Improvements in Stage Appliances:
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 9th Oct., 1899-Accepted, 16th Dec., 1899
Improvements in Stage Appliances:
I, JOSEPH RHODE GRISMER, Actor and Author, of Bayside, Long Island, N.Y.,
U.S.A., do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement:-
The invention relates to stage appliances.
The object of the invention is to provide means for producing a realistic snow-
storm, in which the snow appears to be driven past the windows and doors by
gusts of wind, as in heavy snow-gales, and is caused to drift and bank against the
door-jamb, window-frames and other places, thus similating in the highest degree
a violent snow-storm.
To get this effect I employ flakes of paper and combine with them pulverized or
granular substances, preferably of greater specific gravity than the paper flakes,
such, for instance, as salt, meal, or white sand.
With this object in view, the invention consists in certain features of con-
struction and combination of parts which will be hereinafter fully described and
claimed.
In the accompanying drawings:-
Figure 1 is a front view of my improved machine.
Figure 2 is a side view, partly in section, (the fans being omitted).
Figure 3 is a cross sectional view on the line X-X of Figure 2.
In the drawings the same reference characters indicate the same parts of the
invention.
1 denotes an upright frame supporting one or more receptacles 2, preferably in
the form of perforated cylinders arranged in different horizontal planes and
adapted to drop or discharge sand, salt, meal, or any granular or pulverized
substance.
"denotes a flake dropper, being a device designed for dropping or discharging
flakes in the form of small pieces of paper. The flake-dropper is of a well-known
construction, and in itself forms no part of my invention, as any form of flake-
dropper may be provided without departing from the spirit of my invention. The
one shown consists of a framework comprising the longitudinal sides 2b, the end
pieces 2, the slats 2°, and the coarse wire netting 2. It is suspended from above
by cords 2, and is operated by a cord 2h which extends around and is fastened to
one of the end pieces.
Below each of the cylinders is a fan 3 designed to expel or force the granular
or pulverized substance as it falls from said cylinders across the stage into the
path of the falling paper flakes, the two thus being combined and forced across
the stage. The granular or pulverized substance when combined with the flakes
and forced across the stage by the blast from the fan, will be driven against the
panes of glass and into the door-jambs and bank, thus presenting to the audience
a realistic effect.
While I prefer to employ electricity for operating the fans, they may be operated
by hand power. I may also desire to rotate the perforated cylinders by electric

page_text: power, but prefer to rotate them by hand, and it will of course be understood that
various changes in the form, proportion, and the minor details of construction may
be resorted to without departing from the principle or sacrificing any of the
advantages of this invention.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:
In a device of the character described, the combination with the flake-dropper,
of means for dropping a. pulverized or granular substance, and means for blasting
or driving the falling mass across the stage, whereby the flakes and pulverized or
granular substance are mixed and a realistic snow-storm produced, substantially as
and for the purpose set forth.
Dated this 6th day of October 1899
WHEATLEY & MACKENZIE,
40, Chancery Lane, W.C., Agents.