Improvements in Apparatus for Producing the Illusion of Riding in a Railway Carriage or other Vehicle.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 13th Dec., 1899 -Accepted, 27th Jan., 1900
Improvements in Apparatus for Producing the Illusion of Riding in a
Railway Carriage or other Vehicle.
I, DANIEL KENSIE JILLSON, of No. 1 Court Street, Providence, Rhode Island,
United States of America, Manager, do hereby declare the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement:―
This invention relates to mechanical devices and appliances for the purpose
of creating illusory effects upon the senses of feeling, hearing, and seeing, to
produce upon a person standing or sitting still, the impression of being carried
up in a lift or elevator and also of riding in a railway car.
In order that my invention may be clearly understood and readily carried
into effect I will fully explain the same, reference being made to the accompany-
ing drawings in which
Figure 1 is a plan of the building containing the apparatus, showing the posi
tion of the lift car, also the railway car, and the motor and its connections with
those two divisions.
Figure 2 shows an elevation of the lift car and its hood and the mechanism
outside the car for raising and lowering the said hood.
Figure 3 shows an elevation of the railway car or coach with the curtain on
the near side removed, with the mechanism for moving the revolving curtains on
the farther side, and also for producing the various motions of a car in running
action.
In Figure 1, A represents the building containing the whole of the apparatus,
which is divided into a waiting room B, with seats for the passengers who are
going to take a trip; a passage 1), which leads from the waiting room to the
lift car J, which passage is provided with a sliding door E, at one end and like
door F, at the entrance to the lift car, a train room with a swinging door G,
that closes the entrance from the passage D, into the train room. A room I
extending across the left end of the building is occupied by the lift, and its hood
and the motor and the mechanism for operating the lift hood and the car curtains.
The passengers enter the waiting room B, through the entrance C, with the
door Eleading into the passage closed. When the door E, is opened they go
through passage D to the lift car J and seat themselves, and the door F into the
passage D is closed. This car is stationary, and may be of the usual open work
construction or provided with glass windows, and is surrounded except at its
entrance with a movable hood K made of canvas or light wood work and painted
on its inside to resemble the inside of a lift or air shaft. The hood K should
be of two or three times the height of the car and is provided with mechanism to
lower it down past the car J to give to the passengers in the car the impressions
of being carried up past it, and to still further increase that impression a revolv-
ing fan N is placed above the car which fan when turning produces a downward
current of air in the car during the descent of the hood. While it is descending,
the door G is swung across to the farther side of the entrance into the lift car

page_text: so as to leave a clear passage from the lift car to the train room H, the door F,
is then opened and the passengers with the impressión that they have been carried
up to another floor, pass out of the lift car, into room H, and enter the railway
car L, and seat themselves. Then with the usual ringing of a bell the wheels on
which the car wheels rest and the revolving curtains P, P on each side are put
in motion, so that the curtains will pass by the stationary car L, and by the
landscapes painted on them give the passengers the impression that the car is
in motion, and to heighten this impression the operator by means of a lever in
the motor room and devices hereinafter explained, gives to the car certain jolts,
jars and other motions incident to a running car. When the time alotted to
the supposed journey has expired the curtains P, P stop, and the end door M of
the car is opened for the passenger to make their exit to the outside of the
building.
Figure 2 shows an elevation of the lift car and its surrounding hood, and the
motor with some other parts of the driving machinery. From the floor up to
the first dotted lines below the fan N represents the lift car J which is partly
hidden behind the hood K that extends down to just below the car windows..
A light frame work m is provided on the top of the car J and extends above
the hood K to furnish supports for the pulleys n over which the ropes run that
are connected at one end to the upper edge of the hood K and at the other end
to a weight W. This weight is made heavy enough to just over balance the wood
and raise it when allowed to, by letting the rope n¹ unwind from the shaft.
To cause the hood to descend slowly past the car and give the impressiou to
the passengers in the car that they are moving up, the shaft o, is turned slowly
by the crank and the rope n' wound up which raises the weight W and lets the
hood K descend by its own gravity.
To produce a current of air down through the lift car to increase the impression
that the car is ascending, a horizontal revolving fan N is placed over the car J
held on an upright shaft Y that extends down through the car and floor and has
a pulley y, fast on its lower end to receive motion by means of belts from the
motor S or the shaft Y may have a pulley on its upper end to receive a belt from
the motor in any suitable manner. The inner side of the hood K is painted with
amusing scenes or so as to resemble the usual wood work of the inside of a lift
or elevator shaft that it may seem to the passengers when the hood is passing
down by them, that the car is rising.
In Figure 3, the railway car L is shown in elevation. The wheel a a of
the car instead of resting on stationary rails are supported on wheels bb fast
on shafts & having bearings in an oscillating frame work T, held on a shaft N¹.
These shafts d d receive motion by means of a belt e from the motor S to a
pulley on one of the shafts and a belt e¹ from a pulley fast on one shaft to a
pulley on the other shaft causes all four wheels bb to revolve and run the car
wheels a a with the usual grating or grinding sounds in the same way as if they
were running on rails and the car was going ahead.
At each side of the car L are placed as stated, curtains P P see Figure 1, which
are made in the endless apron or belt form and supported at each end of the car L
on upright drums or cylinders R R which are held in bearings at both ends so
that they can be made to revolve and cause the curtains to pass by the windows
of the car, and landscapes are painted on them to give the passengers in the
car the impression that the scenery is stationary and that they are travelling
past it; the drums R may be suitably driven by a belt from the motor S to
pulleys on the lower ends of the drum shaft, or in any other suitable manner.
The two drums R on each side of the car are connected together by belts n². The
mechanism and devices shown in Figure 3 are the same on each side of the car L.
The horizontal shafts that hold the wheels extend across from one side to the
other under the car.
A blower or exhaust fan his arranged to be driven by a belt from the motor S,
which by means of tubes will cause the air to be forced in at one end of the

page_text: car or drawn out at the other to produce a current of air through the car as if
it were in motion. The drums carrying the horizontal car curtains may be
driven by pulleys on their upper ends if preferred and all the belt connections
between the motor and the different moving parts requires only mechanical skill
and not invention. They would be differently arranged for different positions.
By attaching cords to the doors E, F and G and carrying them over pulleys to
the motor room the whole apparatus can be managed by one person in that room.
A water tank Z is placed over the car L, having a double bottom, the outer one
of which is full of holes, so that by opening a valve in the bottom, the water
with which the tank is filled will run out on the top of the car and give the
impression of a rain storm.
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:—
1. In an apparatus for producing the illusion of going on a journey, the com-
bination of a stationary lift car, a vertical moving hood nearly surrounding said
car, with a motor for raising and lowering said hood, substantially as described.
2. In an apparatus for the purpose described the combination of a stationary
lift car, a hood nearly surrounding said car, a fan arranged to create a current of
air in said car, and a motor to operate said fan and hood, substantially as described.
3. In an apparatus for the purpose described the combination of a stationary
lift car having a vertical moving hood nearly surrounding said car, a railway car
having its wheels supported on driving wheels, a curtain at each side of said
railway car arranged to move horizontally, and a motor to operate the moving
parts of the apparatus, substantially as described.
4. In an apparatus for the purpose described the combination of a waiting
room, a room containing a stationary lift car, a passage connecting said waiting
room and the lift car, a sliding door at each end of said passage, a train room
containing a railway car, a door between the train room and said passage, a moving
hood on the outside of the lift car, curtains on the outside of the railway car, and
a motor to operate said curtains substantially as described.
Dated this 13th day of December 1899
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.