Arrow Development Story Part 3 – Patently Obvious

July 18, 2014

Most Micechat readers probably know what happened on Sunday July 17, 1955 in what had been, up till then, a remote orange grove near Anaheim, CA. Of the available attractions on Opening Day five had Arrow’s fingerprints all over them: Dumbo the Flying Elephant, King Arthur’s Carousel, Mad Tea Party, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride and Snow White’s Scary Adventure. Over the next five years, Disney applied Arrow’s skills on five more ride systems; Casey Jr. Circus Train, Midget Autopia, Motorboat Cruise, Alice in Wonderland and the Matterhorn Bobsleds. Then, between 1960 and 1970, Arrow worked on seven more; Tomorrowland’s Flying Saucers, It’s a Small World, Space Mountain, Adventure thru Inner Space, Pirates of the Caribbean, Peter Pan’s Flight (WDW) and the Haunted Mansion. They also worked on the parking lot trams. All told Arrow was involved in eighteen Disney ride systems and there is a rumor they also worked on Big Thunder Mountain.

This wouldn’t be obvious to the casual park visitor, but the evidence in the US Patent and Trademark office is incontrovertible and a look at the illustrations from some of these reveals details which should be obvious to any current Disney Park guest.

US 3,006,286 (1959) – Amusement Vehicle Apparatus – K. W. Bacon et al.
USD 189,828 (1960) – Amusement Ride Car – Karl W. Bacon and Edgar O. Morgan – Assigned to Disney
US 3,113,528 (1960) – Boat Ride Apparatus – E. A. Morgan et al.
US 3,114,332 (1960) – Bobsled Amusement Ride – Karl W. Bacon and Edgar O. Morgan – Assigned to Disney
US 3,167,024 (1960) – Bobsled Amusement Ride – K. W. Bacon et al. – Assigned to Disney
US 3,251,595 (1962) – Air Car and Supporting Apparatus – Edgar Allen Morgan and Karl W. Bacon – Assigned to Disney
US 3,404,635 (1968) – Boat Amusement Ride – K. W. Bacon et al. – – Assigned to Disney
USD 204,282 (1965) – Passenger Carrying Boat – Edgar A.Morgan – Assigned to Disney
US 3,830,161 (1973) – Flume Boat Ride with a Double Downchute – Karl W.Bacon – Assigned to Arrow
US 3,843,192 (1973) – Standing Passenger Support Structure for a Moving Vehicle – Edgar A. Morgan
US 3,865,041 (1973) – Rotary Platform Vehicle Passenger Loading System – Karl W. Bacon
US 3,853,067 (1974) – Boat Amusement Ride with a Spillway – Karl W. Bacon
US 3,889,605 (1974) – Amusement Ride with a Vehicle Track Portion Following the Shape of a Helix – Karl W. Bacon
US 3,972,527 (1975) – Passenger Powered Rotating Amusement Ride – Karl W. Bacon

Here’s a little Quiz; Match the Patent Picture with the Attraction. (We’ll publish the answers next time.)

BA9CAB09-3AFA-4564-AF80-145D00445561

91469821-7CE5-445C-B96E-EEECA1B98233

12DAF980-62ED-4DAA-80E4-2EC0A6EEDF3B

857A30AD-57C1-4297-8DB1-F17AB1D0526B

29E33F98-5B1D-4736-9A5C-6DC5DE774232

ABF7951C-A078-44B3-8DB0-A04DEE8C616F

FA8BC67E-05EC-4B24-B036-93B58B071B17

There are a couple of interesting things about this list; First is that Ed Morgan is absent from 1973 on. That’s because he and Karl sold Arrow to Rio Grande Industries in 1971, after Disney built Central Shops in Orlando. Although both Karl and Ed were still available as advisors, based on the evidence, Karl was probably doing the designing from then on.

The second thing to note is the nature of the ride systems after 1971; Most are flume style rides, with the exception of the corkscrew (helix) roller coaster patent in 1974. Parting ways with Disney didn’t put Arrow out of business – by then they had literally hundreds of rides at dozens of amusement parks all around the world and would continue in operation for another thirty years. The roots of Arrow’s ultimate demise came from another source, much farther away.

The very last patent Karl filed; US 3,972,527, the “Rotating Ride” is so different than anything before, it deserves it’s own, much closer look – which we’ll take next time, along with the answers to today’s quiz.

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For more of the story on Arrow Development, pick up a copy of Building Disney’s Dream on iTunes, or directly from the author (in .pdf format) at [email protected].