ORIGINAL STREET FAIR BOOTH WITH REVOLVING ILLUMINATED BALL.
It has always been my theory—and I have yet to hear it successfully disputed—that it is better to have an attractive advertisement costing $1 than a poor one costing twenty-five cents; and on this hypothesis the above booth will be described. The street fair is one of the best chances for advertising you will ever get. Your audience is not going to be the same that critically and leisurely inspected your show windows and the goods and taste displayed therein the week before. It is going to be a rushing, pushing, good natured and sight seeing crowd. It will not be one that will be critically inclined, nor have time for minute details. Knowing this to be a fact, it is “up to you” to get in your advertising and do it with a booth that will arrest the eye, whether in a hurry or not. Here is where you can use all the loud, flashy and contrasting colors you want.
BICYCLE PARADE FLOAT.—Softley.
First you must see if your electric light company has the “strings” of lights (see Fig. 1), shown running from the center to corners, on hand. There are companies who keep these on hand, with weatherproof sockets, to be rented out for just such purposes. The lights shown around the edges can be put in by any electrician at a small cost on one circuit. Both these and the “strings” are supposed to burn steadily, and not connected to the flasher. The carpenter contractor will undoubtedly put in an appearance in due time. These contractors usually put up the booths for a stipulated price, rent you the lumber and remove it when the fair is over.
Next is the ball frame (see Fig. 2). This is intended to be six feet in diameter, made of strips of wood or moulding ¼ × 3 inches, soaked in hot water and bent to form. The 3-inch width is to give you a base for the lamp sockets. Between the six ribs shown run hogshead hoops to give fullness between the ribs shown. The frame can be covered with two contrasting colors in six equal sized pieces for daylight effect, and the colored lights will take care of this part in the evening. The shaft should be of 1-inch gas pipe. Having had a platform built inside the booth flush with the gables, it will be a length equal from the floor of the platform to the peak of the roof, plus the height of the ball and six inches for clearance. Have the bottom drawn to a point or filled with a pointed plug shown at C (Fig. 2), and provide a socket bearing. This bearing is intended to support the entire ball and not offer undue friction to its rotation. It will also be necessary to provide an extra shield near the bottom to prevent a heavy wind forcing it out of the socket sideways. At a point just under the peak of the roof, which is also the upper bearing for the shaft, drill two ½-inch holes. Drill two holes also at a point between the roof outside and the bottom of the ball, shown at A. The contact rings and brushes at B are fully described in detail in the March issue of The Show Window. These will be made the same, only larger. Equip the shaft with a 5-inch grooved pulley belt direct to the countershaft of your flasher, and it will run about thirty revolutions per minute.
PARADE FLOAT.—Bittman.
PARADE FLOATS.—Brown.
The shield shown in Fig. 3 is made of tin or painted pasteboard, and will be found absolutely necessary to keep rain out of all sockets pointing outward from a point above the center of the ball. If water was to get in between the socket and lamp base, plugs will be blown faster than you can put them in.
The wiring is shown in Fig. 4. There are three circuits, each of different color, divided into two parts, each half on opposite sides of ball. One side of each row of lights will be coupled to a common main, which will go inside the shaft at the upper hole and out again at the lower; thence to the bottom ring, which is connected to the main direct. Circuit No. 1, red, goes from the first brush on the flasher to top ring and brush on the shaft and thence to the remaining sides of the two red rows. Circuit No. 2, white, goes from No. 2 on flasher to No. 2 brush and ring, thence connects to remaining sides of the two white rows. Circuit No. 3, green, goes from No. 3 on flasher to No. 3 ring and brush, thence to the remaining sides of the two green rows. The other main goes to the leg of flasher direct. Run one wire from each main for the motor.
Set your flasher lugs as shown in Fig. 5, and the various color changes will take place, as shown at the side of diagram in the order given.
After you are through with your wiring, you will probably find your hands not in condition to hold the dainty hand of Angelina, and which soap fails to remove. Don’t get scared. This will probably be a combination of muriatic acid, asphaltum and rubber. They can be cleaned as follows: Wash first in water, without soap, to remove the acid. Next loosen the asphaltum with any kind of oil or grease. Lastly, wash them with soap, water and sawdust, and you will be surprised to see how easily it is done when you know how.
DECORATED HOSE CART.—Kayser.
PARADE FLOAT.—Designer Unknown.
ST. VALENTINE’S DISPLAY.—Baker.
ST. VALENTINE’S DISPLAY.—Herr.
CHAPTER XXII.
DISPLAYS FOR EASTER.
Easter is especially the season for artistic decoration, and no American holiday, save Christmas, receives so much attention in decoration from our merchants. It comes after a season of comparative dullness, and as it is a time of joy and brightness, of full purses and generous hearts, extraordinary efforts are made to delight the public with gorgeous and pretty displays, and to tempt the good folks to purchase liberally all those knick-knacks and articles of apparel of which orthodox church members have denied themselves during the penitential days of lent.
If the campaign is well managed, Easter should be a bounteous harvest to every merchant. Think of all the bonnets, gloves, laces, shoes, ribbons, silks, satins and furbelows the ladies will require to “look sweet” during the Easter sermon; all the hats, neckwear, handkerchiefs, shoes, striped trousers, walking sticks and spring overcoats the gentlemen must have to fit themselves as escorts for the charming sex; all the rich foodstuffs that will be eaten off pretty linen and dishes during the Easter dinner; all the floral offerings and boutonnieres that will spend their fragrance to droop and wither in a day!
Some one will sell all these things for Easter.
What will your share be?
The answer depends much on the value of your window display as an attraction and salesman.
Of course you wish to do your best. You are in business to sell goods—to take advantage of just such warm occasions as Easter.