Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 89.djvu/408

 Mechanical Joys of Coney Island

��1J,\ SLeplicii \V. Si* nions

��HALF the people who go to Coney Island and similar pleasure resorts, have but one aim in view — to get their fill of thrill. That being the case, an art which may be called "thrill engineering" hasbcendevelopcd. Strange as it may seem, thrills, to be of any commercial value, must not be really dangerous, but must have a goodly admixture of that popular element "Safety First."

Anybody could design and operate, for a single pcrf;jrmance, a real smash- up, but it takes a knowledge of engineer- ing to produce a near smash-up that is as safe as a cruise in your arm-chair.

Three things are necessary to make a commercially successful "Thriller." It should have a genuine thrill or some really interesting feature in it ; it should be absolutely safe; and it should be

��sufficiently economical in operation to make it possible to reduce the fee for admission to a figure well within the means of the average purse. Some of the most successful devices are based on the natural aptitude of many of our supposedly sophisticated city folk to look and act foolish. Others, designed generally for the younger folk, give a real physical thrill, a "shoot the chute" or near smash-up. Still others are designed to suit the more sober folk, and though thrilling enough for colder tem- peraments, do not contain that element of apparent danger so delightful to the younger generation.

A good example of this particular variety is pictured on the opposite page. The scene depicts a quiet little seaport in England. It is entitled "The Aerial Night Attack," and represents most

���At Convy Islan 1 n Zeppelin Kaul H.is Hoen SlaRcd. General View of n Seaport Town in Which the News of an ApproachiuR Zeppelin Has Been Received. Aircraft Arc Dispatched to Meet the Invaders and They Mount in Great Spirals to the Sky

39*

�� �