If amusement parks are one of your favorite ways to let loose and have some fun, then you’re familiar with the popular free-fall type ride. The other three basic categories of rides include roller coasters (the most popular), invented in the 1800s; the Ferris wheel, also invented in the 1800s; and the merry-go-round, invented in the 1700s. The free fall type is found in almost every amusement park and large carnival around the world and is characterized by three distinct phases: the ride to the top, the momentary suspension, and the downward plunge. Most people don’t know that this ride adored by adrenaline junkies everywhere was actually invented in South Carolina.

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The inventor of the free fall ride is a man named Gerald "Jerry" L. Barber of Greenville, South Carolina, who invented his first ride when he was working as a high school principal. He and some friends built it in his garage!
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The idea for the free fall amusement ride was first born outside a Columbia gas station. As Jerry looked up at a tall sign in front of him thinking how cool it would be to jump off the top, without landing on the pavement and going to an early grave, that is!
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A problem solver and innovator by nature, he began considering the possibilities and developing a design using a curve to bring the ride to a stop.
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He filed for a patent in 1974, just three years after having relocated to Greenville to start a company manufacturing amusement rides. This after having worked for Chance Rides for a few years when they took note of his ride inventions and offered him three times what he was making as a principal.
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Gerald L. Barber's love of amusement rides started early when his father owned a traveling carnival. His knack for innovation also led him into the area of renewal energy, where he has inventions and a wind technology company, BarberWind. Hear directly from the inventor himself in this brief video:

As much as we love nature around here, check out this cool book about how nature is inspiring inventors: Mimic Makers: Biomimicry Inventors Inspired by Nature.

Did you know this amusement ride was invented in South Carolina?

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