Dinn Corporation


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.

History

Charles Dinn served as Kings Island's Director of Construction, Maintenance and Engineering, where he oversaw the design and building of The Beast with a team including Al Collins, Jim Nickell, William Reed and Curtis D. Summers. In November 1983, 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 One of the firm's first projects was rebuilding the San Antonio Playland Park Rocket as the Phoenix at Knoebels Amusement Resort. 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. 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. This was despite a possible project in the works for Kings Island to open in 1992. 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.

List of roller coasters

As of 2019, Dinn Corporation has built 11 roller coasters around the world and assisted with at least 3 known restoration.

Relocated/rebuilt coasters

NameParkCountryOpenedStatusRef
WildcatLake Compounce United States1927
Phoenix
Formerly Rocket
Knoebels Amusement Park
Playland Park
United States1985
1948 to 1980

Wild One
Formerly Giant Coaster
Six Flags America
Paragon Park
United States1986
1917 to 1985

New coasters

NameParkCountryOpenedStatusRef
Wolverine WildcatMichigan's Adventure United States1988
Raging Wolf BobsGeauga Lake United States1988
Timber WolfWorlds of Fun United States1989
HerculesDorney Park United States1989
Georgia CycloneSix Flags Over Georgia United States1990
Now known as Twisted Cyclone
Texas GiantSix Flags Over Texas United States1990
Now known as New Texas Giant
PredatorSix Flags Darien Lake United States1990
Thunder RunKentucky Kingdom United States1990
PsycloneSix Flags Magic Mountain United States1991
Mean StreakCedar Point United States1991
Now known as Steel Vengeance
PegasusEfteling Netherlands1991

Water projects

The Dinn Corporation served as project managers on the following ride installations: