THE NIAGARA SPANISH AERO CAR
(now called the Whirlpool Aerocar)
In 1913, the Niagara Parks Commission granted a fifty-year franchise to a Spanish Company, Estudios y Obras de Ingenieria, to build and operate a cable car ride over the Whirlpool from Colt's Point to Thompson's Point. The cable car was designed and built by Spanish engineer Leonardo Torres-Quevado. It was similar in structure to a smaller cable car at Mount Ulia San Sebastian in Spain, but could accommodate forty people. The system operated "to and fro" on six 1" cables. Each cable was anchored at the terminals, and its tension was maintained by a 9-tonne counterweight. At their terminal points, the cables measured 1,770 feet long and were 250 feet above the water level of the Whirlpool. The car was hauled by a continuous steel-wire rope 7/8ths of an inch thick which was powered by a 75 hp motor. Although the construction of the cable car was plagued by difficulties, it was finally completed at a cost of $120,000 and opened to the public on August 8, 1916.
The Aero Car was operated for its Spanish owners by the Brooker family until 1961, when it was purchased by A. Blake Robertson. In its 45 years of operation, the cables had required replacement only once, and no other additions or improvements to the original system had been necessary, a testament to its excellent design.
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Aerocar
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