The Dentzel Carousel Mechanism

The mechanism for the carousel was donated by the Dentzel family, one of the great names in carousels. The mechanism and center post came from a carousel at Point Pleasant, New Jersey, built in 1909, so 2009 is its one hundredth anniversary.
The gears are made of wood. New gears were fabricated to match the original ones.



The platform is huge. The floor measures 49 feet in diameter. It needed to be rebuilt. New wood was found and purchased in Portland.





The wood on the original apron that finishes the front face of the platform was curved (bent to contour to match the curve of the platform's edge). For the rebuilt platform, wood was cut to shape to follow the curve of the platform. The front piece is standing on the flat edge that attaches to the platform in the photo, with the curved apron edge facing upward.



The center pole is made from a huge tree. The original pole is in great condition and will be used for the new structure. It looks like a mast from an old sailing ship. The finished structure will be 51 feet in height.

The plans shown below are fun to see.

Summer 2009 Visit to the Brass Ring Carousel Studio

The block for the body of a new animal arrived at the studio. This is the beginning stage for all the carved animals.


The progress on our reindeer is slow.


The body is developing some shape. The leg blocks are resting on the lower shelf.


We'll show some photos of other animals in progress below.




The horse below, Kiwi, awaits the first coat of primer.

The baby lamb who will be placed with the Lioness on the carousel is in progress near Taffy the alpaca's head:

The strawberries on the horse below look so real you can almost eat them!


The painting area of the studio is always an exciting place to visit. Each animal gets many coats of paint, beginning with primer. The details come to life even more vividly with the artists' amazing expertise. The cayuse pony, Kalapuya is shown below.


Painting progress on two other horses, Sassie Mae and Lightning are shown below.