US277137A - Apparatus for producing illusory dramatic effects - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

J. W. KNELL.

APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING ILLUSORY DRAMATIC EFFECTS.

No. 277,137. Patented May 8,1883.

a I NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES W. KNELL, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING ILLUSORY DRAMATIC EFFECTS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 277,137, dated May 8, 1883. v

- Application filed February 26, 1883. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES W. KNELL, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements Pertaining to an Apparatus for Producing Illusory Dramatic Effects, of which the following is a description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, where- Figure 1 is a front view of a stage set for a scene embodyingmyimproved apparatus. Fig.

2 is a plan view of the stage. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the mechanism of rollers and belts used in transmitting motion to various parts of the device or apparatus. The latter is a diagram view, showing the relative parts.

The object of, my improvements (which relate to the matters described in the patent granted to me April 4,1882, and numbered 256,007) is to produce on the theatrical stage the appearance of a person, animal, or vehicle, any or all of them traveling along a road, course, or path of considerable length. My patented device above referred to accomplishes this, but omits certain details which aid in the illusion, and these details form the main part of my improvements, as hereinafter fully set forth.

Inthe accompanying drawings, the letter a denotes a panoramic scene depicted on an endless belt of canvas or other suitable material, or on a long roll of the same wound about vertical rotary cylinders placed well back on a stage, the, scene being adapted to move, through the agency of suitable machinery, across the stage from side to side.

The wall or the screen I) (see Fig. 2) masks the endless path a, as described in my Patent No. 256,007, and the scene a extends well into the wings; but to guard or screen the ends and rolls from view from any part pf the theater trees or other suitable natural objects are arranged in the wings to rotate as the main scene moves. They may be arranged singly, as at c, or upon an endless chain or belt, as at d, as indicated in Fig. 2 of the drawings. To further aid in the effect, one or more pipes from a blower are led to suitable concealed positions back of screen I), and currents of air from the open ends turned upon the figure or person supposed to be progressing across the stage, and the hair or parts of the dress, as ribbons, are caused to flutter and flap, as in actual rapid motion in the open air. The board floor of the stage tends to destroy the illusion, if left uncovered, and to remedy this I use a grass mat in the form of an endless belt, 6, arranged to cover the stage, and it passes over horizontal rollers f g at the wings, the motion of the exposed part of the mat bein g in the same direction as the main scene a. The mat can be secured at its ends by books or other suitable devices that will allow it to be quickly removed from the stage at the end of an act.

The main moving parts, as vertical or horizon tal cylinders or rollers and the rotary trees,

are connected by any ordinary and suitable arrangement of shafting and cog-wheels or belts within the skill of the average stage-machinist.

I claim as my invention 1. The combination of the panoramic scene, endless path, screen, and moving wing-screens, all substantially as described.

2. The combination of the panoramic scene, endless path, screen, moving wing-screens, and moving grass mat or equivalent stagefloor covering, all substantiallyas described.

3. The combination of the moving wing screens and moving stage-floor covering, all substantially as described.

4. In a stage set for dramatic and scenic effects, the combination of a back piece, an endless path, moving screen, moving wingpieces, and moving stage-floor covering,whereby the effect of progressive motion of the main background scene and the actors on the endless path is produoed, all substantially as described.

JAMES WM. KNELL.

Witnesses:

CHAS. L. BURDETT, WM. H. MARSH.

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