Carousel: A game derived from combat training

"A galloping trojan that makes you forget about the injury" – this may be the charm of the carousel. Sitting on a horse for just a few minutes of spinning carries the most carefree joys of childhood and the sweet memories of good times when you grow up. It's no wonder that this simple and peaceful game has remained popular and enduring for centuries.

1

The romantic game begins with training in cavalry skills

The carousel can be regarded as the most "all-you-can-eat" entertainment facility in the playground, whether it is a romantic couple, or a naughty child, as long as you ride the wooden horse, the corners of your mouth will be involuntarily raised.

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Who would have thought that such a joyful game was not originally designed for romance, but developed from the fierce combat training of scrambling. Carousel is called "carousel" in English, and the word is derived from the Italian garosello and the Spanish carosella (both referring to "small wars"), carousel takes a combination of the two pronunciations. The earliest carousel prototype is probably derived from the 12th-century Byzantine Empire or its adjacent Middle East, a martial arts training used to train cavalry in riding and dodging techniques. The general gameplay is that the cavalry in a circle rotate in a fixed platform, and someone throws clay balls at them. If the cavalry succeeds in dodging the attack, it is the winner.

This training was later discovered by the European Crusaders and brought back to the mainland as a secret training method for knights and strictly forbidden to pass it on. After a period of time, the way of throwing ball training was improved, and the knight reduced the difficulty of training by pulling the ring hanging in mid-air.

There were also small installations that were made for the private use of the nobility. Around the 15th century, the game spread to the court of King Charles VIII of France and became a spectacular tournament for viewing. More than a hundred years later, during the reign of King Louis XIV of France, the event was further upgraded, and in the square between the Tuile Gardens and the Louvre, he planned an equestrian league attended by thousands of people.

At the end of the 17th century, young French aristocrats who could play added mechanical facilities to the original game, installing legless Trojans on a rotatable platform and pulling the rotating rod by human or animal power. At this time, the rules of the game changed, and the riders had to sit on a wooden horse and use their long swords to stab the ring hanging above their heads, comparing whose sword technique was more accurate. Until the early 19th century, this manual machine, which was regarded as the prototype of the carousel, spread throughout Europe. Many countries began to build similar facilities, and since there were no machines as a power at the time, the rotation had to rely on human or animal power to maintain. In the world-famous New York Central Park, the first generation of carousels was built in 1871 by real horses and mules underground. Americans even applied bicycle technology to carousels at one time, which was a "black technology" at that time.

2

Hand carving drives the "carousel economy"

In the 19th century, steam power emerged. Game maker Thomas Bradshaw invented the first steam-driven mechanical carousel in 1863 and exhibited it at the show. At the time, a reporter described it as "impetuous and strange." But strangerly, this simple game quickly became popular in European countries. Due to the white gas emitted by the steam engine during operation, and the colorful Trojan horses shuttled through the fog, this scene has become a good memory of many people's childhood.

From 1860 to 1914, the United States ushered in a historical peak of immigration. With the influx of a large number of European people, not only a large number of laborers were sent to the United States, but also advanced handicrafts were brought.

The carousel is one of them. Many production factories took root in the United States with the immigration, and the hand-carved Trojan horse technicians who escaped the persecution of European religion inspired unprecedented creative inspiration and opened an era of controversy. The American Trojan horse under the carving knife has a high head, round eyes, and a horse's mane flying up and down, appearing vibrant and untamed; and in Europe at the same time, the Trojan horse is basically carved out of a template, docile and stereotyped.

In 1867, Gustav Denzel, from a family of German Trojan horses, tried to assemble the first carousel and started his business in Philadelphia. In the more than three decades since then, dozens of Trojan manufacturers have sprung up across the United States, fueling the "carousel economy" and making a lot of money.

Coney Island was the world's first large-scale amusement park, and in 1875, when Danish woodcarver Charles Ruffer erected two rows of hand-carved Trojan horses and animal model turntables in the open space on Kony Island, people cheered the birth of the world's first large carousel. Although it was very simple at the time, the decoration was all based on kerosene lamps, and there was only a drummer and a flute player to accompany it, but it did not prevent people from falling in love with it.

After the European "born" carousel settled in North America, the manufacturer Frederick Savage added ups and downs while the trojan was spinning according to the feeling of riding. Not only that, he also equipped the carousel with musical functions. In the United States at the end of the 19th century, as soon as the Trojan horse rotated, the cheerful organ version of "Yankee Song" would follow.

China had a carousel in the Republic of China period, and Zhu Ziqing mentioned in the "Westbound Newsletter" that there were "electric horses" in the parks of Harbin. The "electric horse", or carousel, was set up as early as 1917 when the Shanghai Great World Playground opened, and has become a good memory for many old Shanghainese.

3

The indispensable "protagonist" in the park

In the early 20th century, the widespread use of electricity accelerated the full rise of the entertainment industry in the United States. In just 10 years, hundreds of parks, large and small, have sprung up, and the carousel is an indispensable "protagonist" in it. As competition intensified, the workmanship of the carousel became more and more gorgeous, and the style was not limited to horses, but extended to many subjects. In particular, Frederick designed a set of ship-type carousels with the theme of the sea, which opened up the diversification of design. Haysel Spearman even laid out sixteen animals on the turntable, including cats, dogs, zebras, ostriches and kangaroos.

Generally speaking, the wooden horse has three forms: the tallest "standing horse" on the outside, at least three horseshoes to be placed on the platform, about 150 cm long, its decoration is gorgeous, the carving is complex, belongs to the collector's favorite; the four hooves of the "vaulting horse" that takes off or jumps high, and the "dancing horse" whose hind legs fall on the platform and the front leg jumps out, the size is slightly smaller, and it is on the inside of the turntable. However, the "king" on the platform is another person, the "leading horse" or "horse king" who lives on the outside, its appearance is the most "high and cold", and it is also the most exquisite in decorative details, usually full of flowers, gems or armor.

Unlike modern carousels made of aluminum and fiberglass, the Trojans of that time were really carved by technicians on the logs, using only wood, nails and glue. Tobin Farley's book The Great American Trojan is a collection of what Time magazine reporters saw and heard when they visited a Brooklyn Trojan factory before an amusement park in New York opened in 1899. It is mentioned in the article that when making a trojan horse, the craftsman first cuts the wood into suitable wooden boards, and then fully bonds it with special hot glue, and then hands over the semi-finished product after the rubber drying to the engraving technician for "deep processing". There are more than 20 kinds of carving knives for technicians, with different blade lengths and shapes, which are used to carve all the details of horses. Subsequently, the finished part of the carving began to be fitted and fixed. A radiant horse takes at least six or seven professional craftsmen 35 hours to complete. This is not the end of it, after a quick polishing, the primary color Trojan is sent to the paint room to wait for "makeup". The painter tirelessly bases and refines it many times before brushing it with popular colors. If the Trojan horse needs gold leaf decoration, it is necessary to increase the process of gluing and soft brush light rubbing. Even the color of the selection of the rut is very exquisite, both to suit the horse itself and to match it with other wooden horses. Finally, the painter will also brush the entire wooden horse twice with transparent lacquer, so that a qualified wooden horse can really come out.

4

Trojans are no longer "wooden" horses

The manual work of slow work was eventually replaced by rumbling machines.

After entering the 20th century, the engraving machine was favored by many Trojan horse manufacturers as soon as it appeared, although this bulky big guy could only complete the rough carving of the silhouette in the early stage, and still needed to be carefully carved by technicians in the later stage, but as the engraving machine became more and more powerful, there were fewer and fewer things that needed to be completed by hand. Such a change makes businessmen more optimistic about the machine, because only the design drawings of the Trojan horse need to be simplified to adapt to the engraving machine, which not only reduces the cost, but also increases the output. Since then, some companies have also begun to reduce the amount of expensive wood used, using cheap aluminum to replace casting products, from the initial test of aluminum legs, aluminum horse head and even the whole body, this cheap and durable metal horse finally entered the house and became the mainstream in the following decades.

The roof leaks in the rain. World War I and economic crises ensued, leading the carousel industry to decline. One ace Trojan company after another went out of business, and the few remaining companies had to adopt more aluminum products, and some directly changed careers. The most helpless is the Trojan carving technician living at the bottom, in order to support his family, he can only give up the craft he was once proud of and change his profession.

At the same time, the carousels of the earliest amusement park stars who "debuted" have also entered the "aging", on the one hand, due to temperature changes that cause wood to crack or be mothed, on the other hand, long-term wear and lack of maintenance. The managers did not think so, but let the workers use nails, tin and even can boxes to repair the damage of the Trojan horse, and it would no longer be as elaborate as when the technicians made it. Amusement park operators are scrambling to buy more exciting, more advanced rides to attract visitors, and few people pay attention to the venerable carousel. Coupled with occasional fires, carousels suffered, and many were hidden in abandoned warehouses or basements.

5

After many years of "sleeping", it transforms into antique art

When the carousel, which had been "dormant" for many years, returned to the public eye, decades had passed. People gradually realized the artistic value of the traditional carousel, and some people even tried to find the master carvers of that year, but most of them have passed away, and the wooden horses under their carving knives have become out of print.

In 1973, more than 200 Trojan enthusiasts gathered in Massachusetts, USA, to organize a national roundtable on carousels (later renamed the National Carousel Association) to share their stories with Trojans. Perhaps, everyone's childhood has an unforgettable carousel memory, and soon, this enthusiasm will infect the United States, and various books and academic papers about the carousel will continue to emerge, and many toys, pictures, and albums will also "bring goods" around the Trojan.

The carousel has been reborn with the memories and expectations of generations. Amusement parks that still retain the original Trojans quickly set about repairing them, and the "disabled" Trojans were finally treated by professional "doctors" rather than simply and rudely repaired.

Considering that the youngest Trojan is also over sixty years old, the "Trojan Doctor" must prevent the "affected area" from deteriorating without destroying the prototype as much as possible. Generally speaking, each Trojan takes between thirty and hundreds of hours to repair depending on the injury.

The "doctor" is required to perform a comprehensive physical examination of each "visiting" Trojan, including "trauma" and "internal injury". Without destroying the paint, the "doctor" must carefully penetrate the surface of the "injured" wood with an awl or a carving knife to feel whether its interior has rotted. In the past years of violent maintenance, some Trojans have accumulated thirty or forty layers of paint, and these shoddy paints like singing dramas are completely different from the original delicate and exquisite style, and the first thing the "doctor" has to do is to completely remove these paint layers, and then leave the wooden tires to re-polish and color. For those Trojan horses that have been implanted with iron nails and iron sheets, the "doctor" must first remove them, and then chisel the wooden nails according to the "condition", fill the resin and then shape them with a file or sandpaper. After several weeks of stripping, carving, painting, sanding, and repainting, the "facelift" carousel regained its original spirit.

To this day, there are still some centuries-old carousels that are in normal use after restoration. At the end of August 2020, when the Toshimaen Amusement Park in Tokyo was officially closed, the most eye-catching thing was the "100-year-old" elderly carousel, and many people went to take photos with it to say goodbye. The Trojan was produced in Germany in 1907 and later donated to the United States. In 1969, Toshimaen bought a Trojan horse sleeping in a warehouse and shipped it to Japan, where it was restored and carefully assembled by experts and met with visitors in 1971. In 2010, it was recognized by the Japan Machinery Association as one of the oldest carousels in the world and is a world-class important mechanical cultural heritage.

There are also some Trojan horses that become antique collections and enter the museum. In September 2010, an auction house in New York hosted a 1880s authentic carousel, which claimed to be the first important "antique animal component" in the auction industry in 15 years. The 50 lots include ponies, stags, giraffes, etc., all carved by famous craftsmen such as the Dunzel brothers and Charles Loew. Lot estimates ranged from a few thousand dollars to sixty or seventy thousand dollars, and the most expensive was a "Coney Island style" lion made by Marcus.

6

Become a carousel of city landmarks

The love of the carousel is not a child's patent, and adults cannot resist it. At Disney around the world, the carousel is the first device to start and the last to stop every day. Many of the carousels that have spread around the world have become part of the cityscape.

The city with the most carousels is Paris, which can be seen almost everywhere, such as under the Eiffel Tower and in front of the town hall. The green-topped carousel in the Jardin du Luxembourg was built in 1879 and designed by Charles Galnier, the builder of the Paris Opera House, and is the oldest carousel in Paris.

The carousel in Santa Clara, California, USA, is included in the Guinness Book of World Records as the "largest" carousel in the World. The Carousel in Spokane, Washington, D.C., was built in 1909 and is on the National Register of Historic Places and is one of the best-preserved hand-carved carousels in the United States. The antique carousel in New York's Central Park began operations in 1871 and is still in operation today.

There is a 24-seat carousel called "Solar Eclipse" in Stockholm, Sweden, which is more than 120 meters high and is the tallest Trojan in the world.

Today's playgrounds, whether gorgeous, dreamy, exciting, high-tech, have everything to do, but the ancient carousel has always occupied a place. People prefer it because no matter how old you are, sitting on it can forget sorrow and feel joy in the rotation.

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The carousel has a "crystal house"

In 2011, the famous French architect Jean Nouvel built a "crystal house" for the carousel located on the east bank of Brooklyn Bridge Park in New York, and the square transparent "crystal" surrounded the carousel, as if solidifying the joys and dreams of childhood.

Jean Nouvel received a series of authoritative awards during his career as an architect, specializing in creating novel buildings out of steel, glass, and light and shadow, including the Arab World Research Center and the Doha Building.

The carousel, built in 1922 and once located in a park in Youngstown, Ohio, was tragically destroyed in a fire. Later, at the Indiana auction in 1984, a local artist bought it and spent a full 24 years repairing it.

This "crystal house" is made of acrylic, so why not use the common glass? In this regard, Nouvel explains, "I could create a huge glass curtain wall with no structure, but it has a distorted thickness and glass light, and I would prefer this house to have the thickness of crystal." I hope it becomes a fragile little monument in the city. ”

Source: Beijing Daily Author: Guo Mei

Process Editor: L006

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