Amusement park ride using motion-driven positioning for 360-degree vehicle orientation

摘要

An amusement park ride adapted for fully rotating a passenger compartment in response to vehicle motion along a guide track. The ride includes a vehicle chassis (140) that engages the guide track (110) and travels along the ride path during operation of the ride. The ride further includes a cam-based positioning assembly (130) that is supported by the vehicle chassis (140) to move with it along the guide track (110). The positioning assembly operates in response to being moved along the guide track to rotate the passenger compartment (120). The positioning assembly rotates the passenger compartment in counterclockwise and clockwise directions to provide 360-degree rotation. The positioning assembly includes a cam shaft with three cam follower pairs offset along the shaft and extending outward from the shaft at angular offsets, and three cam rails are used to selectively position the followers to rotate the cam shaft and set the position of the passenger compartment.