![]() ![]() ![]() The John Miller Company Īfter 1923, Miller continued to design and build coasters for his own company, "The John Miller Company." The Dip-Lo-Docus (c. In addition to coasters, the firm constructed mill chutes, and domed roof buildings for carousels and dance pavilions. Miller & Baker built other types of amusement rides and structures as well. Characteristics of their roller coasters are camelback hills (multiple straight or slightly angled drops that went all the way to the ground) and large, flat turns. Baker as "Miller & Baker, Inc." and over the next three years, they built popular coasters all over North America. Miller & Baker īesides patenting ingenious inventions for coasters-including several types of brakes and car bar locks-Miller built his share of unusual "scream machines." In 1920 Miller went into business with Harry C. These are found on nearly every roller coaster in operation. This allowed the designers to use very steep drops, sharp horizontal and vertical curves and high speeds. In 1919, he patented the "Miller Under Friction Wheel," also called the "upstop wheel," which consisted of a wheel that ran under the track to keep the coaster cars from flying off. Miller's most important contribution to roller coaster technology, though, was the underfriction wheel. The three sets of wheels clamp onto the track. The underfriction wheels are on the bottom. Known as the safety chain dog, or safety ratchet, it evolved into the device on the underside of cars that makes that distinctive clinkety-clank sound of wooden coasters.Ī roller coaster wheel assembly. It attached to the track and clicked onto the rungs of the chain. Miller in 1910 designed a device that prevented cars from rolling backward down the lift hill in the event of pull chain breakage. By 1911, he was working as a consultant to the Philadelphia Toboggan Company He also worked with noted designers Frederick Ingersoll and Fred and Josiah Pearce. At the age of 19, he started working with La Marcus Thompson and went on to serve as Thompson's chief engineer. Miller was born in Homewood, Illinois and worked as a coaster builder at a very early age. Miller patented over 100 key roller coaster components, and is widely considered the "father of the modern high-speed roller coaster." During his lifetime, he participated in the design of approximately 150 coasters and was a key business partner and mentor to other well-known roller coaster designers, Harry C. Miller (born August John Mueller 1872 – June 24, 1941) was an American roller coaster designer and builder, inventor, and businessman. Homewood Memorial Gardens, Homewood, Illinois ![]()
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