New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-08-07
AN ILLUMINATED FOUNTAIN.
AQUATIC FIREWORKS AT PROSPECT
PARK.
GREAT POPULAR SHOWROOM TIE WONDER
FuL EFFECTS OF LIGHT AND COLOR
ARE PRODUCED.


trically lighted fountain. at the entrance tn
Prospect Park. 1t is not the only thing Of the
kind in this country, but it is the largest and
finest. The spectacle which it affords t"ice
week during the summer season has been draw
ing crowds for more than two months TINS year
and was Witnessed repeatedly last summer ais"
Yet popular interest increases rather than
abates. And we'll it may. The display Lasts
about an hour. from to Q o'clock, on Tuesday
and Friday evenings and long before it begins
the adjacent benches, accommodating h'e hCh-
drcd or six hundred persons. are nearly filed.
by the tire the exhibition is well under way
several thousand more are standing outside the
rope which Captain Mcnamara has stretched
around he oval lawn wherein the fountain is
situated The spectators are exceedingly order
~. however. and the few policemen on duty
there are needed more to answer questions tnan
r. restrain the vagrant impulses RI the !, opi,
Years ago IN this spot stood high. not very
ornamental. OLD fashioned fountain. This was
entirely removed early last year, and there r.
main. now only shallow basin with nothing 10
ohstruct the view Of The NJ morial Arch as on"
comes W FIatbush-ave The basin is shallow.
about one hundred and twenty six feet across
and rot over one or two feet deep. y stone cop
INK rises rom tll' Sti' s'tt ~ INV Nh''i ~ 80
latter distance. and along its front a complete
circl. Of incandcscent lights. eighty altogether
fash out into ..cw Just before the entertain
mcnt nccins.
THE COLOR Expects SHOWN.
Then. after a short pause. there are thrown
upward colored streams which are brilliantly
lighted in Some mysterious way. and which
vary AT short intervals in volume. height nam
Der. inclination and hue After scrutinizne tn"
general arrangement closely the observer dis
covers that one stream proceeds from the centre
II The basin six more are grouped about il in Il
circle and twelve Others constitute still larger
circle The coOrs arr white. yellow. amber
pink deep red. blue, green and purpl,. Sjine-
times all the lets arc OF the same iiDi AID
sometimes they are Of different ones. Then.
o~air the shaues e the streams arc constantly
changing :, n to form different recognizable
designs There are shravcs Of wheat. be"hiveS.
fans. umhre Has baskets. ribbons. rockets ana
srirals
Tho VARIETY # color and combinations Of color
anu the changes in tn. form and number 6" )''S
are remarkably beautiful. ~ on" moment one
...+ O., 4iur,. thick stream from each II IN
,,f,c,ocu sources all leaning inward slightly and
ri.inc t. a blight n nHy OF siAty feet rh"!
unit, in making hGf s.n2lc figure. SON '''i'F-
,,.,, ,, me. Of the centres Il activity IS con
dr,t.ur business on ~. own hook IN (" moe
,. Tn. water does rot rise MOI, than cish'
r to, feet perhaps. and instead ~ one f'AsSiN'
f., t,.-, s. a rrou, q fire ones ARRANGED III
Tin, ,,rcl. or ,I.r ~ = straight row i''" or SIX
zee, long
tn notifications 4 design ard hue tak'
place wilhcu, warming o- "Npianaii'n The
silence ~ the etii insight is broken orly by the
natter and hiss oC IA. water ard sfnnthcrei
cIAcuiaiions II admiration. Tn institution -
popularity known - an electric fountain. ana IN
a varu. general way II * understood that e.c'-
,ricity has something t. DO with the w"ndr"rs
display. Hut arly q e.. have been permitted t"
80 doWn. ~ : Tribune man was the G'hrr
..,rinr. into IN" suht,rran"an chamber wh'r"
Az this magical work is directed.
THE APPARATUS THAT DOES TT
U.rco,,, tho ccn:r, II the basin iust mcn-
toned +, - ir.ular room nfty feet across and
eight feet high Tho ceiling j. pierced at nin"-
teen points with tubular passages ar tunnels
TWENTY-FIVE inches wide. and reaching up I" 'h'
surface Of the water The upper ends IL tn ian
ncls are covered with glass plates an inch th''N
and fitted go as t. permit II" leakag' 'h' 81
thcs, is in the centre. SIX Al" grouped af'uIi' Il
in a small circle and twelve IN a large 'f,le
Each funnel rs provided with hummer 81
nnzzles and "A set % supply pipes Ana II l.
POSSIBLE To- put first one and then announcer 81
these noZzl"s in operation and I" mah' c"Hi"-
nations b. few valves properly placed. iH'
water comes from single main hut mere arr
hundreds Z ranifcations to the PIP" systr"
on, IN th, he'd o: thc basin. Thus the operator