Editing Carousel (section)

====United Kingdom====
[[File:Carousel.gif|thumb|left|A traditional steam-powered gallopers in [[Blists Hill Victorian Town]] in the UK, built by Thomas Walker in 1911. Note its clockwise rotation.]]
By 1803, [[John Joseph Merlin]] had a carousel in his Mechanical Museum in [[London]], where gentry and nobility liked to gather on winter evenings. The horses "floated free over a pole." It was connected to a "big musical instrument that played a fully orchestrated concerto" and from the first note, the carousel would start turning while each horse would make a galloping movement with a visitor riding on its back. Merlin did not patent his inventions and engineers were allowed to come to create their own models of his creations.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EPgOAAAAQAAJ&q=phantasmagorie&pg=PA131|title=England, Wales, Irland und Schottland: Erinnerungen an Natur und Kunst aus einer Reise in den Jahren 1802 und 1803|first=Christian August Gottlieb|last=Goede|date=10 April 1804|publisher=Arnold|via=Google Books}}</ref> By the mid-19th century, the carousel became a popular fixture at English [[fair]]s. The first steam-powered mechanical roundabout, invented by Thomas Bradshaw, appeared at the Pot Market fair in [[Bolton]] in about 1861. It was described by a ''[[Johnston Press|Halifax Courier]]'' journalist as "a roundabout of huge proportions, driven by a steam engine which whirled around with such impetuosity, that the wonder is the daring riders are not shot off like cannonball, and driven half into the middle of next month."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nfa.dept.shef.ac.uk/history/rides/history.html |title=Fairground Rides – A Chronological Development |publisher=University of Sheffield |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110811021142/https://www.nfa.dept.shef.ac.uk/history/rides/history.html |archive-date=11 August 2011}}</ref>

Soon afterwards, English engineer Frederick Savage began to branch out of agricultural machinery production into the construction of fairground machines, swiftly becoming the chief innovator in the field. Savage's fairground machinery was exported all over the world.<ref name="Savage">[https://www.museums.norfolk.gov.uk/-/media/museums/downloads/learning/kings-lynn/a-history-of-savages.pdf?la=en "Frederick Savage, Victorian fairground manufacturer of King's Lynn"]. Norfolk.gov.uk. Retrieved 25 February 2018</ref> By 1870, he was manufacturing amusement rides similar to carousels with [[velocipede]]s (an early type of bicycle), and he soon began experimenting with other possibilities, including a roundabout with boats that would pitch and roll on cranks with a circular motion, a ride he called 'Sea-on-Land'.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.fairground-heritage.org.uk/learning/swings-and-roundabouts/|title=Swings and Roundabouts|first=Ken|last=McMonigle}}</ref> In 1880, Savage applied a similar innovation to the more traditional mount of the carousel horse; he installed gears and offset cranks on the platform carousels, thus giving the animals their well-known up-and-down motion as they traveled around the central pole – the galloping horse.<ref name="Savage"/><ref name="Hinds1990p31">{{Harvp|Hinds|1990|p=31}}.</ref><ref name="Hinds1990p40">{{Harvp|Hinds|1990|p=40}}.</ref> The platform served as a position guide for the bottom of the pole and as a place for people to walk or other stationary animals or chariots to be placed. He called this ride the 'Platform Gallopers'. He also developed the 'platform-slide' which allowed the mounts to swing out concentrically as the carousel built up speed. [[Fairground organ]]s (band organs) were often present (if not built-in) when these machines operated. Eventually, electric motors and lights were installed, giving the carousel its classic look. These mechanical innovations came at a crucial time when increased prosperity meant that more people had time for [[leisure]] and had spare money to spend on entertainment. It was in this historical context that the modern fairground ride was born, with Savage supplying this new market demand. In his 1902 Catalogue for Roundabouts, he claimed to have "...&nbsp;patented and placed upon the market all the principal novelties that have delighted the many thousands of pleasure seekers at home and abroad."<ref>{{cite web|title=Frederick Savage, Victorian Fairground Manufacturer of King's Lynn|url=http://www.museums.norfolk.gov.uk/view/NCC095974|access-date=7 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131213000441/http://www.museums.norfolk.gov.uk/view/NCC095974|archive-date=13 December 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref>

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