John Miller

Biography Early life Miller was born in Homewood, Illinois, in 1872 and worked as a coaster builder from a very early age. He also worked with noted designers Frederick Ingersoll and Fred and Josiah Pearce.

In 1910, Miller designed a device that prevented cars from rolling backward down the lift hill in the event of pull chain breakage. It attached to the track and clicked onto the rungs of the chain. Known as the safety chain dog or safety ratchet, it evolved into the device on the underside of cars that makes the distinctive sound commonly heard on the lift hills of wooden coasters.

A roller coaster wheel assembly. The underfriction wheels are on the bottom. The three sets of wheels clamp onto the track. Miller's most important contribution to roller coaster technology, though, was the underfriction wheel. 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. This allowed designers to incorporate very steep drops, sharp horizontal and vertical curves, and high speeds. These are found on nearly every modern roller coaster in operation.

The John Miller Company After 1923, Miller continued to design and build coasters for his own company, The John Miller Company. Dip-Lo-Docus (c. 1923), billed as "The Jazz Ride", featured revolving three-seater cars, whereas Flying Turns (1929) consisted of cars with swiveling rubber wheels tearing through a half-cylindrical chute like a toboggan. The legendary Cyclone (1928–1958) at Puritas Springs near Cleveland, Ohio, was honored with a place on the Smithsonian Institution's list of Great Lost Roller Coasters. It was hidden so much by foliage that only the boarding platform was visible to riders before they began to race through the ravine. This 1928 ride was considered one of the golden-age classics of the period.

Big Dipper Luna Park Melbourne Melbourne, Australia 1923 1989 Big Dipper Luna Park Sydney Sydney, Australia 1935 1979 Patents