Apparatus for Giving Illusory Subterranean or Submarine Exhibitions.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 25th Jan., 1892
Complete Specification Left, 11th Oct., 1892-Accepted, 19th Nov., 1892
TRUY IDIUNAL STEIFTUATION.
Apparatus for Giving Illusory Subterranean or Submarine
Exhibitions.
I, HIPPOLYTE HARDY, of No. 205 Lasalle Street, Chicago, in the State of
Illinois, United States of America, Man of Affairs, do hereby declare the nature of
this invention to be as follows:-
The object of this invention is to provide means for giving an exhibition of sub-
terranean wonders supposed to be seen at a great depth below the surface of the
earth without actually involving the expense, delay, danger and annoyance of
transporting sight-seers to an inconvenient depth. To this end the spectators
instead of being carried in elevators to a depth of one thousand feet or more beneath
the surface, are actually carried down but a few feet or are not carried down at all,
but by a resort to the illusory means provided by my invention, they are given every
impression of an actual descent to the depth at which the exhibition is supposed to
be held.
The exhibition as it is supposed to exist may consist of a series of caves or
grottoes at a considerable depth beneath the surface of the earth, say for example
one thousand feet, reached by elevators or lifts traversing one or more vertical
shafts. Passengers will enter at a pavilion on the surface where, after paying their
fare, they pass into the elevator car, which descends to a greater or less depth,
stopping for example opposite the gallery of a mine where the spectators observe
miners at work. The car then continues its descent, and at a further depth stops
again and discloses some spectacular exhibition in a chamber or cave, which may
for example portray the interior of a volcano. Again resuming its descent the car
may make one or more other stops at different depths, and finally stops at the
bottom and discharges its passengers into the galleries and grottoes of the subter-
ranean exhibition. In these galleries may be displayed various objects of interest
pertaining to the underground world. After the spectators have passed through
the labyrinth of chambers constituting this exhibition, they may be returned to the
surface by the same elevator, or preferably by a second elevator traversing a
distinct shaft. The ascending car may stop at one or more different levels to
permit the occupants to see any suitable spectacular exhibitions, such for example
as the home of mermaids in a subterranean lake, or to view the bottom of the ocean
with examples of submarine life with a sunken wreck and a diver at work. Finally
the car brings the passengers again to the surface, discharging them into a pavilion
from which they pass out to the ground.
It is obvious that to sink such deep shafts, and to excavate caves and grottoes for
a suitable exhibition at such a depth, would be a work of great magnitude, and
involving such expense as to render it commercially impracticable. It would also
be subject to the practical disadvantages of the dampness pervading the galleries
of the exhibition, and the necessity for continually pumping out the accumulated
water, as is actually the case in mines. The heat would be apt to be insufferable,
and the problem of ventilation for affording the requisite supply of fresh air to the
crowds of persons who should visit such an exhibition, would be almost insur-
mountable.
The desirability of holding such an exhibition in a cellar or sub-cellar involving
an excavation to the depth of only about twenty-five or thirty feet, or on the level
of the ground, is obvious, and if means can be provided for giving the spectators
the impression of a descent to the depth beneath the surface at which the exhibition
is supposed to be held, the feasibility of the plan both from an engineering and a

page_text: commercial standpoint will be made manifest. To provide such means is the object
of my invention.
I will now describe a simple means of carrying out my invention. Suitable
exhibition chambers are excavated beneath the original surface of the earth of a
depth of approximately twenty-five or thirty feet, the earth taken out being
partially utilized in the formation of mounds on the surface. The subterranean
chambers may extend somewhat above the original surface of the ground by suitably
arching them and covering with earth to conceal their existance from the exterior.
Two elevator shafts will be formed in the course of the excavation and properly
walled in. A representation of a mine may also be built as an upper or intermediate
story of the excavation.
In descending a deep shaft in an elevator car, the impression of descent is
imparted to the senses of the occupants of the car by means, first, of the upward
movement of the walls around the car; second, of the slight tremor of the car
indicating that it is in motion; third, the diminution of light from above, the shaft
becoming gradually darker and the opening above at the mouth of the shaft growing
continually smaller; and fourth, of the ascending currents of air passing through
the car indicating that the moving car is descending through a stationary column
of air.
My invention aims to produce the same effects upon the senses of the occupants
of the elevator and for a time proportional to a descent of a considerable depth
beneath the surface, while the actual descent is as stated only about thirty feet.
To accomplish this, the elevator car necessarily remains stationary or nearly so
during the greater portion of the time. My invention provides the following means
for creating the illusion of descent, namely; first, the provision of an upwardly
moving curtain or curtains painted to imitate the walls of the shaft and arranged on
the side or sides of the shaft against an exposed side or sides of the car; second,
the provision of means for mechanically imparting to a stationary car the
tremor that is characteristic of a car which is in motion; third, the provision of
means for mechanically cutting off the light from the shaft by contracting the light
opening at the top or mouth of the shaft at a rate proportional to its apparent
contraction by the actual descent of a car; and fourth, the provision of means for
creating an upward current of air through the shaft and through the car approxi-
mately equal in volume and force to that which passes through the car by reason of
its actual descent in a shaft. Eor creating the illusion of ascent the same provisions
are made, except that the relative means and directions are reversed. All of these
provisions may not be necessary to create a sufficiently realistic illusion, but I
prefer to employ them all concurrently.
On at least one side of each elevator shaft is mounted a vertically moving endless
curtain, painted in such manner as to imitate the inner surface or wall of a shaft
sunk in the earth, namely, with either the brick stone iron or other lining of the
shaft, or with strata indicative of rock or other geologic formations through which
the shaft is sunk. These curtains are mounted on rollers at the top and bottom of
the shafts respectively, these rollers being driven by suitable power to cause the
curtains to ascend or descend at the speed corresponding to the usual speed of
descent or ascent of an elevator, less at any particular time the actual speed of the
elevator. For example, if the speed to be simulated is forty feet per second, the
curtain will travel at the rate of forty feet per second; but if the car is moving at
the rate of ten feet per second, the curtain need travel in the opposite direction
only thirty feet per second.
If only one curtain is used, it should be arranged on one side of the shaft and
against the side of the elevator car opposite to that through which the passengers
enter or leave it. The car is consequently closed during its ascent or descent on all
sides but one, namely, the side against the moving curtain, in order. that the
passengers may not be able to see the actual walls of the shaft. The sides of the
car may advantageously be lined with mirrors which will reflect the apparent
movement of the curtain.

page_text: Spectators entering the pavilion will pass into the elevator car through its open
side, and the car will be closed and started downwardly, but after entering the
shaft it will come gradually to a stop while the curtain is slowly started, its
speed increasing as that of the car is reduced. If a mine is to be exhibited at
an intermediate depth, then, after a suitable time has elapsed corresponding to
a descent to the supposed level of the mine, the curtain will be stopped, giving
the passengers the impression that the car has stopped. Or the car may be
caused to ascend very slowly while the curtain is travelling to a position above
the level of the mine, and then be gradually and imperceptibly started down-
ward and stopped at the mine level somewhat suddenly as elevators are apt to
be stopped, the curtain being retarded as the downward movement of the car
increases, and being stopped at or before the stoppage of the car. The elevator
doors may be thrown open and the spectators given an opportunity to watch the
operations conducted by the actors in the mine. The doors will then be closed
and the car started downward again, and as its speed is reduced the curtain is
started and driven at an accelerating speed until its maximum is attained, which
will be continued while the car remains stationary, and for a suitable time cor-
responding to a further supposed descent, when the curtain is again stopped,
thereby giving the illusion of the stopping of the car at a further depth, at which
another spectacular or panoramic scene may be exhibitel.
The car then resumes its supposititious descent, effected by the continued
upward movement of the curtain, either with or without an actual descent of the
car for a few feet, until finally the curtain is stopped with the car at the level of
the exhibition chambers or galleries, where the passengers are discharged. The
doors of the car will then be closed, and the car run up instantly to the level of
the ground to take in a new load of passengers.
After the spectators have viewed the exhibition, they pass into the ascending
elevator car in the other shaft, which is closed and started upward. It is then
gradually stopped while the curtain in this shaft is gradually started and its speed
increases, the car remaining stationary while the curtain travels for a suitable time.
The illusory ascent may be made immediately to the surface of the earth, or there
may be stoppages for the purpose of displaying spectacular exhibitions or
panoramas as desired, the operations of starting and stopping the car and curtain
being the same as described with a descending car except reversed.
The submarine spectacles or exhibitions to be viewed from the elevator cars
inay be constructed with a tank or aquarium filled with water in which fish are
swimming, and on the opposite side of the tank so as to be seen through the water
thereof, an actor dressed as a diver may be at work around the semblance of a
sunken wreck.
In order to carry out more completely the idea of my invention, I propose to
construct one or both of the elevator shafts, for example that of the descending
elevator, with travelling curtains on all four sides. Three of these may be endless
curtains running over rollers at the top and bottom, and the fourth may be a
curtain of a total length equal to the entire depth of the supposititious descent, so
that this latter curtain will be unrolled for its entire length during one supposititious
descent of the car. Or preferably it may be a half or other fraction of the entire
length of the supposed descent and be caused to execute two or more successive
revolutions during a single supposititious descent. This curtain is formed with an
opening through it, which in each successive stopping position of the elevator car
will coincide with one of the openings in the shaft through which a mine or a
subterranean or other spectacle is displayed. Consequently in the uppermost
position of the car the passengers enter it through this opening in the curtain, and
at the final position of the car they pass out through the same opening into the
galleries of the exhibition.
In order that the impression of continued motion of the car may be maintained
while the car is in fact standing still or moving very slowly, I provide for imparting
to the car a slight tremor or minute vibrating motion such as elevator cars ordinarily

page_text: have while travelling. This may be effected in several ways, preferably by passing
the suspending rope of the car over a pulley which instead of being mounted in
fixed bearings as usual, is mounted on a lever hung from a fixed support at one
end and rapidly vibrated at the other end by being connected to an eccentric on a
rapidly revolving shaft. This shaft need only be revolved while the curtains are
in motion, to effect which it may be driven from one of the roller shafts carrying
the curtains, whereby the vibration is effected at a speed proportionate to that of
the curtains.
This
In order to provide for diminishing the light entering the shaft from the top in
proportion to the supposed descent of the elevator, I provide screens consisting of
horizontally moving plates or sheets placed at the top of the elevator shaft, arranged
to slide obliquely in guides, and each plate on its edge toward the other being cut
angularly, so that as the two angular edges come together they form between them
a square opening coinciding in size and shape with the supposed section of the
shaft. These screens are arranged to slide toward each other, so that by moving
them equally the opening left between their edges is contracted. The movement
is such that this opening is diminished more rapidly at the beginning of the
supposed descent than subsequently, its speed of diminution continually decreasing
until the car is supposed to have reached the bottom of its descent.
differential motion may be given to the screens by means of cords connected to a
spiral winding-on can driven by gearing from the curtain shafts. Thus the screens
are drawn together with a slowly diminishing motion whenever the curtains are
travelling, the movements stopping with that of the curtain. After the descent,
when the car is brought up to the starting position again, the operator pulls a cord
or chain which disengages the winding-on cam from its driving gearing and causes
the screens to slide open, whereupon their operation will be repeated during the
next supposititious descent. The top of the elevator car should not be left open,
as the passengers could too readily see the upper termination of the moving curtains
and the want of perspective within the shaft. To avoid this and yet admit the
passage of sufficient light to enable the diminishing outline of the section of light
entering through the opening in the screens to be seen with sufficient clearness, the
elevator car should be roofed with hammered glass, ground glass, or other partially
transparent medium.
The means for providing the ascending current of air through the shaft during
the time that the car is supposed to be descending but is in reality standing still,
consists of a blower the delivery pipe of which extends down to the bottom of the
shaft and turns upward therein. The blower is driven only while the curtains are
in motion, since while the car itself is really moving down its own motion generates
the proper current of air. To accomplish this, the blower is driven from the same
driving shaft which propels the curtain.
In a descent to a considerable depth within the earth one would expect to
experience at first the sensation of cold, and afterward on arriving at a greater
depth to experience the sensation of heat from the subterranean fires supposed to
exist within the earth. To carry out these details of the illusion, I propose that
the air injected by the blower shall be cold air during the initial portion of the
supposititious descent, and that toward the end of the descent this air shall be
hented air. To effect this the air is first drawn through a cold box where it is
passed in contact with ice or otherwise cooled, and is subsequently drawn through
a hot air box heated by a coil of steam pipe or otherwise.
The ascending elevator may be an exact duplicate of the descending one, but as
the maintenance of the illusion is less important during the ascent, the illusory
provisions may be simplified. According to my preferred construction a single
endless curtain is provided on one side of the shaft, and at the other three sides
are short endless curtains carried by the car itself. Each consists of a short
curtain carried over two rollers arranged above and below openings in the sides of
the car.
These curtains are necessarily driven at the same speed as the long
curtain mounted at the side of the shaft, and to accomplish this an endless cord or

page_text: belt is carried over the rollers which propel the latter curtain so that this cord is
driven at the same speed, and the cord passes over the rollers of the short curtain
to revolve the latter.
In order to display panoramic exhibitions during the supposititious descent or
ascent, one or more openings may be provided in the side of either or both elevator
shafts communicating with a suitable room or chamber, and opposite which opening
the car may be stopped, and the door is thrown open to enable the spectators to
see the panoramic exhibition within the room. In order that successive exhibitions
may be given in the same room or chainber, I construct a movable platform therein
supported on suitable rollers on a track, and on this platform are constructed a
plurality of panoramic exhibitions consisting of suitably painted backgrounds and
stage settings. The platform may be circular and revolve, or may be a straight
platform moving on a track. After stopping the car at the opening and displaying
the panorama, the doors are closed, the supposititious descent of the car is resumed
and the platform is moved to bring another panorama into view through the opening,
after which the car may be again brought opposite the opening, the supposititious
descent arrested, the doors thrown open and this second panorama displayed to the
spectators. This operation may be repeated as many times as there are panoramas,
and during either the descent or ascent.
It is not essential to my invention that the subterranean exhibition shall be
actually located below the level of the ground, as it might be on the level of the
ground, or even above its level. This arrangement is especially desirable wherever
the nature of the soil is such as to make the excavation of a cellar or sub-cellar
unduly expensive. In such case the only excavation need be that of the elevator
shafts, or at least of the descending shaft, which should be sunk sufficiently to
enable the car to be started down to fully impart the effect of beginning an actual
descent, the car being afterward imperceptibly brought up to the level of the
exhibition, as already described, while by the upward movement of the curtains
the passengers are made to believe that the car is descending to a great depth.
My invention may be carried out without any actual descent of the car at all,
in which case the car may be simply hung from a vibrating lever or otherwise
given a trembling motion, the illusion of descent or ascent being imparted wholly
by the movement of the curtains, aided if desired by the upward or downward
injection of air from a blower.
"
1000
J. C. MEWBURN,
55 & 56, Chancery Lane, London, Chartered Patent Agent.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Apparatus for Giving Illusory Subterranean or Submarine
Exhibitions.
I, HIPPOLYTE HARDY, of No. 205 Lasalle Street, Chicago, in the State of
Illinois, United States of America, Man of Affairs, do hereby declare the nature of
the said invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
The object of this invention is to provide means for giving an exhibition of
subterranean wonders supposed to be seen at a great depth below the surface of the
earth without actually involving the expense, delay, danger and annoyance of
transporting sight-seers to an inconvenient depth. To this end the spectators
instead of being carried in elevators to a depth of one thousand feet or more
beneath the surface, are actually carried down but a few feet or are not carried
down at all, but by a resort to the illusory means provided by my invention, they
are given every impression of an actual descent to the depth at which the exhibition
is supposed to be held,

page_text: The exhibition as it is supposed to exist. may consist of a series of caves or
grottoes at a considerable depth beneath the surface of the earth, say for example
one thousand feet, reached by elevators traversing one or more vertical shafts.
Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawings is a vertical section of such supposititious
exhibition, A. being caves or grottoes, and B B¹ the elevator shafts. The passengers
will enter at a pavilion C on the surface where, after paying their fare, they pass
into the elevator car in the shaft B, which descends to a greater or less depth,
stopping for example opposite the gallery of a mine D where the spectators observe
miners at work. The car then continues its descent, and at a further depth stops again
and discloses some spectacular exhibition in a chamber or cave D', which may for
example portray the interior of a volcano. Again resuming its descent the car may
make one or more other stops at different depths, (at D for example), and finally
stops at the bottom and discharges its passengers into the galleries and grottoes A
of the subterranean exhibition.” In these galleries may be displayed various objects
of interest pertaining to the underground world. After the spectators have passed
through the labyrinth of chambers constituting this exhibition, they may be returned
to the surface by the same clevator, or preferably by a second elevator traversing a
distinct shaft B³. The ascending car may stop at one or more different levels to
permit the occupants to see any suitable spectacular exhibitions, such for example
as the home of mermaids in a subterranean lake D³, or to view the bottom of the
ocean with examples of submarine life and with a sunken wreck and a diver at work.
Finally the car brings the passengers again to the surface, discharging them into a
pavilion C¹, from which they pass out to the ground.
It is obvious that to sink such deep shafts, and to excavate caves and grottoes
for a suitable exhibition at such a depth, would be a work of great magnitude, and
involving such expense as to render it commercially impracticable. It would also
be subject to the practical disadvantages of the dampness pervading the galleries
of the exhibition, and the necessity for continually pumping out the accumulated
water, as is actually the case in mines. The heat would be apt to be insufferable,
and the problem of ventilation for affording the requisite supply of fresh air to
the crowds of persons who should visit such an exhibition, would be almost
insurmountable.
The desirability of holding such an exhibition in a cellar or sub-cellar involving
an excavation to the depth of only about twenty-five or thirty feet, or on the level
of the ground, is obvious, and if means can be provided for giving the spectators the
impression of a descent to the depth beneath the surface at which the exhibition is
supposed to be held, the feasibility of the plan both from an engineering and a
commercial standpoint will be made manifest. To provide such means is the object
of my invention.
I will now describe a simple means of carrying out my invention, referring to
Figs. 2 and 3. Fig. 2 is a vertical section, and Fig. 3 is a horizontal section on
the line 3-3. Fig. 3ª is a horizontal section of the elevator car. Suitable
exhibition chambers A A are excavated beneath the original surface of the earth
of a depth of approximately twenty-five or thirty feet, the earth taken out being
partially utilized in the formation of mounds on the surface. The subterranean
chambers may extend somewhat above the original surface of the ground by
suitably arching them and covering with earth to conceal their existence from the
exterior. Two elevator shafts B B will be formed in the course of the excavation
and properly walled in. A representation of a mine D may also be built as an
upper or intermediate story of the excavation.
In descending a deep shaft in an elevator car, the impression of descent is
imparted to the senses of the occupants of the car by means, first, of the upward
movement of the walls around the car; second, of the slight tremor of the car
indicating that it is in motion; third, the diminution of light from above, the shaft
becoming gradually darker and the opening above at the mouth of the shaft
growing continually smaller; and fourth, of the ascending currents of air, passing

page_text: through the car indicating that the moving car is descending through a stationary
column of air.
My invention aims to produce the same effects upon the senses of the occupants
of the elevator and for a time proportional to a descent of a considerable depth
beneath the surface, while the actual descent is as stated only about thirty feet.
To accomplish this, the elevator car necessarily remains stationary or nearly so
during the greater portion of the time. My invention provides the following means
for creating the illusion of descent, namely; first, an upwardly moving curtain or
curtains painted to imitate the walls of the shaft and arranged on one side or sides
of the shaft against an exposed side or sides of the car; second, means for
mechanically imparting to a stationary car the tremor that is characteristic of a car
which is in motion; third, means for mechanically cutting off the light from the
shaft by contracting the light opening at the top or mouth of the shaft at a rate
proportional to its apparent contraction by the actual descent of a car; and fourth,
means for creating an upward current of air through the shaft and through the car
approximately equal in volume and force to that which passes through the car by
reason of its actual descent in a shaft. For creating the illusion of ascent the same
provisions are made, except that the relative means and directions are reversed.
All of these provisions may not be necessary to create a sufficiently realistic
illusion, but I prefer to employ them all concurrently.
On at least one side of each elevator shaft is mounted a vertically moving endless
curtain E, painted to imitate the inner surface or wall of a shaft sunk in the earth,
namely, with either the brick, stone, iron, or other lining of the shaft, or with
strata indicative of rock or other geologic formations through which the shaft is
sunk. These curtains are mounted on rollers a a' at the top and bottom, these
rollers being rotated to cause the curtains to ascend or descend at the speed
corresponding to the usual speed of descent or ascent of an elevator, (less at any
particular time the actual speed of the elevator).
If only one curtain E is used, it is arranged on one side of the shaft, and the car
is closed during its descent or ascent on all the other sides in order that the
passengers may not be able to see the true walls of the shaft. Fig. 3 shows the
arrangement of the car open on the side 6 toward the curtain E, and closed on
the other three sides, but provided with doors cc and c'e' on two of the sides.
Spectators entering the pavilion C will enter the elevator car and the car will
be started downward, but after entering the shaft it will come gradually to a
stop, while the curtain E is slowly started, its speed increasing as that of the car
is reduced. The car may then remain stationary, or may move slowly up or down,
while the curtain continues to travel upwardly, thus giving the passengers the
illusion that the car is travelling continually downward. After sufficient time has
elapsed corresponding to the distance of the supposed descent, the curtain will be
stopped, giving the passengers the impression that the car has stopped. To exhibit
the mine D, the car is stopped opposite to it and the curtain stopped, the doors c c
being thrown open to permit the spectators to see the interior of the mine. After
a further supposititious descent, a second supposititious stoppage of the car may be
made in the same position, and the side doors c¹ c' opened to permit the spectators
to view the spectacular scene D' (see Fig. 1). These doors being closed again,
the illusory descent is resumed. Another illusory stop may be made at D³, Fig. 2,
to exhibit the spectacular scene D³ (see Fig. 1). At the final stoppage, the car is
at the lowest position, and the passengers are discharged into the chambers A A.
The car then reascends to the top.
The spectators having viewed the exhibition, pass into the ascending elevator
car F, which ascends through the shaft B. A similar curtain E' is arranged on
one side of this shaft, and as the car starts upward and is brought gradually to a
stop, this curtain is gradually started and continues to revolve while the car
remains still for a sufficient time to give the impression of the supposed ascent.
The illusory ascent may be made iminediately to the surface of the earth, or there
may be stoppages for the purpose of displaying spectacular exhibitions or panoramas

page_text: such as that indicated at D³ in Fig. 1, or the submarine spectacle and sunken wreck
shown in Fig. 1. The several spectacles or panoramas may be of the general
construction shown at D³ in Fig. 3, consisting of stage settings with suitable
scenery, with or without living actors. The submarine spectacle is best given by
means of a tank or aquarium G (Fig. 2) filled with water and in which fish are
swimming, while in the chamber G at the other side of the tank so as to be
seen through the water, is an actor dressed as a diver and working around the
semblance of a sunken wreck. At the final supposititious ascent, the car is
moved upwardly into the pavilion C¹ and there stopped, whereupon the passengers
are discharged.
I will now describe the more complete apparatus shown in the remaining figures
of the drawings, wherein
Fig. 4 is a vertical section of the portion of the apparatus pertaining to the
descending elevator shaft B;
Fig. 5 is a plan in section on the line 5-5 in Fig. 4;
Fig. 6 is a plan of the screens KK;
Figs. 7 and
are details of the means for operating these screens ;
Fig. 9 is a horizontal section on the line 9-9 in Fig. 4;
Fig. 10 is a section of the ascending elevator;
Fig. 11 is a horizontal section of the ascending elevator car F¹;
Figs. 12 and 13 are details thereof;
Fig. 14 is a detail of the curtain E³;
Figs. 15 and 16 are horizontal sections showing the movable panoramas to be
viewed from the elevator cars;
Fig. 17 is a vertical section showing a modified construction.
In the construction shown in these drawings, the positions of the tank G and
mine D are reversed so that the submarine spectacle is seen during the descent of
the car F, and the mine is seen during the ascent of the car F1. The particular
arrangement of these or other spectacles is of course immaterial.
The spectators enter through a tunnel H (Fig. 4) to a vestibule H', from which
they pass into the car in the position shown. This car is surrounded on all
four sides by curtains painted to imitate the walls of the supposed shaft. The
curtain E is the same as already described. In addition, there are two opposite
side curtains E³ E³ (Fig. 9) carried on rollers a³, and on the fourth side is a much
longer endless curtain E. All the curtains travel at the same speed, being driven
all from one shaft I (Fig. 5). The drawings show the curtain E³ of twice the.
length of the supposed descent. It is a complete continuous curtain except. that it
has one openinge through it, as shown in Fig. 14, which is as large as the elevator
door. In the position shown in Fig. 4, this opening in the curtain coincides with
the elevator door, so that the passengers enter the car through this opening.. The
curtain is carried over additional rollers, e e, sufficient to support the entire length.
of the curtain.
The passengers having entered the car, it is started downward, preferably some-
what brusquely, to give a vivid impression of descent; when the car has passed
below the level of the entering floor it is gradually stopped, while the several
curtains are gradually started, their speed being accelerated as that of the car is
reduced, until when the car comes to rest in the shaft the curtains have attained
full speed. The car is then caused to ascend very slowly and imperceptibly until
considerably above the level of the tank G. The car remains in the shaft until
during the travel of the curtains the opening e' in the curtain E³ has nearly reached
the tank, whereupon the curtains are slowed, and finally stopped with this opening
coincident with the tank. As the curtains are slowed the car is gradually started
downward, its speed increasing until the curtains stop, whereupon on reaching the
tank G the car is brusquely stopped in position to permit the passengers to see the
submarine spectacle. The car is then brusquely started downward again to
continue its supposititious descent, and the operation of slowly stopping the car and
starting the curtains is repeated. The curtains then travel until the opening e' in

page_text: the curtain E³ has made the circuit a second time, the curtains being stopped with
this opening coincident with the passage J. Meanwhile the car has been imper-7
ceptibly moved upward and started downward, so that immediately after the
curtains stop the car descends to and is brusquely stopped at the passage J, where
the passengers pass out into the subterranean chambers A. The empty car is then :
run up to the first position again, the curtains being moved sufficiently to bring the
opening into coincidence with H³.
I provide means for imparting to the car when standing still or moving very
slowly a slight tremor or vibration in imitation of a car moving at full speed.
This may be effected in many ways, but preferably by carrying the suspending rope
of the car over a pulley f¹ which is mounted on a lever 9, one end of which is
rapidly vibrated by being connected to an eccentric g¹ on a revolving shaft g².
This shaft need be revolved only while the curtains are in motion, and to accomplish
this it is driven from the curtain rollers by a belt g³.
To provide for diminishing the light entering the top of the shaft in proportion to
the supposed descent of the elevator car, I provide screens K K near the top of the
shaft. These screens consist of sliding plates moving in oblique guides h (Fig. 6), and
having their edges i cut out angularly to form a square of the same shape as the
shaft, so that by moving the plates toward each other so that one slides over the.
other, the opening left between them may be contracted, as shown in dotted lines
in Fig. 6. As the car is supposed to descend, these screens are moved toward each
other to diminish the opening. Since the laws of perspective require the opening
to be diminished more rapidly at the beginning of the supposed descent than
subsequently, I operate the screens by a differential motion by means of cords jj
united together, passing over pulleys k¹, k², k³, k (Figs. 6 and 8) to a spiral
winding-on cam K' which is driven by gearing (Fig. 5) from the shaft I. The
cam is shown in three different positions in Fig. 7. To cause the screens to be.
drawn apart to enlarge the opening when the car is to commence a new descent,
the operator pulls a rope m (Fig. 4), which extends as shown in Fig. 5 to a lever li
which disconnects a clutch by which the cam K' has been coupled to its screw
shaft K³, thus freeing the cam and permitting it to turn backward, whereupon the
screens are drawn apart by a weight (Fig. 8) thus restoring the parts to their
original position ready for a new operation. The top of the elevator car should.
not be transparent, but should be covered with ground glass or hammered glass
which will admit sufficient light to enable the diminishing outline of the square
opening between the screens to be seen with sufficient clearness.
The means for providing the ascending current of air through the shaft during
the time that the car is supposed to be descending but is really stationary, consists
of a blower M (Fig. 4) forcing air through a pipe M' which discharges upwardly
at the bottom of the shaft. This blower should be driven only while the curtains
are in motion, to accomplish which it is driven from the same driving shaft I
which drives the curtains. In Figs. 4 and 5, it is shown as driven by a belt g
from a pulley q' on the shaft of the roller a*.
In descending into the earth one would expect to experience at first the sensation
of cold, and afterward on moving to a greater depth to experience the sensation of
heat. To accomplish these details of the illusion, I provide for heating or cooling
the air injected by the blower M. The induction pipe of the blower is provided
with a swinging spout M, which at the commencement of the supposititious descent
of the car draws the air through a cold box N cooled by ice or otherwise. But
as the car is supposed to reach a lower level, the spout M³ is gradually swung over
to the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 5, drawing at first some air from
the space between the boxes, and finally drawing only air from the hot air box N¹,
which is warmed by steam or otherwise.
The several operations of starting, accelerating, slowing and stopping of the
elevator car and curtains in proper relative order may be performed automatically
by suitable mechanism, or they may be performed manually. They may be con-
trolled in the engine room, or by the attendant in the car. In Fig. 5, shows the .
B
ค

page_text: ordinary handling rope for controlling the car, and g³ shows an additional rope
which extends to a drum q³ fixed on the same shaft with a pinion m³ meshing with
a rack m³ constituting the belt shifter for shifting the driving belt on pulleys I'
from the fast to the loose pulley, or vice versa. This constitutes one suitable means
for starting or stopping the curtains, but other appliances may be provided.
I will now describe the appliances in connection with the ascending elevator
shown in Figs. 10, 11 and 12. This elevator might be an exact duplicate of the
descending clevator, but as the maintenance of the illusion is less important than
the original creation of the illusion, I prefer to simplify the apparatus pertaining
to the ascending elevator.
The car F of this elevator is constructed with tight-closing door e on the side
through which the passengers enter, being otherwise entirely closed except for
windows ss in its sides. On one side of the shaft is arranged the endless curtain E¹
already described. The other three sides of the car are provided with curtains QQ
carried by the car itself. These are best shown in Figs. 11 and 12. Each
consists of a short curtain carried over two rollers tt arranged above and below
the opening s. The curtains Q Q are driven at the same surface speed as the
curtain E, and to accomplish this an endless belt or cord u is carried over the
rollers a a² of the curtain E', so that this cord travels at a speed proportional to
that of the curtain E. This cord u passes around pulley grooves formed on the
rollers (Fig. 11) passing preferably in the manuer shown in Fig. 13. Whatever
may be the movement of the car, the relative movement of the curtain E' is thus
communicated through the cord u and rollers t to this curtain Q, so that it
necessarily moves at the same speed relatively to the car as the curtain E. The
rollers of all the curtains QQ may be geared together by mitre-gears t¹, as shown
in Fig. 11, or otherwise, so that all the curtains move together. The operation of
the ascending elevator is the same as already described with reference to Fig. 2.
In case it is desired to display panoramic or other spectacular exhibitions such as
are indicated at D', D', D' in Figs. 1 and 2 during the descent or ascent of the
elevators, these panoramas are best constructed as shown in Figs. 15 and 16.
In Figs. 4 and 15, an opening R is formed in one side of the shaft B. This
opening communicates with the large room R', Fig. 15, in which is mounted a
revolving platform S, supported on rollers rolling on a track ». On this
platform are constructed four (more or less) panoramic exhibitions consisting each
of a suitably painted background w and properly arranged stage settings. The
platform may be turned to bring either one of these panoramas toward the
opening R. This opening is normally closed and darkened by a door or
curtain R².
At any suitable supposed level in the illusory descent, the car is stopped in
coincidence with the opening R, and its side doors c are thrown open as shown
in dotted lines in Fig. 15, the door or curtain R2 being also opened so that the
passengers can witness the first panorama, which is suitably lighted. The doors are
then closed and the car continues its illusory descent, the platform S being
revolved to bring the second panorama into position to be viewel. Subsequently
the car is again stopped in the same position, the doors again thrown open, and
the second panorama displayed. The same operation is repeated to display the
third and fourth panoramas.
In Figs. 10 and 16, the platform S carrying the panoramas is arranged to travel
on a straight track instead of rotating. This construction is shown as applied to
the ascending elevator shaft B¹ in a room R' having an opening R³ into the shaft.
Each time that the car is brought into coincidence with the opening R³ and the
curtain stopped, a different panorama on the platform S' is in position to be viewed
from the opening. Either the rotary or reciprocating platform may be employeil
with either the ascending or descending elevator.
In case the nature of the soil will not readily permit of excavating a cellar
for the subterranean exhibition, I contemplate holding the exhibition on the level
of the ground, or even above the ground. For this purpose a suitable building

page_text: will be erected with the rooms devoted to the purposes of the underground
exhibition, made without windows so as to exclude all exterior light, the rooms
being constructed interiorly to imitate subterranean chambers. The elevator shaft B
may be sunk sufficiently into the ground to enable the car to be started down to
carry out fully the effect of beginning an actual descent, the car being afterward
brought up imperceptibly to the level of the exhibition. But it is not necessary
that any portion of the exhibition or elevator shafts be carried below the surface,
nor even that there be any actual descent of the elevator car, as the necessary
illusion can be effected without any vertical movement of the car whatever.
Fig. 17, shows such a modification, the exhibition being wholly on the level of
the ground. The passengers enter from a room or tunnel H into the elevator
car F, the doors d and c are closed, and the curtains E and Q are slowly started
and then driven at full speed. The car is made to tremble by being hung from
a lever rapidly vibrated by an eccentric g¹, and an upward current of air is
forced through the car from a blower M. "Thus a sufficient illusion of descent
is maintained. Finally the moving parts are gradually stopped, and the doors c
and d are opened, the spectators passing out into the rooms A. A of the
exhibition.
It is not essential that all the parts of my invention be used together, as some
of them may be omitted.
'
Instead of a real elevator car, a room or apartment may be constructed to
simulate an elevator car, and this apartment may be altogether stationary if the
part of my invention for imparting a tremor be omitted.
Having thus 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 :-
1. In a theatrical or spectacular device for producing illusory effects, the com-
bination, with an elevator car, of a travelling curtain arranged to move adjacent
thereto in vertical direction and painted in imitation of the walls of a shaft in
which the car is supposed to ascend or descend, whereby by the movement of
such curtain the illusion is created of a movement of the car, substantially as
herein before described.
2. In a theatrical or spectacular device for producing illusory effects, the com-
bination, with an elevator car, of a vertically-moving endless revolving curtain
arranged exterior to an opening in the side of the car and painted in imitation
of the walls of a shaft in which the car is supposed to move, substantially as
hereinbefore described.
3. In a theatrical or spectacular device for producing illusory effects, the com-
bination, with an elevator-car, of a travelling curtain arranged to move in vertical
direction adjacent thereto and painted in imitation of the walls of a shaft and
means for imparting a tremor to the car during the movement of said curtain,
whereby the illusion is created of a movement of the car, substantially as herein-
before described.
4. In a theatrical or spectacular device for producing illusory effects, the
combination, with an elevator-car and its shaft, of curtains arranged in said shaft
adjacent to the sides of the car and driving mechanism for moving them
simultaneously in vertical direction, substantially as herein before described.
5. In a theatrical or spectacular device for producing illusory effects, the
combination, with an elevator-car and a travelling curtain arranged to move-in
vertical direction adjacent thereto, of means for imparting a tremor to the car,
consisting of a lever from which the car is hung and mechanism for imparting short
and rapid vibrations to said lever, substantially as hereinbefore described.
6. In a theatrical or spectacular device for producing illusory effects, the
combination of a vertical shaft, an elevator-car mounted therein, a vertically-
moving curtain arranged to create the illusion of a movement of the car within

page_text: said shaft, and movable screens at top of said shaft for gradually cutting off the
light proportionally to the supposed descent of the car, substantially as herein-.
before described.
7. In a theatrical or spectacular device for producing illusory effects, the
combination of a vertical shaft, an elevator-car mounted therein, a vertically-
moving curtain arranged to create the illusion of a movement of the car within said
shaft, and movable screens at top of said shaft arranged to overlap, forming
between them a rectangular opening corresponding in shape to the shaft and
adapted by their movement to reduce or enlarge the opening proportionally to
the supposed descent or ascent of the car in said shaft, substantially as hereinbefore
described.
8. In a theatrical or spectacular device for producing illusory effects, the
combination, with an elevator car and its shaft, of a blower for forcing air through
said shaft to contribute to the illusion of a movement of the car, substantially as
hereinbefore described.
9. In a theatrical or spectacular device for producing illusory effects, the
combination, with an elevator car and its shaft, of a blower for forcing air through
said shaft and a source of hot or cold air, adapted to be put into communication
with said blower, whereby air of different temperatures may be forced into said
shaft at different times, substantially as hereinbefore described.
10. In a theatrical or spectacular device for producing illusory effects, the
combination, with an elevator-car and its shaft, of a blower for forcing air through
said shaft, a cold-air box, a hot-air box, and a swinging spout or section of pipe for
establishing communication between the suction of the blower and either of said
.boxes, substantially as hereinbefore described.
11. In a theatrical or spectacular device for producing illusory effects, the
combination of a vertical shaft, an elevator-car therein, an opening through one
side of the shaft for the passage of passengers into or from said car, and a travelling
curtain arranged to move vertically along the side of the shaft through which said
opening is formed and having an opening adapted to coincide with said opening,
whereby passengers may enter or leave the car through the opening in said curtain,
substantially as hereinbefore described.
12. In a theatrical or spectacular device for producing illusory effects, the
combination of a vertical shaft, an elevator-car movable therein, openings into said
shaft at different heights on one side thereof, and an endless travelling curtain
arranged to move vertically along the side of the shaft containing said openings
and formed with an opening adapted to coincide with either of said openings,
whereby different positions of said curtain disclose different openings from said
shaft, substantially as herein before described.
13. In a theatrical or spectacular device for producing illusory effects, the
combination of a vertical shaft, an elevator-car movable therein, openings into said
shaft at different heights, one for the admission of passengers to the car, another
for their exit therefrom, and a third for displaying to the passengers a scenic or
spectacular representation, one or more revolving curtains lining the walls of said
shaft for conveying the illusion of a continued movement of the car within said
shaft, and mechanism for starting, driving, and stopping said curtains and for
starting, driving and stopping the car, substantially as herein before described.
14. In a theatrical or spectacular device for producing illusory effects, the
combination of a vertical shaft, an elevator-car movable therein, openings into said
shaft at different heights, one for the admission of passengers to the car and
another for their exit therefrom, a marine exhibition or aquarium-tank arranged
behind a third opening, and one or more revolving curtains lining the walls of said
shaft for conveying the illusion of a continued movement of the car within said
shaft, substantially as hereinbefore described.
15. In a theatrical or spectacular device for producing illusory effects, the
⚫ combination, with an elevator car having an opening in its side, of an endless

page_text: revolving curtain arranged outside said opening, rollers carrying said curtain
mounted in bearings carried by the car, and means for revolving said rollers and
curtain, substantially as hereinbefore described.
16. In a theatrical or spectacular device for producing illusory effects, the
combination, with an elevator-car having openings in its sides, of a vertical shaft
in which said car is movable, an endless curtain living one end of said shaft and
movable in vertical directions relatively to said car, an endless revolving curtain
arranged outside one of the openings in said car on another side of the shaft, rollers
carrying said curtain mounted in bearings carried by the car, and a driving belt u,
driven at a speed proportionate to that of the curtain lining said shaft and arranged
to impart rotation to the rollers of the curtain carried by the car, whereby the
latter or smaller curtain is driven at the same surface speed relatively to the car as
the larger curtain, substantially as hereinbefore described.
17. In a theatrical or spectacular device for producing illusory effects, the
combination of an elevator car, a travelling curtain arranged to move in vertical
direction adjacent thereto to create the illusion of a movement of the car, and a
panoramic spectacle in a chamber at one side of the car, with communicating
openings, whereby by suspending the movement of the curtain, displaying the
panorama to the occupants of the car, and closing said openings and resuming
the movement of the curtain the illusion is imparted of a scene exhibited at some
point in the descent or ascent of the car, substantially as hereinbefore described.
18. In a theatrical or spectacular device for producing illusory effects, the
combination of an elevator car and a travelling curtain arranged to move adjacent
thereto in vertical direction to create the illusion of a movement of the car with
two or more panoramas mounted on a movable platform arranged in a chamber
adjacent to the car, so that either panorama may be exhibited to the occupants of
the car through communicating openings, whereby by suspending the movement of
the curtain, displaying a panorama, then closing the openings, resuming the
movement of the curtains and moving the platform to bring another panorama into
position to be viewed, again suspending the movement of the curtain, and displaying
the panorama the illusion is created of a plurality of scenes viewed at different
levels in the course of the descent or ascent of the car, substantially as
hereinbefore described.
Dated thin 11th do― of Ondahan 1000
J. C. MEWBURN, .
55 & 56, Chancery Lane, London, Chartered Patent Agent.