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Sellner Manufacturing Company

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Tilt-A-Whirl at the Minnesota State Fair

Tilt-A-Whirl at the Minnesota State Fair, 1969. Photograph Collection, Minnesota State Fair Archives, Falcon Heights. Used with the permission of the Minnesota State Fair Archives.

On April 24, 1926, Herbert W. Sellner filed an application with the United States Patent Office for an “Amusement Device” designed for parks and resorts. His goal was to provide riders with “pleasurable and unexpected sensations” by swinging, snapping, and rotating them in an unpredictable pattern. He named his creation the Tilt-A-Whirl, and it became the most popular ride made by his Faribault-based Sellner Manufacturing Company.

Herbert Sellner was born in Faribault in 1887. His father was a skilled cabinetmaker, and Herbert inherited his father’s creativity and talents. In 1912, at the age of twenty-five, he established the Sellner Woodcraft Company in Faribault to manufacture mission furniture, lamps, and other wood articles. Sellner also created the Ideal Lamp Company. A 1917 catalog listed magazine racks, smoking and telephone stands, folding dining tables, and lamps with leaded stained glass shades. When World War I affected supply availability, Sellner began manufacturing wood toys for children.

By 1923, Sellner’s creativity evolved, and he invented both a water toboggan slide and a water wheel that became popular items at bathing beaches. The slide was thirty feet high, featured a 100-foot-long track, and occupied a space of eighteen by 100 feet. With twelve toboggans priced at fifty cents a ride, the owner could earn $6.00 every hour.

The slide had a ramp with raised treads (instead of steps) that were easier for riders to climb while carrying a toboggan. It was popular not only in the United States but also in Canada, Switzerland, Jamaica, and Sweden. In 1925, Sellner applied for a patent on the water wheel, which also had a diving platform. The wheel was eight feet high; swimmers either lay on the wheel to spin into the water or dove from the platform. The Swooper, created in 1928, looked like an elevated, oval Ferris wheel. Because it was too bulky for a carnival to transport and manage, only about fifteen were built.

In 1926, the first Tilt-a-Whirl—a ride with nine cars that held two passengers each—was built in Herbert’s neighbor’s garden in Faribault. This original Tilt-a-Whirl was purchased for $4500 by the Wildwood Amusement Park in White Bear Lake for its 1927 season. Gross profit that year was $30,000. The Tilt-a-Whirl first appeared at the Minnesota State Fair in 1926 and had 4,233 riders over the seven days that the fair was open. Each ride cost fifteen cents. In 1927, Sellner built a factory at 515 Fowler Street in Faribault to accommodate his growing business.

By 1928, the Tilt-A-Whirl design was already modified and required three men to operate it: a clutch operator, a ticket taker, and a ticket seller. Model 9-36 had nine cars (three red, three orange, and three blue) and held thirty-six riders. It could earn as much as $162 per hour. Model 7-28 had seven red cars that carried twenty-eight riders and could earn $126 per hour. Each car had a colorful canvas canopy, a seat cushion stuffed with curled hair, and a lap bar to keep riders in place. The cars had linoleum floors and were made of pine and oak and reinforced with iron brackets. A collapsible ticket office with a small cash window and money drawer, canvas covers for each car, and a TILT-A-WHIRL entrance sign with twenty-eight lights were included.

By 1938, 143 Tilt-A-Whirls operated in England, Sweden, New Zealand, and Mexico City. When World War II created a shortage of both workers and materials, Sellner factory employees made bomb carts.

In 1987, the Sellner company introduced Spin Rides, including the Spin-the-Apple, the Berry-Go-Round, Bear Affair, and Barrel-Of-Fun. Other rides that followed included Dizzy Dragons, the Pumpkin Patch, and Windjammer. New colors appeared on the Tilt-A-Whirl, including lime green and purple or white and fuchsia, and the Generation Five Tilt-A-Whirl, with fiberglass cars and an open design, was introduced in 2004 as an alternative to the traditional model.

Economic downturns in the early 2000s hurt Sellner Manufacturing and led to a slump in sales. After it missed payments on a loan from the Economic Development Authority of Faribault, the business was sold in 2011 to Larson International, Inc., of Plainview, Texas. In 2019, Larson International continues to manufacture the Tilt-A-Whirl and the other Sellner rides.

In 2015, a rusting Tilt-A-Whirl car located in a junk yard in Faribault was restored and placed on display in downtown Faribault to honor the history of the Tilt-A-Whirl in the city.

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“Annual Report of the State Agricultural Society of Minnesota.” Fiscal Year from December 1, 1925, to November 30, 1926. See index, page 77.
http://corp.arcasearch.com/usmnmsf/

“Annual Report of the Minnesota State Agricultural Society.” Fiscal Year from December 1, 1953, to November 30, 1954. See index, page 48.
http://corp.arcasearch.com/usmnmsf/

Brown, Curt. “Minnesota History: Tilt-A-Whirl Gives Faribault, Minn. a Historic Spin.” Star Tribune, April 2, 2015.

“Certificate of Amendment of the Articles of Incorporation.” Faribault Journal, February 18, 1914.

“Every Day is a Sporting Event with Sellner Slides.” Sellner Manufacturing Company, Inc. Faribault, Minnesota. Sales brochure, 1923.

“Happy Days Ahead! with a Sellner Tilt-A-Whirl.” Sellner Manufacturing Company, Inc. Faribault, Minnesota. Sales brochure, 1928.

Larson International, Incorporated, The Tilt-A-Whirl.
http://larsonintl.com/the-tilt-a-whirl/

“New Company is Organized.” Faribault Republican, March 20, 1912.

“A New Star on the Midway—The Swooper.” Sellner Manufacturing Company, Inc. Faribault, Minnesota. Sales brochure, 1929.

Rice Country Historical Society Museum, Faribault, Minnesota. Sellner Manufacturing Company, Inc. Museum Exhibit and Archives, August, 2018.

Schreiber, Pauline. “Sellners Still a Spinning Success.” Faribault Daily News, August 4, 1996.

“Sellner Introduces New Tilt-A-Whirl.” Faribault Daily News, February 10, 2004.

“Sellner Manufacturing Company.” Archived Information from the company’s original website. http://www.whirlin.com/scrapbook.html
http://archive.li/FXj9u
http://archive.li/KpBHM

“Sellner Tilt-A-Whirl—Many Good Rides in One.” Sellner Manufacturing Company, Inc. Faribault, Minnesota. Advertising brochure, 1927.

“Sellner Water Wheel.” Sellner Manufacturing Company, Inc. Faribault, Minnesota. Sales brochure, 1923.

“Sellner Tilt-A-Whirl.” Sellner Manufacturing Company, Inc. Faribault, Minnesota. Sales brochure, 1938.

“The Biggest Drawing Card for Hot Weather Profits.” Sellner Manufacturing Company, Inc. Faribault, Minnesota. Sales brochure, ca. 1920’s.

United States Patent and Trademark Office, Patent No. 1,745,719, H. W. Sellner, Amusement Device, filed April 24, 1926.
http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=01745719&IDKey=29C635C38687&HomeUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fpatft.uspto.gov%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fpatimg.htm

Warden, James. “EDA to Move on Sellner Loan.” Faribault Daily News, June 22, 2010.

Related Images

Tilt-A-Whirl at the Minnesota State Fair
Tilt-A-Whirl at the Minnesota State Fair
 Ideal Lamp Company catalog
 Ideal Lamp Company catalog
Water Toboggan Slide advertising brochure
Water Toboggan Slide advertising brochure
Water Wheel advertising brochure
Water Wheel advertising brochure
The first Tilt-A-Whirl
The first Tilt-A-Whirl
The first Tilt-A-Whirl, installed at Wildwood Amusement Park
The first Tilt-A-Whirl, installed at Wildwood Amusement Park
Tilt-A-Whirl patent application drawing
Tilt-A-Whirl patent application drawing
Tilt-A-Whirl advertising brochure
Tilt-A-Whirl advertising brochure
Sellner Swooper
Sellner Swooper
Herbert Sellner
Herbert Sellner
Midway and crowd at the Minnesota State Fair
Midway and crowd at the Minnesota State Fair
Advertising brochure for Spin the Apple
Advertising brochure for Spin the Apple
Sellner Manufacturing Company price list
Sellner Manufacturing Company price list
Tilt-A-Whirl at night
Tilt-A-Whirl at night
Tilt-A-Whirl in the Kidway
Tilt-A-Whirl in the Kidway

Turning Point

In June, 2010, the Economic Development Authority (EDA) of Faribault takes legal action against the Sellner Manufacturing Company due to its failure to make payments on a $150,000 loan from 2007. No payment had been made since August 2008.

Chronology

1887

Herbert W. Sellner is born in Faribault on February 5 to Frederick and Charlotte Luck Sellner, German immigrants.

1908

Herbert Sellner establishes Sellner Woodcraft, which makes mission-style furniture. He is a furniture maker like his father, Frederick, who was a skilled woodworker. The name of the company later becomes Daisy Woodcraft when it is sold.

1926

Herbert Sellner applies for a patent for an “Amusement Device” (later named “Tilt-A-Whirl”) with the United States Patent Office. He describes it as “affording intermittent and unexpected thrills to the passenger.”

1927

Wildwood Amusement Park in White Bear Lake operates the first Tilt-A-Whirl that was built. The cost is $4500, and the gross profit for the first season is $30,000.

1927

Sellner Manufacturing Company incorporates, with Herbert as its president and Martin Sellner, his brother, as its vice president and treasurer.

1928

Tilt-a-Whirl advertising brochures describes the ride’s movement as tilting, sweeping, spinning, swooping, swaying, speeding, sliding, skidding, rounding, rotating, rising, revolving, hesitating, flying, falling, curving, and circling.

1928

A customer writes to Sellner and says that the Tilt-A-Whirl took in $400 in a little more than two hours. He says eight men managed the crowd like cattle.

1930

Herbert Sellner dies of leukemia on April 28, at the age of forty-three.

1949

Directors of the Sellner Manufacturing Company are Mrs. Herbert W. Sellner (Frieda); Martin Sellner (Herbert’s brother); Arthur Sellner (one of Herbert’s sons); and C. M. Vanderpool.

1953

The Tilt-A-Whirl places second in revenue at the Minnesota State Fair. Out of nineteen carnival rides, the it earns $4,849.18, which is exceeded only by the Sky Wheels ride at $7,387.05.

1973

Bruce Springsteen sings about getting his shirt caught on the Tilt-A-Whirl in the song “Sandy, Sandy.”

1995

Three members of the Sellner family with a long history in the company pass away: Herbert’s sons, Walter and Arthur, and Arthur’s son, Bruce.

1995

Tovah Sellner, Bruce’s widow, is chairman of the board. Erin Sellner Ward, daughter of Bruce and great-granddaughter of Herbert, is president.

2010

In June, legal action is taken against the Sellner Manufacturing Company due to failure to make payments on a $150,000 loan which results in the company’s sale to Larson International, Inc. of Plainview, Texas.

2015

A deteriorating Tilt-A-Whirl car, found in a local junkyard, is restored and placed on display in downtown Faribault.