Dates

• Existence: 1906 - 1933
• Usage: 1919 - 1933
• Usage: 1906 - 1919

Biography

Traver Engineering Company was a fairground ride building company founded by Harry Guy Traver in 1906 in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, USA. Harry Traver was an engineer born in Gardner, Illinois on 25 November 1877.

In 1899, he took an apprenticeship in mechanical engineering with General Electric Co. after attending the 1898 Omaha Exposition. Upon finishing his apprenticeship, Traver took a job with Denver Tramway Co. and later was employed by Harris Safety Co. in New York City. In 1906, he filed a patent request with the U.S. Patent Office for an amusement park circle swing and founded Traver Circle Swing Co., in Broadway, New York City. In 1919 he moved the company to Pennsylvania and renamed it Traver Engineering Company. By 1924 Travers was the largest fairground manufacturer in the world.

Traver’s rollercoaster become popular for their unique twisted layouts and thrilling, swooped turns. Additionally, Travers was the first to build rollercoasters using steel structures rather than wood.

The Great Depression of the 1930s had a huge impact on the company, which closed in 1933. Harry Traver died in New Rochelle, New York on 27 September 1961.