The Ups and Downs of a Carousel Horse

Look up and down to find out how the carousel works. Above where the rider sits there are several mechanical parts. If you watch them carefully you will find out how they move the horses up and down. A wooden frame is attached to a center supports that radiate from the center of the carousel supports a series of metal shafts.

The horses go up and down with the use of a big shaft with cranks that have two gears. There are bearings on cranks and as one crank goes up another goes down.

The carousel has 75 bearings and 15 gears that need to be lubricated (oiled) regularly. The largest gear is about 12 feet in diameter and is made of 7 segments bolted together.

 

The bearing that is the hardest to reach is at the top of the center pole, 17 feet above the floor. It supports most of the moving weight of the carousel.

 Originally the way the horses were connected to the poles was a metal step which was connected to the pole. There were notches in the pole that the step was locked in place on. The new step in the pole (seen at right) is drilled to hold the horse in place.
  

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