In 1899, Henry B. Auchy — a former liquor and produce distributor and amusement park proprietor — formed the Philadelphia Carousel Company with partner Louis Berni. In 1904, Auchy and Chester E. Albright joined forces to create the Philadelphia Toboggan Company; their primary business was the production of roller coasters, hence the "Toboggan" name. The carousel operation came with a head start: when PTC acquired E. Joy Morris's inventory in 1903, as many as 200 completed figures passed to the new company, which used them on carousels manufactured between 1903 and 1907 — causing widespread misattribution that was not corrected until 1989. Beginning in 1907, PTC began numbering the center poles of their carousels, making them the easiest of all American machines to trace. In 1909, Auchy patented the Auchy friction drive, which PTC guaranteed for 25 years and which some carousels still use today. Philadelphiatoboggancoastersinc + 3

From its founding until shortly after the Great Depression, PTC manufactured 87 carousels, of which approximately 35 are still in operation. Lead carvers included Daniel Carl Muller, Leo Zoller, John Zalar, and Frank Caretta. The 1927 acquisition of the Dentzel Carousel Company's inventory integrated Dentzel carvers and carving patterns directly into PTC production, giving the company's later figures a Philadelphia-school depth that distinguished them from both the Coney Island and country-fair styles. Carousel production ceased in 1930 following Auchy's death in 1922. The company survives today as Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters, Inc., focused exclusively on roller coaster manufacture and maintenance. Carouselhistory + 3