Dinn Corporation
| Private | |
| Industry | Roller coaster construction |
| Fate | Dissolved |
| Founded | 1983 |
| Founder | Charles Dinn |
| Defunct | 1991 |
| Headquarters | West Chester Township, Butler County, Ohio, United States |
Key people | Charles Dinn, Denise Dinn Larrick, Randy Larrick, Jeff Dinn |
Dinn Corporation was a roller coaster designing and manufacturing company established in West Chester, Ohio in 1983 by Charles Dinn. The company is noted for moving and rebuilding several existing wooden coasters and building ten new wooden roller coasters in the United States.[1]
History
Charles Dinn served as Kings Island's Director of Construction, Maintenance and Engineering, where he oversaw the design and building of The Beast[2] with a team including Al Collins, Jim Nickell, William Reed and Curtis D. Summers. In November 1984, Dinn left Kings Island and opened his own corporation in West Chester, Ohio. The corporation relocated three older wooden roller coasters from parks that had been closed to new parks[3] One of the firm's first projects was rebuilding the San Antonio Playland Park Rocket as the Phoenix at Knoebels Amusement Resort.[1] In 1985 Dinn contacted Curtis D. Summers, Inc., an engineering firm in Loveland, Ohio to provide the design for the restoration of the helix of Paragon Park's Giant Coaster which his company was moving to Wild World in Largo, Maryland.[1] That was the start of relationship that lasted until 1991. In 1987 the two started building new coasters, with Wolverine Wildcat and Raging Wolf Bobs both opening in 1988.
In 1991, Charlie Dinn closed the Dinn Corporation after a dispute that occurred during the construction of Pegasus at Efteling.[1] This was despite a possible project in the works for Kings Island to open in 1992.[4] However, Charles's daughter Denise Dinn Larrick formed the now-defunct company Custom Coasters International, with many of the key personnel from the Dinn Corp.[5]
Installations
Relocated/rebuilt coasters
New coasters
- Georgia Cyclone
- Hercules, Closed 2003
- Mean Streak, Closed 2016
- Pegasus, Closed 2009
- Predator
- Psyclone, Closed 2007
- Raging Wolf Bobs, Closed 2007
- Texas Giant, Closed 2009, refurbished by Rocky Mountain Construction and reopened as New Texas Giant in 2011.
- Thunder Run
- Timber Wolf
- Wolverine Wildcat
Water projects
The Dinn Corporation served as project managers on the following ride installations:[6]
- Raging Rapids, Kennywood
- The Grand Rapids, Boardwalk and Baseball
- Zoom Flume, Lake Compounce
- Paradise Island, Wild World
References
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dinn Corporation. |
- 1 2 3 4 Seifert, Jeffrey (2008). "Dinn and Summers, A Brief Resurgence in Wooden coasters". RollerCoaster! Magazine. 29 (3): 18–27. ISSN 0896-7261.
- ↑ "Screeeeeeam!". Retrieved 2014-05-29.
- ↑ Rutherford, Scott (2002). The Roller Coaster Lover's Companion. Citadel Press. p. 143. ISBN 978-0-8065-2309-5.
- ↑ "Rattler Letter mentioning Dinn Corp" (PDF). Retrieved 2013-03-04.
- ↑ "Roller Coaster History". Retrieved 2009-05-26.
- ↑ Slade, Gary (1990). "Spotlight on Dinn Corporation (special section)". Inside Track (November 1990): 1–5.