Millennium Legacies - Pushing the Limits: New Adventures in Engineering - page 68

the horizontal, the desired angle of the A-frame. Setting the wheel in the vertical position consumed
almost five days, during which time restraint towers that house the drive systems for the wheel also
were erected. The initial glitch in the raising of the wheel was a temporary embarrassment, largely
forgotten when the monumental task was complete.
Once in place, the wheel was ready to have its passenger capsules— its source of in-
come—attached. There was precedent for such an enterprise being fully self-supporting financially:
The world's first Ferris wheel, which could carry a total of 2,160 passengers in its thirty-six trolley-
sized cars, made money in its short run of nineteen weeks before the 1893 world's fair closed. The
Millennium Wheel, even though significantly larger in diameter than its Chicago ancestor, has only
thirty-two capsules holding up to twenty-five passengers each and thus can carry at most eight hun-
dred riders at a time. (The diameter of the capsules was limited to four meters so that they could
be transported on French roads between the Alps and the coast in an unescorted “ convoi excep-
tionnel. ”) Still, after only nine months of operation, the London wheel had carried a total of three
million riders, twice the number that rode the original Ferris wheel.
The Millennium Wheel achieved this success in part by its year-round operation in a busy part of
a busy city and in part by its loading scheme. Ferris's wheel had to be stopped six times to exchange
its riders with a completely fresh load. The London wheel does not stop to reload its cars; rather,
the passengers exiting and entering the capsules (traveling at only about 0.25 meters per second,
which is much slower than normal walking speed) do so on the move, the wheel being stopped only
to accommodate the disabled. Also, in contrast to the twenty minutes of intermittent motion above
Chicago's Midway Plaisance, the continuous loading of passengers allows riders on the Millenni-
um Wheel to have a thirty-minute experience (one revolution) of smooth, uninterrupted movement.
Though continuous boarding is not a new concept—being common with mountain chairlifts and
escalators—the utilization of the scheme in London not only makes the operation of the wheel less
disruptive mechanically but also makes for a more pleasant and jerk-free ride for the passengers
already on board.
When initially outfitted with its observation capsules, which are designed to maintain a horizontal
floor for passengers to stand on, the wheel naturally had to be tested for safety before it could be
opened to the public. Tests revealed that the clutches on the capsules were faulty, and they all had to
be replaced. The work further delayed the opening of what had come to be called the “wheel of mis-
fortune.” Rather than carry its first passengers as planned for the eve-of-the-millennium celebration,
the wheel turned empty, illuminated by a laser light show. The Eye finally opened two months past
schedule, but it has since operated more or less smoothly, being closed down only infrequently for
minor computer and mechanical problems. British Airways expected to operate it for at least five
years, but many Londoners hoped that what was conceived as a temporary structure would, like the
Eiffel Tower, become permanent.
When my wife and I visited the Eye on an overcast morning in the summer of 2003, we found
that it was undergoing painting—a sure indication that it had indeed been granted an extended run.
People flocking to the attraction in numbers beyond all estimates make the area an exciting place to
visit and board a “flight,” as a circuit on the airline-sponsored wheel is marketed. Our capsule with
a full complement of passengers was not at all crowded and was extremely comfortable throughout