The next time you're on a carnival ride, maybe at the Regatta or the Clinton County Fair, I can guess what you'll be thinking. You'll be thinking about local history.
Actually, first you'll probably be thinking, "I'm dizzy! When does it end?!"
Then you'll be thinking, "Why did I go on that ride?"
You may think, "I shouldn't have had eight hot dogs."
But after that, you'll get to thinking about local history.
Charles Moyer was an enterprising sort of guy. He was born in Sugar Valley to Jonathan Moyer, a local doctor and county official. Moyer grew up to have a typical sort of life. He was married twice, had several sons and daughters. He bought a house at 24 East Park St. and lived there. The family attended Great Island Presbyterian Church.
He designed and patented a grade crossing switch control, which was for railroad companies, but never promoted it or followed up on the invention. Moyer had more interesting work to do.
About 1914, Moyer took an interest in carnival rides. Not riding on them, no. Moyer could do better than that.
He began to build one.
Sometimes joining with a friend, John McKibben, Moyer designed a ride, which he called the "Gee-Whiz." He built a small model of it, which seemed to work correctly, and then invested his money and had a completed model built from wood. It was made at the Bloom Machine Shop, with Moyer carefully supervising.
The Gee-Whiz got its first real test run at a block party in July 1921. Troop F, a military cavalry that had recently been redesignated, was holding a block party on Vesper Street. The street was blocked off, and the community was invited to come for fun.
Moyer set up his new invention, which was noted for not using any power. It operated by gravity. The Clinton County Times said, "It can be operated entirely without power.Accompanied by an up and down movement which produces something new and distinct from other devices of a carousel type."
The article goes on to describe the Gee-Whiz in great detail. If I tried to reproduce the entire description here, you'd be reading all day, but it seemed to consist of a central mast with a series of ropes. People sat on a platform, strapped into seats, and spun around the mast, protected by two railings. The ride was a huge hit, reported the Times.
"A feature of the block party on Vesper Street this week is Moyer's Gee-Whiz, a new riding device," the paper stated. "Many people old and young have ventured to try out the invention and have found it to be a good form of amusement."
The Gee-Whiz could seat about 30 people at a time, and it ran all night at the block party. The Troop F boys kept busy operating the machine, and at the end of the night, over 350 people took turns riding it.
The Gee-Whiz was such a big hit that it made further appearances at other events held in Agar's Park, Beech Creek, and Woolrich Park. Universally, people loved the thing. Members of several amusement park companies declared it "One of the best ever brought to their attention."
Moyer patented the Gee-Whiz in March of 1922, and sent a model of it to London to secure European patents. In November, he met with the Chester Pollard Amusement company in New York, and sold them an option on the patent. The company loved it, and constructed a steel model for around $600. They tested it out at Coney Island, finding it a big hit.
"Should the demonstration at Coney Island prove successful," the paper said, "Manufacture of the Gee-Whiz will probably be begun on a larger scale and the distribution through the United States, Canada, and the European countries, including England, France, and Germany will be instituted."
Moyer lived another seven years, long enough to see his invention manufactured. He died in November 1929, and was buried in Dunnstown Cemetery. And if he could read this article, Moyer would be spinning in his grave.
I hope so. I get the feeling he'd have enjoyed it.
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Lou Bernard is curator at the Clinton County Historical Society. He can be reached at
