Children playing "catch the brass ring" is recorded here in a French frontispiece of 1803. The brass ring is still used as a game on all complete carousel ride installations. After catching the ring, the rider must toss it into a large target-like ring collection device, often covered with a gaping mouthed clown face.
The Americans of 1869 showed their ability to innovate by adapting the recently invented bicycle to power a carousel ride. This ride will probably come back into fashion again.
The "Chinese Ring Game" in the Tivoli Gardens of Paris, France, 1815. The sticks used earlier to knock off a man's hat are replaced by the grabbing of rings, showing the evolution of the cavalry practice the carousels were originally designed to do. The word "carousel" comes from the same root at the word carouse, it meant "little war games". This was a person-powered ride, look into the pit below.
The Wurlitzer Band Organ Company made many elaborate pneumatic music machines which used paper rolls with holes punched in them for the different notes. These devices could play hundred's of tunes and were often used with carousels. Calliopes were similar steam driven music devices too loud for use close to a carousel.
