appears to plunge down toward the guests. At the same time, the controller


14


energizes the actuator


22


attached to the floor of the guest viewing platform


12


causing it and the guests on it to drop down. The tornado experience has ended and the guests proceed to the exit.




Referring to

FIGS. 5 and 10

, the tornado generating system


90


includes fans which move air within the building


14


to create the tornado. As shown in

FIGS. 9 and 10

, exhaust fans


100


pull air upwardly through a bell mouth


94


located near the top of the building, and centrally located in front of the viewing platform


12


. The exhaust fans


100


largely create upward vertical air movement, in the area below the bell mouth


94


. Floor level circulating fans


106


on the floor


88


of the building


4


, create circular air movement within the building, adjacent to the floor. Mezzanine level circulation fans


104


similarly provide circular air movement at greater elevations above the floor within the building. Intake fans


102


draw air tangentially into the building


4


through air inlets


116


, in the same counter clockwise direction (when viewed from above, as in

FIG. 10

) as the air movement induced by the floor circulation fans


106


. Guest fans


108


are positioned near the viewing platform


12


, primarily to blow air over the guests in the viewing platform, so as to heighten the theatrical experience. This guest air, moved at e.g., 35 mph, also helps in maintaining the airflow in the building used to generate the tornado. The guest air is recirculated using the awning as a large intake scoop. An additional guest uptake fan


110


is positioned to the side of the viewing platform


12


. One or more scenery fans


112


may be located within the building


4


to provide local air movement on or over a prop


58


or scenic element


30


. Preshow fans


114


are located in the preshow areas, to provide air movement in those areas, as a theming element.




Table 1 below describes characteristics of the fans listed above, for use in a preferred embodiment.






















TOTAL










FLOW








POWER




RATING




ELEMENT






FUNCTION




QUANTITY




(hp)




(kcfm)




NO.











Exhaust




6




50




454




100






Intake




2




40




136




102






Mezz Circ




6




25




435




104






Floor Circ




5




25




362.5




106






Guest




4




15




182




108






Uptake




1




25




67.5




110






Total





740 




1637














In the embodiment shown, the tornado diameter is about 4 feet at the bell mouth. Rotation is counter-clockwise when viewed from above. The bell mouth diameter at the entry is about 15 feet. Outside of the core area, rotational air speeds are relatively low, e.g., 3-5 knots. Spurious airflow or abnormal fan performance should be avoided, so that generation or maintenance of the tornado is not degraded or prevented. The preferred position and selection of fans, inlet and bell mouth as well as tornado performance, will necessarily vary with building size and configuration, number of guests, air temperature, humidity, and other factors.




Referring now to

FIG. 8

, in an alternate embodiment, the guests view the amusement attraction from ride vehicles


72


that travel along a track or other pathway


74


. Preferably, the guests board the ride vehicles


72


in the second setting


8


. The ride vehicles


72


then travel through the second setting


8


and into the third setting


10


where they experience the special effects show and the man-made tornado


44


. After the show is over, the ride vehicles


72


exit the third setting


10


and the guests disembark. The various special effects are controlled by a show controller


14


behind the platform


12


.




Referring to

FIGS. 3

,


4


, and


6


A, a trench


60


in the building floor runs from an equipment area (not shown) to a central floor location


68


directly under the bell mouth


94


. Supply lines run from the equipment area through the trench


60


to supply natural gas, liquid nitrogen (LN


2


), and steam to a gas manifold


66


, and a steam /LN


2


manifold


62


and


64


, at the floor location


68


. The area around the floor location


68


is preferably flat, as obstructions can degrade tornado formation. The show controller


14


controls valves (and an igniter for the gas manifold), to provide visual effects, at appropriate times. Steam and LN


2


are mixed in the manifolds


62


and


64


to create a homogenous mixture and are then sprayed or released out of the manifolds


64


and


62


through a porous gravel/resin mix on the show floor, and into the base of the tornado, to provide a level of opacity and hence visibility, to the otherwise non-visible swirling air of the tornado. The gas manifold/igniter provides flames


56


, preferably to simulate burning gasoline from a destroyed gasoline station. The LN


2


may optionally be sprayed in from a manifold at or near the bell mouth, and flow downwardly into the tornado.




Referring to

FIG. 7

, one scenery element


48


is a building


102


having windows


122


. Referring to

FIGS. 11-14

, an exploding window effect


200


is provided within the building


120


, to simulate windows exploding outwardly toward the tornado. The exploding window effect


200


is installed behind a wall


202


of the building


120


, aligned with window openings


204


in the building


120


.




The exploding window effect


200


includes solid continuous translucent windows


206


mounted on vertical guide rails


210


. Springs


216


continuously urge the window


206


downwardly. However, a safety latch


218


prevents downward movement of the solid window


206


until the appropriate time.




A broken windowpane


212


is attached to the wall


202


behind the solid window


206


. The broken windowpane


212


has jagged glass edges, simulating a blown out window.




A water canon


230


positioned behind the window openings


206


has a nozzle


236


connected to an accumulator tank


232


by a tank pipe


234


.




In operation, the solid window


206


is translucent, but sufficiently opaque or dark to prevent viewers from seeing through it to the broken windowpane


212


behind the solid window


206


. Alternatively, lighting effects can be used to prevent the viewers from seeing the broken window


212


behind the solid window


206


. At an appropriate time, after the tornado has formed, the viewers initially see the solid window


206


. The latch cylinder


220


is actuated by the show controller


14


, releasing the solid window


206


. The springs


216


rapidly drive the solid window


206


downwardly, in a fraction of a second. As this occurs, water spray and lighting effects can be used to conceal the downward movement of the solid window


206


. As soon as the solid window


206


has dropped down, the show controller


14


actuates the water canons


230


, to simulate the appearance of broken glass flying outwardly from the building


120


. The water canon


230


uses compressed air in the accumulation tank


232


to quickly drive water out of the tank


232


, through the tank pipe


234


and into the nozzle


236


. The nozzle


236


sprays water droplets, having appropriate droplet sizes and spray patterns out through the opening in the blown out window


212


.




The viewers see the tornado approaching the building


120


, followed by the flying broken glass effect created by the water canons


230


, and then by the appearance of the now blown out windows


212


. After the show is over and the viewers have left the viewing platform, the show controller


14


actuates the reset cylinder


222


. The reset cylinder


222


pushes up on the bottom of the frame of the solid window


206


. The latch cylinder


220


is reversed to reengage the window


206


, and to hold the window


206


in position over the broken window


212


against the downward force of the springs


216


, until released for the next show. In an alternate embodiment, the blown out windows


212


may also move on the vertical rails, in the same way as the solid windows


206


, so that the windows


212


and


206


trade places in a fraction of a second. In this embodiment, the solid window


206


can be entirely transparent, as it does not need to conceal the blown out window


212


at any time.




Thus, a novel amusement attraction and special effects have been shown and described. Various modifications and substitutions of equivalents may of course be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. The inventions, therefore, should not be limited, except to the following claims and their equivalents.



Claims
  • 1. An amusement attraction comprising:a building; scenic elements arranged within the building; a stationary guest viewing area in the building; and a tornado generating system in the building.
  • 2. The amusement attraction of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of different settings within the building.
  • 3. The amusement attraction of claim 2, further comprising a pathway connecting the plurality of different settings.
  • 4. The amusement attraction of claim 2, whereby at least one of the settings includes an audio visual presentation.
  • 5. The amusement attraction of claim 2, whereby scenic elements are arranged in at least one of the settings to resemble a tornado-damaged building.
  • 6. The amusement attraction of claim 2, whereby scenic elements are arranged in at least one of the settings to resemble an outdoor scene.
  • 7. The amusement attraction of claim 1, further comprising a controller for controlling the scenic elements.
  • 8. The amusement attraction of claim 1, whereby the scenic elements further comprise at least one of moving scenery, show action equipment, special effects and static props.
  • 9. The amusement attraction of claim 8, whereby the special effects include at least one of sound effects, lighting effects, fire effects, moving image projection effects, and dropping water onto the guest viewing area.
  • 10. The amusement attraction of claim 1, further including an actuator linked to at least one of the scenic elements for moving the scenic element to simulate the effect of a tornado on the scenic element.
  • 11. The amusement attraction of claim 1, further comprising show action equipment for moving a scenic element through the air in front of the guest viewing area, to simulate the effect of a wind blown object.
  • 12. The amusement attraction of claim 1, whereby the guest viewing area is a platform within the building.
  • 13. The amusement attraction of claim 12, further including a platform actuator attached to the platform to move the platform down vertically to simulate the effect of a floor collapsing.
  • 14. The amusement attraction of claim 1, further comprising a steam or LN2 delivery system in the building, to provide a visual media for a tornado created by the tornado generating system.
  • 15. The amusement attraction of claim 1, further including a projection screen and a projector for projecting images onto the screen with the tornado generating system positioned to generate a tornado at a location between the projection screen and the guest viewing area.
  • 16. An amusement attraction comprising:a building; a show setting in the building; a stationary audience area in the building adjacent to the show setting; a screen associated with the show setting; a projector for projecting images onto the screen; show action actuators linked to props movable in the show setting; a tornado generating system in the show setting for generating a tornado, between the screen and audience; and a show controller linked to the projector, show action actuators and the tornado generating system.
  • 17. The amusement attraction of claim 16, further comprising an audio system linked to the show controller.
  • 18. An amusement attraction comprising:a building; a tornado generating system in the building; a guest viewing area in the building; an exploding window system comprising: vertical guide rails fixed within a wall; a translucent window slidable in the guide rails, the translucent window spring-biased in a downward direction; a controllable latch mechanism adjacent to the wall for restraining and releasing the translucent window; and a broken window pane fixed relative to the wall and positioned behind the translucent window.
  • 19. An amusement attraction comprising:a building; scenic elements arranged within the building; a guest viewing area in the building; a moveable canopy above the guest viewing area; and a tornado generating system in the building.
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