Responding to the discussion on the direction carousels rotate: English
carousels, often called "roundabouts," are the only machines that turn
clockwise. An example of a clockwise roundabout in the U.S. is at the
Six Flags amusement park in New Jersey. I have not yet ridden one of
these; it must be a very disconcerting experience!
But both French and German carousels actually turn in the same direc-
tion as American ones. The Eden Palais carousel in the in Sanfilippo
collection is a French machine with German horses, so it turns counter-
clockwise. The Heyn carousel Bruce White is restoring that was recently
discussed on the Digest is a German machine, so it also turns the
"American way." The common fiberglass double-decker carousel seen in
probably hundreds of shopping malls around the U.S. is based on an early
German machine, so it too turns counter-clockwise.
So English carousels turn clockwise, but other European machines turn
the same way as American carousels.
Dan Robinson
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