US824436A - Exhibition and amusement apparatus. - Google Patents

Description

PATENTIED JUNE 26, 1906.

, M. E. PESTER. EXHIBITION AND AMUSEMENT APPARATUS.

APPLIGATION FILED APR.14,'1906.

' 2 HEETSSHEET 1.

N0 824,436. PATENTED JUNE 26, 1906.

v M. E. PESTBR. EXHIBITION AND AMUSEMENT APPARATUS.

' APPLICATION FILED APR.14,1906. v

SHBETSSHEET 2.

, To all whom it may concern:

Y tory manner.

. per part of the structure, and they are pref-' ilifiITED STATEta ATENT OFFICE. 4

EXHWBITEON AND AMUSEMENT APPARATUS- Be it known that I, MAX E. PEsTEn, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Glen Cove, Nassau county, Long Island, New York, have invented a new and useful Exhib ition and Amusement Apparatus, of which the following is a specification, reference being had tothe accompanying drawings, in hich Figure 1 illustrates a vertical sectional view of the entire structure. Fig. 2 illustrates an elevation of the tower. Fig. 3 illustrates a plan view of the escalator. Fig. 4 illustrates a detail of the elevator and coacting parts at the to of the tower. Fig. 5 illustrates a detail of t e incline or slideways.

My structure embodies certain features. which will be hereinafter described, whereby its capacity to handle-passengers is very greatly increased as compared with anystructure of the kind known tome and also certain effects or resultsnot heretofore obtained are accom lished in a very satisfac- T e structural features embodied in the apparatus are, moreover,.exceedingly simple and. may be made of heavy construction. Hence there is great perma-.

nence and durabilityin the structure not only as a whole, but in all its parts. This is an im ortant feature in apparatus of this class.

-eferring now to the drawings, A is the tower of the apparatus, preferably made in two sections, as shown, supported upon suit-' able foundations B. The method and spe-" cial construction is immaterial. 'elevator-slideways C C.

- D D illustrate the elevators.

It has two They are of suflicient capacity to receive and convey the.

boat and its load of people. They are or may be connected by a cable or chain E E, which passes over suitable rollers F at the uperably-so arran ed that when one is ascending the other is escending, so as to effect the counterbalance.

G G are'the runways or slides down which the boat descends. They are or may be made of timber suitably su orted upon a strongly-braced framework made in any preferred manner. It will be noted that the slideways instead of beingstraight or merely curved, as usual, are made wavyin my structure, whereby the descendingboatreceives a peculiar pitching motion resembhng that of the waves.

Referring to Fig. 5, the two slideways of Specification of Letters Patent. Application filed April 14, 1905. Serial No. 311,660.

- latter bein Patented June 26, 1906.

the inclined runways are shown. Each slid ewayembodies' two lateral beams I I, I"I,'regpectively, and, two other beams J J, J J,

rmly spiked; or bolted tothe beams-II and I I?, They are separated by a space about equal to the width of the bottom of the boat,

and thebeams J J, J J are set somewhat lower than the beams II, I I, so thatv the bottom of the boat willslide upon them and be prevented against lateral displacement by the beams I I, I I. All the bearing-surfaces of these slideways are or may be lubricated in any suitable manner, although they will ordinarily be more or less wet by the water which flows 'downover the slideways, so that in many'instances lubrication will not be required. I prefer, in order that the illusion may be more perfect, to cover the entire face of the slideway-frames with a series of transverse slats, one form of which is illustrated at K K, over which the water will splash and ripple, thus simulating the surface of waves.

The water is forced by any suitable pumping apparatus through a pipe-L, connecting with with or without their loads of assengers, as -may be desired, to the top of t e elevator in the following manner: a, is an inlet which simulates a river, which opens from the lake N, fiowin bapkwardlynear the foot of the tower, an in itI submerge two timbers b 6-, between which operates an escalator-chain c.

It passes over two rollersd d (see Fig. 1) 1 and also overanother roller 6. The roller (1 is set somewhat lower than the roller (1, the about on a level with the top of the beams Z I), a continuous sprocket-chain or .equivalent 'device f (there are preferably, but not necessarily, two, but any number may be used) continuously moving over these rollers, the latter bein driven 'b any suitablepower, and these 0 sins or ii e devices are provided with dogs 9 g, which pro ect upwardly, preferably through the water, so that they may be readily seen. At the end-of the river a, adjacent to the ends of the escalatorbeams b, I provide two inclined runways h it,

--as, for instance, a spring provided with a switch 01, which is adapted to be thrown to the right or left by any suitable device actuated byhand or power, as the case may be, so that the oncoming boatmay be shunted onto one or the other of the inclined the boatis at a su able landing somewhere on the shore of the lake N, the passengers get runways h h. These runways are provided with rollers j 3', so that the boat after being delivered by the escalator from the river onto the inclined runwayswill byits own mo mentum and under the action of gravity'run down the same and be' delivered upon the elevator D or D, as the case may be, which are likewise provided, as shown, with rollers j? 9' similar to those'upon the inclined runways.

Suitable means are rovided toprevent the.

boat rolling too forci 1y uppn the elevators umper or cushion of any suitable construction. The s inging variety sometimes used in bowlis; lleys would be very suitable for this purlpe escalator is roofed over, as seen at 1g. 1, so that it simulates a-tunnel, and the walls and ceiling of the tunnel" may be decorated by painted scenery simulating hills, valleys, caves, and dells, and overhead clouds electrio-light effects of various sorts, as are now well known in this and analogous arts, maybe used. Likewise the sides of the inclined runways are supplied with scenery, as seen at mm, Fig. 1. t, however, is open to thenatu ral sky art the top, so that the inclined run ways shall simulate rapids in a natural river.

' On a level with the elevators or in any other suitable osition at the top of the tower there is provi ed for each elevator a laterally-arranged latform n n, which overhangs, respectiv the tank M, and these plattorms are'provided with rollers 7' so that the LII bv no means essential.

boats may bereadily pushed ofl from the elevators, res ectively, and, travehngupon the rollers t ereon,roll onto the overhanging ledges n n, and traveling upon them on the rollers 9' be shoved into the water at the top of the rapidsin otherwords, at. the u per end of the slideway. I prefer to bevel 0% the forward end of the overhanging ledge, as shown at 0, to facilitate this 0 eration I'have not illustrated the' etails of the mechanism required to pump the water, operate the elevators, move the escalator, operate the switch, &c., because, as stated above, any suitable hand or power machinery or device may be employed, depending upon the size ofthe apparatus, and consequently the amount of power required to effect-the several mechanical movements. Also the details of-construction so far as disclosed are The structure I have illustrated is a practical and useful one; but the details can be very largely departed from, the essentials being nevertheless retained, and

it is not essential that the inclined runwavs if desired, because otherwise they wlll be fac from the top of the tower to the lake 'shmild be uneven or wavy nor that the escalator be 1 i is by suitable appliances rolled oil from the of the form shown. Indeed, any means vice f, as illustrated in Fig. 1.

stated.

ceases whereby the boat after having made its descent can pass from the lake back to near the footo't the tower may be substituted for that shown. I

The operation is as follows Assunfing that into the boat, which may beneficially be of the ordinary scow type and equipped with such appliances, seat-s, &c., as may be ,most desirable, and theboat is then propelled by oars, poles, or otherwise from the landing across the lake into the mouth of the river a and is brought by the boatman in such sition that it shall restin front of the dogs g of the continuously-moving or sprocket delt will be easy for the boatman tc-locate these dogs it; above stated, they project slightly above the surface of the water. It will be noted that the outer end of he escalator is submerged stdliriently'so hat the boat can be readily flora-" d over the endless sprocketchainor equivalent device'without roundt is not essential, however, as stated, that such means for propelling the boat through the river should he employed. It'rhay be rowed, poled, or otherwise propelled to the foot of the elevator, and any suitable means for re- 131% 'ng it from the river onto the elevator 11 be employed. (hi, the assumption, hon ever, that the escalator is used, the boat, bearin; its passengers-,is carried along toward t e elevator. As it proceeds, the switch & (see Fig. 3) is set so as ,to shunt'the boat when it arrives at the switch into one or the other of the inclined runways, depending, of course, upon which of the elevator-cars is at the foot of the elevator-tower at that time. The boat is propelled by the dogs of the sprocket mechanism oil from the escalator and onto the .rline ll. .lhereupon, through the instrumentality of the rollers and under the impulse given by the escalator and by the action of gravity, the boat slides upon the runway and passing from its rollers onto the rollers of the elevator finally comes to rest u wn the elevator, its movement being contro led by the'bunuiers or cushions, as 'lhereupon the elevator is put into operation, and the boat, carrying its passengers seated therein, is elevated to the top of the tower, and as that elevator ascends the other or companion elevator descends, and in its descent it may automatically actuate the switch iin order to shunt the next succeeding boat down the inclined runway which leads to it. The elevator, bearing the boat and passengers, having reached the top of the tower, the boat, with the passengers still seated in it, (the passengers facirn about,

ing backward for the descent of the slideway,)

TIO

elevator onto the platform n and over-its the illusion being further heightened by the rippling of the water and the forest-covered river-banks. At the bottom the boat plunges into the pool or lake and is then guided or .Qpropelled by the boatmanto the landing, -where the assengers disembark, the boat receiving a esh load of passengers and proceeding as before. It. will be understood .that durin all this time a suitably-acting pump has een forcing the water from the pool or lake level up into the tank at the top of the rapids or incline, which, overflowin its front. edge, has run down the incline, an thus there is continuous circulation of sub-- stantially the same 'body of water. I

' Obviously there is no limit to the number of boats that can be successively inoperation, care being taken, however, that if the escalator be used a boat is delivered by it to the in clin'ed runway at the foot of the tower only when there is an elevator there ready to re. ceive it. Also it is obvious that the system may be indefinitely extended, there being no limitation as to the-number ofelevators, escalators, &o., that may be combined. Also the escalator to convey the boat from the lake to the footof the tower and there deposit it upon the elevator. may be arranged as over dry land, so as to give the effect of the portage or tramway instead ofbeing submerged in the water and arranged in oonnecv an undertion with the lake, simulat' ound river. I very much pre er the latter, owever, because then the underground effects and other illusions and pictorial schemes ma he more effectively and' attractively carrie out. i

1. The combination of a tower, an incline runway extendin from near the top of the tower to a body-o1 water, -an'escalator adapted-to convey the boat from the body of water to near the foot of-the tower, a boat and an elevator in the tower.

2. {.The combination of a tower, an inclined runway exten from near the top of the tower to a body 0 water a waterwa extending from the body of Water to near t e footof the tower, an elevator'in the tower, a boat' I and means to transfertheboat from the waterway to the elevator. I e 3. The combination of a tower, an olined runway extending from near the top of the tower to a body of water,- a waterway extending from the body of Water to near the foot of the tower, an escalator for. conveying the boat through the waterway, an elevator in the tower, a boat and means to. transfer the boat from the-escalatorto the elevator,

.4. The combination of a tower, an inclined runway havin a wavy or irregularsurfaoe contour extending from near the top ofrflie tower to a body-of water, a waterway extending from the body of water to near the foot of the tower, an elevator'in the tower, a

boat and means to transfer the boat from the waterway to the elevator.

5. The combination of a tower, an inglli fned runway ha an irregular or wavys ace contour exzdiifiing from near the top of the tower to a body of water, a waterwa extending from the body of water to near t e foot of the tower, an elevator in the tower, a boat,-

and means to propel it through the waterway and from it to and upon the elevator.

6.' The combination of a tower, an elevator in the tower, a body of water, a waterway extending from the bodyof water to near the elevator, a boat and means to mechanically transfer the boat and its passengers from the waterway to and onto the elevator;

7. The combination of a tower,an inclined runway extending from near the top of the tower to abody of water, a ledge on the top of the tower provided with rollers and overhanging the upper end of the runway, an elevator rovide with rollers adapted to ele-. vate a oat from a lower level to the level of the led e. Y

8. T e combination of a tower having therein an elevatorprovided' with rollers, a

Waterway throu h which, a boat and its load approach t e foot of the tower and an ed. runway rovided withrollers extendd of the waterway tothe elema inc ing from the en vator. v Intestimony whereof I have signedmy name to this specification in theipresence of two subscribing'witnesses.

PESTER.

Witnes'sesz1 D. S. RITTERBAN 111M. Dousn'aon.

IOO

Images