Does this contraption still exist? – IOTW Report

Does this contraption still exist?

32 Comments on Does this contraption still exist?

  1. Ah, the infamous kid killer. They had one at upper Manito Park on Spokane’s S. hill that we used to get spinning as fast as it could hanging on for dear life and hoping not to get thrown off of it. The moms of small kids when they saw us coming when we were teenagers usually would either yell at us to go away or take their kids off before we could get to it. And we never had any serious injuries, broken bones, etc. just a heck of a lot of fun. They took it down long ago due to liability issues. Manito Park used to have a large wooden pirate ship for kids to play on when my kids were little in the 80’s and 90’s that the city also took down due to liability issues, my kids loved playing on that wooden pirate ship.

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  2. We still have one in the park. Years ago the insurance man really wanted it gone. Then he said it needed a skirt on it.
    I asked him, “Should I put the skirt on the ground so it cuts off fingers, or mount it on the merry-go-round so it cuts off toes?”
    He didn’t have an answer, we still have a merry-go-round.
    Natural selection machine.

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  3. Great fun and highly educational! Anyone who hadn’t really internalized Newton’s 1st Law tended to get a lot of bruises. The key was realizing that if you (were forced to) let go, you didn’t get flung outward on an extended radius, but kept going in a straight line tangent to the circle and parallel to a radius. Centrifugal force is an illusion, and centripetal force is what you applied to stay on the spinning contraption. Wheeeee!

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  4. Growing up we had one of those at the park across the street from me. The kid that had the most fun on it was the one that we could regularly induce him to barf. The rest of had fun avoiding the resulting spray.

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  5. We had some at a local park that had three 2 man stations where you used your arms and legs to pump to either sustain or increase speed.
    You would get on with the big kids and you would hang on for your life because the big kids could get that sucker flying.
    I recall centrifugal force sending several kids flying and tumbling.
    Them and the 30 ft slides that we always snagged wax paper from the house for (if you ever did it you understand it) are now gone due to lawyers and abolishment of fun.
    Man my life was good.

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  6. The swings at Manito Park faced some tall pine trees and you could swing as high as the top rail, some of the kids were stupid enough to let go at the top of the swing and go flying onto the ground but never towards the pine trees. We never sued anyone back then nor did our parents it was all considered part of growing up and learning from your mistakes as well as stupidity. It only took one angry, pissed off parent to ruin all the fun because of their precious dumbass kid hurting themselves.

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  7. We also played King of the Hill on the hay stacks and there were old windmill Derek’s that has been replaced by Fairbanks Hit Miss engines to drive the pumps. We tied our 22 rifles to what was left and ran around the apron playing Rat Patrol while spraying the country side with hit lead. The best part was that the bigger outfits had a machine shop with a lathe, milling machine and Hobart welder. Necessity being the mother of invention and parents being particularly parsimonious, they wouldn’t buy a damn thing. But once your chores were done nobody screwed with you when you stayed busy and didn’t bother them.

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  8. I have a Benny and Cecil wood jigsaw puzzle that I’ve had forever.
    Whenever I had nephews over when they were younger they played with it, my Lincoln Logs or Battling Tops.
    Now there kids play with them.
    Dental Floss makes good replacement string for Battling Tops.

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  9. We had a swimming hole on the local creek, it was on a bend where the water had scoured out a natural hole. An old dead tree with steps nailed up the side, a rope swing from a limb, and way at top a wooden plank stuck on as a diving board. The first time I jumped when I was 12 was a real test of courage. Further up the same creek was a waterfall that was a popular spot for teens. The braver kids would jump from the top, maybe 25-30 feet; you needed to know where the rocks were.

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  10. The most injurious thing was the original Honda three wheelers. I think every kid that was worth a shit had a broken wrist, arm or clavicle on them. The teacher’s pets and fairies were the only ones that I can remember not ending up in the E Room.

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  11. JDHasty, the most injurious thing I remember was Evel Knievel’s Caesar Palace jump on television and all us kids with our Stingray’s.

    Broken bones, blown tires (usually Slicks), bent rims and handlebars.
    Man life was good.

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