Carousel - Definition and Overview

This article is about the fairground ride. For the stage musical, see Carousel.

A carousel in a summer festival in London, with traditional animal mounts, barley twist poles and fairy lights.

A carousel is a fairground ride consisting of a rotating platform with seats for passengers. The "seats" are traditionally in the form of horses, which are moved mechanically up and down to simulate galloping. This leads to the machine's alternative name, the galloper. Another popular name is the merry-go-round.

Records of early carousels are known from the Byzantine Empire. The first steam-powered carousels began to appear in Europe in 1860, and then in England and the USA in 1870.

A homemade merry-go-round

Any rotating platform may also be called a carousel.

In a playground, a merry-go-round is usually a simple, child-powered rotating platform with bars or handles to which children can cling while riding.

Old carousel in Bruxelles

References

• A Brief Carousel History, Carousel Magic! web site, 2003-07-30 (http://carouselmagic.com/history.htm)
• Airport carousels (http://www.dullmen.com/airport.htm)