LaMarcus Adna Thompson (March 8, 1848 – May 8, 1919) was an American inventor and businessman most famous for developing many highly enjoyable gravity rides.
Thompson was born in Jersey, Licking County, Ohio on March 8, 1848. In his adolescence he became a skilled carpenter. In 1873 he began operating a grocery store in Elkhart, Indiana. There he began designing a device to manufacture seamless hosiery. He made a fortune in that business, but fai...
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LaMarcus Adna Thompson (March 8, 1848 – May 8, 1919) was an American inventor and businessman most famous for developing many highly enjoyable gravity rides.
Thompson was born in Jersey, Licking County, Ohio on March 8, 1848. In his adolescence he became a skilled carpenter. In 1873 he began operating a grocery store in Elkhart, Indiana. There he began designing a device to manufacture seamless hosiery. He made a fortune in that business, but failing health forced him to quit it.
Thompson is best known for his early work developing roller coasters, and is sometimes called the "Father of the Gravity Ride". He did not invent the roller coaster; that credit goes to John G. Taylor who patented it under the name "Inclined Railway". However, over his lifetime, Thompson accumulated nearly thirty patents related to roller coaster technologies. An example is the patent granted 22 Dec. 1885 for the Gravity Switch-back Railway.
Thompson's Gravity Pleasure Switchback Railway opened at Coney...
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